'CODE BLUE'

By 'I am a good fighter'

Powerpuff Girls created by Craig McCracken

-1-

It started with the headaches.

Blossom noticed that Bubbles was occasionally massaging her temples or her forehead. She didn't do it all the time, just a few times in school or when they were home watching TV. It was never when Bubbles was doing something, only when she was sitting down and concentrating, so Blossom thought maybe her sister was having trouble with her eyes again. But whatever it was, Bubbles didn't seem to be aware of it.

One Thursday morning, while their kindergarten teacher, Ms.Keane, was standing at the blackboard, Blossom heard Buttercup whisper "Hey, Bubbles, you OK?"

When she turned to look, Bubbles was rubbing the side of her head. "Huh? Oh, sure!"

"You got a headache?" Buttercup asked quietly.

"Not really. It just hurts a little, but it always goes away."

"So, she HAS been aware of it!" Blossom thought. "Bubbles, are your eyes bothering you again? Maybe you should sit near the front."

"Time to get out the specs!" Buttercup grinned.

"Nuh, uh! I'm not wearing those stupid glasses again!"

"Girls!"

They whipped their heads to see their teacher and most of the class watching them.

"Something you'd like to share with the rest of us?" Ms. Keane asked, raising an eyebrow, hands on her hips.

"Bubbles has a headache, Ms. Keane. I think it's her eyes again." Blossom said.

"It is not!" Bubbles insisted, not realizing she was starting to rub her forehead again.

"Bubbles, I think you should go to the school nurse for an aspirin."

"Make sure it's baby aspirin!" Buttercup laughed. Mitch Mitchellson and some of the other kids joined in. Blossom frowned at her green-eyed sister.

"I'm FINE!" Bubbles shouted, her face turning red. Suddenly, she winced with pain and grabbed her head with both hands. Blossom and Buttercup both stood up, looking very worried.

"No, you're not fine." Ms. Keane said, rushing over and taking Bubbles by an arm. "Blossom, take her down to the nurse's office."

"I think I should take her home and let the Professor look at her."

"Yes, Blossom, that's a good idea."

Whatever it was had passed, and Bubbles took her hands away.

"But, I'm okay, really!" she protested. "I don' wanna go home!"

Protesting did no good. Soon, Blossom had one arm around Bubbles' shoulders and they were headed out the door.

A perturbed Buttercup watched them leave. "Ms. Keane, I think I should go with them!"

"Why, Buttercup? Are you getting a headache too?"

"Maybe a little." she lied.

"Then go ask the nurse for some baby aspirin." her teacher smirked. She crossed her arms and scowled at everyone who laughed at her, but soon, Ms. Keane got everyone's attention back on the next lesson.

Buttercup grew concerned as the day went on. She expected the Professor to send Blossom back, but her sister never returned. When the bell finally rang, she sped home and entered through her bedroom window. She was shocked to see Blossom lying on their bed, looking very worried.

"She's sick, Buttercup. She got another real bad one on the way home and I got her into the bathroom just in time."

"Eeewwwwww!"

"Yeah. Professor's still looking at her. It sounds like the flu."

" I think that's all it is, Blossom."

Professor Utonium walked in, carrying a pale-looking Bubbles, curled up in his arms.

"I'm outta here!" Buttercup made a beeline for the door, but Professor held up his hand.

"Whatever it is, Buttercup, you've already been exposed to it. There's no harm in sleeping in the same room."

"There is if she pukes on me!"

"Buttercup, that's MEAN!" Blossom exclaimed.

Bubbles' look of sadness just got sadder and she whimpered.

"Now, Buttercup!" the Professor admonished her sternly. "I expect you to help care for your sister, just as she would for you if you were sick!

But she never got sick, nor did Blossom or the Professor come down with what Bubbles had. Bubbles' headaches became more frequent and more severe, and what little she did eat she didn't keep for very long. She was kept out of school and the Professor would not let her do any crime or monster fighting until she was over it. He spoke to her pediatrician on the phone twice, and each time he was assured that simple bed rest and fluids was the proper course. But on the fourth day, Monday, when she seemed no better, he made an appointment for the next day.

That morning, she woke up feeling great. Her head felt fine and she was so hungry that the Professor had to constantly remind her to eat slowly. He knew how anxious she was to get back to school with her sisters and get back to protecting Townsville, but there was nothing good to be gained by rushing things.

The doctor gave her a clean bill of health. "Just a five-day bug, Bubbles. You're as good as new!"

She was so happy she kissed the startled doctor. It made the man's day, but the moment would be totally forgotten when she was back in his office the next day.

-3-

Everyone was happy to have Bubbles back at school. Her energy was contagious, and everyone was in a happy mood. Perhaps too happy, Ms. Keane thought. By recess, she had become slightly annoyed at the disruptions. On three different occasions, Bubbles had suddenly gone into a giggling fit over something the teacher never learned the cause of. Her sisters were no help, Buttercup especially, but the third time it happened, Keane caught Blossom giving Bubbles the eye. She called recess and sent the kids out into the schoolyard to play.

Bubbles raced outside, laughing. Buttercup chased her. Suddenly, Bubbles tripped on something and fell in a heap. Keane gasped, but Blossom, standing next to her, said "Relax, Ms. Keane, it's only Bubbles!"

"Oh, that's right. You girls can't hurt yourselves by-"

"Bubbles!" Blossom shouted, leaving a pink trail behind her as she flew to her sister, who sat bawling on the ground. When she got there, Buttercup was looking down in disgust at Bubbles, who was holding a dandelion by its broken stem. Tears flowed from her eyes as she cried out loud. All the other kids began to crowd around in a circle to watch, and Keane pushed her way through.

"Bubbles, it's only a stupid weed!" Buttercup growled.

Bubbles stopped crying and blinked. "Hee. Yeah, I guess that is kinda silly. Hee hee!"

She started another giggling fit and threw the stem to the ground. She stood up and stomped on it. "Stupid weed!" She continued giggling, her voice rising in pitch as she looked around on the ground for more dandelions to stomp. "Stupid weeds!" Her face got all red and her laughter turned to angry screaming as she squashed every one of the offending yellow flowers she could see. Keane and the kids stood stunned. Blossom and Buttercup grabbed onto their out-of-control sister.

"Whoa, Bubbles, calm down!" Buttercup yelled.

Bubbles' face went pure white and she sagged. Blossom helped her to her knees and knelt beside her, frightened out of her wits. "Bubbles, what's the matter?!"

Bubbles grabbed her head with both hands. "Oooohh, it hurts, it hurts worse than ever, make it stop.!" She threw up.

"Everyone, back inside, now!" Keane commanded. "Move it!" Without waiting to see if the children moved, she turned to the girls. "Go, girls, now!"

They didn't have to be told. With both her sisters carrying her, Bubbles looked blankly past them. "Girls? I'm scared!"

"Take it easy, Bubbles, you're gonna be fine." Buttercup told her.

"Yeah, Bubbles, you just weren't over the flu yet, that's all." Blossom said, exchanging looks with Buttercup. They were scared, too.

"No." Bubbles said. "Blossom? Buttercup? I can't see!"

-4-

The sudden wild mood swings and the return of the headaches told Bubbles' pediatrician one thing: he was out of his league on this case. But what REALLY concerned him was the sudden loss of vision.

On Thursday afternoon, Professor Utonium sat in stunned disbelief in the small office of Townsville General Hospital's chief pediatric oncologist, Dr. Waldman; a tall man several years older than the Professor, with short gray hair and a neatly trimmed beard the same color. Being a scientist, he had a pretty good understanding of what he'd just seen and had explained to him of the two sets of CAT scans hanging, backlit, on the wall before him. The difference was obvious between the one on the left and the other, to its right. The small, irregular shaped masses were scattered throughout his daughter's brain, appearing as a deep red in their centers and spreading through the oranges into the yellows the further out they went. Blood vessels ran like little fingers into the centers. The healthy brain tissue showed up as a mottled pinkish color. In the scan on the right, the masses were noticeably larger. It was obvious, and ominous. A biopsy had been done, but though the results weren't back yet, they, too, seemed obvious.

What he couldn't believe, what had yet to register, was that only a week earlier his beautiful little girl had gone to school like always, bursting with life. Now he had just been told she was going to die. There was no hope, none. The doctor had been no less shocked and couldn't believe he was saying the words.

"Professor, I have seen every form of juvenile brain cancer there is, and I have never seen anything like this. Some tumors are localized and grow slowly, others are invasive and can spread rapidly. Most affect only one portion of the brain. This at least gives us some options: Surgery, radiation or chemotherapy, sometimes a combination of two or all three. In Bubbles' case, every key part of her brain is affected, except for the speech center, for some unknown reason. Intracranial pressure has leveled out but it is still extremely high, the tumors are cytotoxic and infiltrating..."

The Professor heard the words and understood them, but he asked anyway the questions that were asked by every family member who had just learned their loved one was doomed.

"What course of treatment are you planning, Doctor?"

"Palliative, Professor. We help her to go with as little pain as possible."

"I see." He didn't, not yet. She couldn't be dying, not his little angel...she couldn't... "How long, Doctor?"

Oh, how he hated this part of the job...playing God with someone's life. He'd seen cases where he'd given someone three months, and two years later they were cancer-free and healthy as a horse. The fighters. Others, once they got the bad news they just gave up, and were gone in weeks when medically, they should have had much longer. Bubbles was a fighter, but he had to go with what he knew.

"These scans are twelve hours apart. The pronounced cell growth in that short period tells me days, Professor...not weeks, days. Perhaps less. I am very, very sorry."

The Professor wasn't prepared to accept that. "That's not possible. How could that be?" he mumbled.

The doctor wanted to be objective. "I can't explain it other than that she's not like anyone else. None of the girls are."

The Professor blinked hard several times. "Of course! They're NOT like anyone else! Why did I think normal medical techniques would help her?"

His voice lost its soft, disconnected tone, and he stood up. "Thank you, Dr. Waldman. If there's nothing more that can be done, I'll take her home. She'll be happier there, than here in the hospital."

The two men shook hands. "I'll sign the release." the doctor said. "And I'll pray for a miracle."

A voice came over the hospital's PA system. "Dr. Waldman, Code Blue, room 225, Dr.Waldman..."

Bubbles' room.

-5-

They had been sitting watching Bubbles, peacefully asleep at the moment, in her bed; hooked up to monitors and IV drip bags. Neither wanted to speak aloud their fears because they were afraid their sister might still understand them through the morphine. So they sat holding each others' hands, fighting the tears, each alone with her own thoughts.

The Mayor's assistant and their good friend, Sara Bellum, had come to stay with them at the Professor's request. She couldn't believe what was happening, either. The girls were so...so...indestructible. This couldn't really be happening. But she had seen it before. She and the Professor had spoken about it briefly, out of Buttercup's and Blossom's hearing, of just what this could possibly be. From what she could see, that's what it probably was, and she was preparing herself, wondering what and how to tell Bubbles' sisters. That's why he'd asked her to come, because he couldn't tell them himself.

She had been standing behind the two girls, her hands resting lightly on their shoulders. She watched the tube that ran from Bubbles' body into the bag at the side of the bed, partially hidden by the bedsheet; and saw that it hadn't filled any more in over an hour. Bubbles' kidneys weren't doing their job, and she knew what that meant.

Both Blossom and Buttercup had gotten used to the rhythm of the machines that their sister was connected to. They would emit a series of beeps occasionally, and a nurse would come in to hit a reset button, make an adjustment or replace an empty drip bag. But suddenly, a number of different beeps sounded simultaneously, and lights began flashing all over. They jumped up, and Sara was shocked, too. The next thing they knew, they were being shoved out of the room by two nurses and an intern, and the door shut behind them. Over the speaker in the ceiling, they heard the words 'Code Blue' and the number that matched the one on the door they were staring at.

"She's gonna die." Buttercup said, matter-of-factly. Then she flew down the hallway, punching and kicking the walls, leaving several holes. "Nooooooooo!" she screamed, and Blossom flew to her, got her in a bear hug and pinned her arms to her sides. Tears ran down their cheeks. Sara hurried over to them, knelt and pulled them in close, wrapping her arms around them.

"Girls, you have to think positive. They're doing everything they can for Bubbles and you have to believe she's going to get better."

"But she's not!" Buttercup wailed.

Around the corner from the opposite direction and toward them ran the Professor and a doctor. The doctor stopped the Professor from going inside the room with his hand and a look, then went inside and shut the door. The red light over the door was still flashing on and off. The Professor looked angrily at the closed door. Sara stood up.

"Girls, wait right here."

She walked over to the Professor and they talked quietly for several moments, occasionally looking or gesturing toward the girls. Once, he looked over and smiled at them reassuringly, but Blossom thought that he looked more angry than afraid. It didn't make sense. Then, the door to the room opened, the doctor poked his head out and nodded, and the Professor went inside. Sara came over to them.

"Girls, I need you to be strong."

"She IS going to die, isn't she." Blossom said. She gripped Buttercup even tighter.

"Blossom, we can't lose hope. The Professor hasn't given up. He thinks there's something he can do..." Her words trailed off.

"But the doctors don't, do they?" Buttercup asked.

"Boy, are they perceptive. I think it's best to just tell them the truth." She knelt in front of them again.

"Girls, it does look very bad, but there's ALWAYS hope."

"Just tell us, Ms. Bellum. It's cancer, isn't it?"

Sara's shoulders sagged. "Yes, Blossom. They can't stop it."

"I hate that word." Buttercup said. "We can be strong, Ms. Bellum. Our friend Carrie Blueberry¹ taught us how."

"Yes, I remember." Sara whispered.

"Yes, Ms. Bellum." Blossom agreed. "Bubbles must be scared but I know she'll be brave. We'll just have to be brave, too"

-6-

Bubbles lay peacefully silent while the nurses and the intern went about checking, adjusting, and writing down findings on a chart. Dr. Waldman and the Professor stood next to the bed on the door side.

"Professor, things are going much faster than we expected. Her kidneys have shut down. Her other major organs are in the process. Her heart and respiration are strong yet, but they are slowing. We are looking at hours, now."

The Professor maintained his silence, staring stonily at the doctor, who continued, glancing momentarily toward a monitor while the other three people in the room did their work.

"Her brain activity is dropping rapidly. If you plan on speaking with her, now would be the time. We're bringing her out now." Out of her sleep.

"Doctor, I still say there's something I can do for her."

The man couldn't imagine what, but at this point there was no harm in trying.

"I don't want her moved. Whatever you intend to do may be done here."

"Thank you. I'll have to go home for some things..."

"I wouldn't leave the hospital if it were me, but whatever you have to do..."

Sara went in first, and came out after a few minutes biting her lower lip, trying to be strong herself.

The Professor in the meantime had explained to Blossom and Buttercup that there was still hope, but if there was anything they wanted their sister to know, they'd better say it now. They went in holding hands and came out the same way, ten minutes later. They were sobbing, but Blossom surprised the Professor with the news that Bubbles could see again. He hurried inside.

"She has her vision back temporarily. Not unusual. As the healthy cells die, there is less pressure on the optic nerve." the doctor told him.

Bubbles looked over to him and smiled weakly. He smiled back and walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Hi, Professor. I can see again and it don't hurt as much now!"

He stroked her blonde hair. "That's good, honey. You should rest so you can get better quicker."

"It's ok, Professor, I know what's happenin' to me. Professor? Will Grandma and Grandpa Utonium know me when I get to heaven? They never saw me before."

"Of course they will, Bubbles. They know you now, but you won't get to see them for a long, long time."

"Do you think they'll like me?"

"Honey, they love you just as much as I do...I-"

"Professor?" she interrupted. She was fighting to stay awake; the morphine was calling her back. "I always tried to be a good little girl. Was I good?"

He fought to keep control of himself as he leaned in and pulled her to his chest. "Oh, sweetie, you're the best little girl anyone could want!"

He lay her back down, and he could see she was fading fast. "Now, you get some more sleep and we'll have you out of here in no time."

She closed her eyes, with a small smile on her face. "S'okay, Professor, I'm not scared no more. S'okay. G'bye, Professor...I love you..."

He let go of her hands, composed himself and stood. There was an embarrassed silence in the room. These people were professionals and dealt with death on a daily basis. They had witnessed countless scenes like this, but this one was too much for even them. They couldn't believe they were losing one of the Powerpuff Girls. They averted their eyes as he gave them a challenging glare.

"I'll be back."

"C'mon, girls, we're going home!"

"But, what about Bubbles?" Blossom asked, wondering why he was so angry.

"I'm not giving up just yet, and I can't do anything sitting around here! Now, let's go!"

"I'll be right here, girls." Sara said. "I'll call if anything changes."

"If anything changes? I don't wanna be somewhere else when she dies! I wanna be with her!" Blossom thought. It was stupid to leave. But Buttercup was as jumpy as the Professor was.

"Yeah, let's go!"

"Thank you, Ms. Bellum." Professor told Sara. "Girls, we'll get the car later. There's no time."

That meant they were flying. Blossom didn't want to leave. She looked back at Sara, who smiled reassuringly at her, and they left

"Professor, why are you mad at us?" Blossom asked as she and Buttercup lifted him off the ground.

"Oh, honey, I'm not angry with you!"

"Who are you mad at?"

"Nobody. Everybody. Myself, mostly. I feel so helpless! I just can't accept that there's nothing that can be done."

"Yeah, Professor, there's GOTTA be something we can do!" Buttercup agreed. "But what?"

"I think I know, Buttercup, and it's going to be up to you girls to save your sister."

"Huh?" Blossom was startled. "How?"

"The sooner we get home the sooner we can get started."

He gave them a short explanation of what brain tumors did, showing them pictures from some web sites devoted to the subject.

"Bubbles just has too many of them in too many places for traditional means of treatment to work. But I have an idea. You see these little things that look like rivers leading into the tumors? These are the blood vessels that feed the growing tumors. They have to be cut and sealed off. That will starve the tumors. They'll die out. Radiation will shrink them down even more and eventually they'll just disappear. Her healthy cells will be able to take over again."

"Cut 'em off and cauterize 'em?" Buttercup asked.

"Yes, Buttercup, that's the word, cauterize."

Blossom was puzzled. "But how, Professor? Why can't the doctors do that?"

"They could, Blossom, if there weren't so many. They have no room to work. But you can do it with your lasers. I'm sending you in."

"What?" she shrieked. She was horrified. Buttercup leaped up, full of excitement.

"You mean you're gonna SHRINK us? COOL!"

"Exactly, Buttercup. Do you remember that weapon used on you by that colony of evil fleas? ² I still have it."

"YAY! Then, we go in there, find those rotten tumors and cut off their food supply, an' Bubbles'll be her old self again!"

"Professor, don't you think that's too dangerous?" Blossom asked. "We aren't doctors! What if we end up killing her ourselves?!"

"Blossom, I already thought about using the 'GROW' setting, to make Bubbles large enough so the surgeons WOULD have enough room to operate. But the hospital doesn't have an operating room big enough to fit her in. This is our only chance."

"But how will we know what to do?"

"You'll be wearing radio headsets, amplified to counter the effects of the shrinking, and I'm going to place a global positioning satellite chip under your skin. We'll be able to see exactly where you are, so Dr. Waldman can tell you just what to do."

"But we can't just fly around inside her." Buttercup frowned. " How're we supposed to get where we're going?"

"You'll be wearing your spacesuits, which will let you breathe and still be able to fire your lasers through your faceshields. You're going to be swimming through Bubbles' circulatory system."

"Whoa, good thing we got the suits!" Buttercup said. "I don't like the idea of having Bubbles' blood all over me."

Blossom looked at her sister. "Buttercup, if this goes wrong, we're gonna have her blood on our HANDS!"

The Professor looked at her with concern. "You don't want to do it, Blossom?"

She hung her head. "No."

Buttercup was furious. "What? You don't want to save our sister?!"

"Of course I do, Buttercup, but we can't! I won't be able to live with myself knowing that I killed her!"

"And I couldn't live with MY self knowing I didn't TRY!" Buttercup shouted back.

"GIRLS!" he shouted to get their attention. "Blossom, if you have that attitude, then it WON'T work. I'm going in with you."

They stared in shock at his back as he walked to the phone. "I'll let Dr. Waldman know what to expect, and then you can help me get the submersible ready."

He reached for the phone and called the hospital.

"Yes. This is Professor Utonium. I need to speak with Dr. Waldman immediately."

The girls watched anxiously as he waited. They could tell by his reaction when the doctor came on the line.

"Hello, Doctor. I've come up with something. This is what I need..."

After briefly explaining what he had in mind and what the staff should do to prepare, the girls could see he was listening to the doctor. It lasted only a second, then he lowered the phone and looked at them.

"We have to hurry!"

The Professor sat strapped into the seat facing the main controls of the small submarine he'd built. It was painted a light blue. He'd never dreamed its first mission would be for anything like this. Out the front window, he could see the blur of passing buildings and the ground below as Blossom and Buttercup flew with him toward the hospital, but his mind was focused on the task at hand. He checked off items on a list, talking to himself. Outside, the girls were wearing their suits, minus the helmets, which had been pre-shrunk and were inside the sub. Buttercup carried the sub, which was now the size of a bathtub toy, and Blossom carried the gun.

When they neared the hospital, they saw the TV crews setting up out in front, and a crowd was gathering around and growing larger by the minute. They ignored the shouts and flew inside. When they passed by the waiting area, they saw that Ms. Keane had joined Sara and they were sitting there comforting each other, wiping their red eyes with tissues.

"We're too late!" Blossom cried.

Through the windows of the sub, the Professor could see what they saw. The door of the room was open. It was quiet. All the machines were silent except one, including a new one. Two nurses were in the room. One was writing something down and the other was eyeing the one monitor that still showed any activity. It displayed the current heart rate at 9 beats per minute and the respiration at 7. The Professor couldn't understand why Bubbles wasn't hooked up to a respirator. Still, she didn't seem to be fighting for breath. Dozens of wires ran from her head to the new monitor, which showed just a flat horizontal line. He knew how to read an EEG. It was too late for any repairs now, there was just too much damage. Both the nurses noticed them and looked out toward them. Their faces said it all. Though technically she was still alive, she was gone. His daughter was brain dead.

"Noooooooo!" Buttercup wailed. At that moment, Dr. Waldman came out of a room across the hall, a strange expression on his face. It wasn't sadness, or a look of failure. It was more a combination of wide-eyed bewilderment and excitement, as if he were on the verge of discovering something important but had no idea what. The look turned to surprise, as he saw the shrunken sub in Buttercup's hands.

"Is he in there? Professor, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Doctor, just fine." came his amplified voice over a waterproofed loudspeaker built into the ship's hull.

"Professor, I just don't know quite how to say this-"

"It's all right Doctor," the Professor smiled grimly, glancing at the nurses, too. "You did everything you could."

"There's something I need to say, Professor..." he answered, glancing down at the girls as if to say, "Maybe they shouldn't hear this."

The Professor could imagine the questioning looks on their tear-streaked faces as they looked up at the doctor. "Go ahead, Doctor, they should know the truth. But I do have one question. Why isn't she struggling more? Her levels..."

"Professor, I don't understand that, either. When her heart and respiration rates dropped so fast, we put her on a respirator, but she fought it. She never woke up but she nearly jumped off the bed. Her levels continued to drop but they've remained steady at their current rates even as the rest of her organs shut down and her brain activity ceased. It's almost as if she was waiting for you."

The Professor looked out at his two girls, wishing they could see his face. "I'm sorry, Blossom. I-I was just grasping at straws with my crazy idea. We should have stayed here with her so she wouldn't have had to suffer all this time..."

"Professor," Waldman interrupted. "it isn't crazy at all. Girls?" He looked at them. "Maybe Bubbles is waiting for a different reason. Her death may have a bigger meaning than any of us realize."

They looked at him questioningly. He still wasn't sure how to say it but he plunged ahead.

"Blossom, Buttercup...your sister may be able to save more people in death than she ever did in life." He looked directly at the submarine. "It's too late to save her, but if you are able to successfully cut off a tumor's blood supply, we may be able to save thousands of lives we wouldn't be able to save any other way."

"You mean still go in anyway?" Buttercup asked.

"Yes, Buttercup." the Professor answered. "But it's up to you."

Blossom wiped away tears, locked eyes with her sister and said, "I think she'd want us to."

Buttercup smiled. "Let's do it."

"Girls, we'll have to hurry." Waldman told them. "The only way we'll know if it works or not is if her heart is still pumping blood."

On a table, the sub sat partially submerged in a clear rectangular plastic container filled with alchohol, which would sterilize it. The nurses and Waldman were a bit startled to see the hatch pop open and Professor Utonium's miniaturized head and shoulders pop out. He was wearing a headset. Blossom pointed the shrinking-gun at Buttercup and fired. Within seconds, she shrunk to the scale Professor was at, and she flew to the hatch. Blossom handed the gun to Waldman.

"Just pull the trigger. After you've got us to the right size, set the little switch here..." she indicated the GROW/SHRINK and NORM/MAX switches on the gun's underside. It was presently set to SHRINK and NORM. "...to MAX, and that will shrink us the rest of the way. Then, after we come out, you set it to GROW and NORM."

Waldman nodded and took the gun. Moments later, the Professor was closing the hatch. "Whenever you're ready, Doctor."

A PIC line had been installed in Bubbles' left arm to ease in making injections and taking blood samples, and that's where they would enter and, hopefully, leave. Bubbles' heart and respiration rates had both slowed a bit more, but she was still showing no outward signs of distress. She was holding on for them.

Waldman got a nod from one nurse. He aimed and fired. The beam struck the sub and it shrank to the size of a bug. Using a sterilized tweezers, he gently lifted it out of the alchohol and placed it into a sterilized beaker containing a small amount of distilled water. He moved the switch on the gun to MAX and took aim once more. The sub disappeared from sight. The doctor tore open a sealed packet, took out a hypodermic needle and filled the chamber with the entire contents of the beaker. He walked around to the window side of the bed, looked at Bubbles' peacefully sleeping face, silently thanked her for her gift to medical science and injected the contents through the PIC line.

He looked up at the monitor that showed the location of the sub, based on the information fed from the GPS chips embedded under each of their skins, and the GPS system built into the sub itself. The Professor had placed a small satellite dish on the window ledge. It would act as a relay between them and the satellite in space, and it would keep their real-time location to a fraction of a second ahead of what the monitor showed. Close enough for what they were doing. Waldman saw one strong blip and three weaker ones very close to it. They were halfway between the PIC line and Bubbles' shoulder, in the vein that ran from her arm, up through her shoulder and on its way back through her lungs and to her heart, to pick up more oxygen and be pumped out through the arteries. All he could do now was watch their progress, communicate with them and explain what they should do when they reached their destination. The rest was up to them.

Initially, it had been a bumpy ride, but now they were gliding along smoothly. The submersible could move along faster if needed; its electric-powered engines operating the pumps that used the liquid it was suspended in for propulsion. It sucked in the liquid and pumped it out the back, thus pushing it forward. It could also travel in reverse by simply reversing the pumps. Or, it could be carried along by the current, and at the moment they were letting Bubbles' bloodstream do just that.

It was dark, the only source of light powered by the batteries. They had been fully charged and were good for at least a few hours, so there were no worries there. The interior of the cabin where the Professor and the girls sat was well lit. They could see only a short distance in front of or behind the sub, via the sets of two headlamps at either end. They could also see a short way out either of the side windows, using the running lights that ran along the length of each side.

The blood appeared a bright red where the lights hit it, and gradually blended from red to purple into black, furthest from the source of light. Yet, it was translucent enough to let them see through it past the walls of the blood vessels, and at muscle tissue or organs. Bubbles had scarcely any fat on her.

"Professor, can you hear me in there?" came the doctor's voice over the speaker above their heads.

"Loud and clear. OK at that end..." the Professor answered from his seat at the steering controls.

""Yes. What is it like in there?"

"Weird." Buttercup said, from her spot at weapons control. She was the most accurate shot and would fire the sub's lasers when the time came. "I can't believe we're doing this." Blossom sat silent, her eyes on the navigation charts on the screen in front of her.

"I can imagine," the doctor replied, "but you must keep your focus on what you're doing. This is very dangerous for the three of you, and at the first sign of trouble, I want you to head back to the PIC line, all right?"

"Understood, Doctor."

"Good. Now, you should be passing through the lungs shortly. When you reach the heart, you'll find yourself in a chamber. You'll be pumped through a valve into another chamber, where you'll have to act quickly. The blood that you are in now will be filtered through the kidneys to remove waste products, then through the liver for some other things, before heading back to the heart again to pick up oxygen. You don't want to do that. You want to correct course and head straight for the largest opening you see. That's the aorta. That's the quickest route to the brain."

"Okay, Doctor," Blossom answered. "I can see all that on my charts. Coming up any second, Professor. You're gonna have to make a hard left!"

They could feel a sudden jolt as they stopped, then were thrust forward into the heart's chamber. There was a pulsating membrane in front of them and they moved through it. As they passed through the valve and saw the aorta opening off to their left, surrounded by a few smaller artery openings, they knew it would be difficult to make that sharp a turn. The Professor threw the engines into reverse to back away from the vessel directly in front of them that would take them the wrong way, but they were being sucked right into it. Seconds later, they were headed toward the kidneys.

"We missed the turn, Doctor." the Professor said simply.

"I see, but it's not a big deal, Professor. The trip back to the heart won't take long if you increase your power and you can observe the organs as you pass through them. The increased speed will keep you from being filtered out as waste. It will be helpful to have some idea of the rate of necrosis after shutdown. It's been..." They heard a pause as he checked the time. "...almost three hours for the kidneys."

"What's necrosis, Professor?" Buttercup whispered, not wanting the doctor to think she was stupid.

"Death," Blossom thought. "They're dying, right along with Bubbles.." But she didn't want to face it, and keeping it to herself somehow made it seem less real.

The Professor didn't want to face it either. "I'll explain it later, honey." he told Buttercup. He increased power to the engines and Blossom could feel them picking up speed. She knew the kidneys were just ahead and forced herself to look at what she didn't want to see.

"At this point, they should have a grayish appearance." Waldman continued. "You should be almost there."

They didn't. To Blossom, they looked a bright dark red, the same color as kidney beans.

"They look normal from here, Doctor." the Professor said.

"Hmmm. That is unusual. Well, the liver should be next."

But that, too, had retained its deep purplish color.

"What's that green thing that looks like a golf ball?" Buttercup asked.

"That would be the gall bladder." Waldman replied. "This is highly unusual for there to be no visual signs of tissue necrosis, but there's so much we don't know about the Powerpuff physiology...But this may give us more time to see if the microsurgery will work."

"Hey, is that the stomach?" Blossom asked suddenly. "I think I see something!"

"Yes it is, what do you see?" the doctor asked, surprised, thinking that Bubbles may have somehow swallowed a toxic substance that mimicked brain cancer, and instead had fallen victim to a neurologic poison. Something that never would have shown up on a test. If they could identify it in time, with her organs seemingly in good shape yet, there might still be hope.

"Something dark!" Blossom said. "I can't tell what it is."

"Blossom, use your x-rays!" the Professor urged her.

She did, staring through the side of the sub. "Oh." she said softly. "It's only a key. She must have swallowed it."

"My diary!" Buttercup shouted. She had also used her x-rays. "She ate the key to my diary! No wonder I couldn't find it! Why, that little..."

She realized just what she was saying, and hung her head in shame. "Sorry." The Professor squeezed her hand. "It's okay." he whispered.

But the doctor was excited. Perhaps something in the metal..."Buttercup, how long ago did your key go missing?"

"Huh? Oh, a LONG time ago. Maybe a year?"

"Why, Doctor, could this mean something?" the Professor asked.

"No, not after this long a time. False alarm." They had caught the excitement in the doctor's voice a moment before, but hearing those words now, their hopes fell along with his.

"The heart is just ahead, Professor. When you enter, you should be headed straight for the aorta this time."

And so they were. Dr. Waldman guided them to the carotid artery that would carry them to the brain, and shortly thereafter, they neared the site of their experiment; their last, fleeting hopes for their sister and daughter, dashed.

"I know we're helping others, but I hate the whole idea of this!" Blossom thought. She kept thinking about how Bubbles' organs didn't seem to be dying yet, how she seemed to still be breathing okay in spite of the slow rate that a normal person couldn't survive. It could only mean that somehow Bubbles KNEW she had to hang on long enough so that those others COULD be helped. Blossom resigned herself to the task at hand, but the thoughts wouldn't leave her mind.

"Well, we're here, Doctor." the Professor said, stopping the sub and keeping it held steady by putting the engines in reverse, against the current.

"Where do we start cutting?" Buttercup asked. "I can't tell the difference between the good parts and the cancer."

"What?" Waldman asked.

"Yes, it is difficult to see any difference, Doctor." the Professor confirmed. They looked out at one large, grayish mass of folds. Larger vessels could be seen branching off from the artery they were in, spreading out into smaller capillaries that fed into the mass in many areas. To see if the surgery would work, they would seal off a branch at the artery.

"That tells me the growth in the brain has ceased, Professor. Judy, get a temperature." he said to one of the nurses.

They waited a few moments, just sitting staring out the windows.

"I can't believe we're inside Bubbles' head." Buttercup said.

"Let's not think about that, Buttercup; let's think about all the people we're helping. That would make her very happy." the Professor said.

"Professor," came the doctor's voice. "Her temperature is 94° . This would be consistent with her body shutting down and the spread of the cancer slowing. I doubt we'll see any more 'hot spots' showing on a CAT scan. Do you still want to go through with this?"

"Yes, Doctor." came three sad voices.

"All right. What I want you to do is move away from where you are, down toward the brain stem. It will be easier for us to see those areas, and tell exactly if cutting the vessels has any effect, and how long it takes if it does. Where you are now, the tissue is too dense."

The Professor followed the instructions, with Blossom pointing the way on her charts. Just as they were slowing, they felt a bit of turbulence and the sub rocked a little.

"What was that?" they all shouted.

"You must have struck a nerve outside the brain area. She flinched a little, but that's all."

"If this is gonna hurt her, I don't wanna do it, Professor!" Blossom cried.

"Me either!" Buttercup agreed.

"Girls, the brain can't feel pain. We just need to be careful around the outside, that's all." he told them. "We better strap ourselves in, just to be safe."

"Yes. That's right" Waldman said. "Just avoid any of the dark red areas surrounding the brain. That's where the muscle tissue and nerves will be. Now, there are nerve endings in the blood vessels, so there may be some reaction when you cut, but that should be minor. We're ready out here, so start whenever you want."

The Professor made sure they were securely buckled in, then fastened his own belts. "Okay, girls, here we go. Buttercup, that looks like a good one right there." He pointed toward a fat vessel that branched off into dozens of smaller ones, which soon disappeared out of sight into the mass. Buttercup stared into the screen and lined up the spot she wanted to hit. Outside the sub, the laser turret swiveled into position. She pushed the red 'Fire' button and a bolt of energy struck the blood vessel precisely where she intended.

Suddenly, they saw a brilliant flash and they were rocked by an unseen force. They whipped their heads to the left and saw what looked like fingers of lightning coming out of the gray mass and striking the sub. Off as far as they could see around the perimeter of the mass, flashes of lightning danced everywhere.

In the room, Bubbles' eyes flew open and she winced in pain. She jumped a foot off the bed, though she remained unconscious.

"She's convulsing!" one of the nurses shouted. Both nurses, along with Waldman, rushed to hold her down. One of the nurses pushed the 'help' button. Moments later, two more nurses would enter the room. In the meantime, Waldman had to find out what had happened.

"Professor, are you all right in there? What did you see?" he said, breathless from the sudden exertion.

"She attacked us!" came Buttercup's shouting voice.

"Doctor, we're hurting her! She's telling us to stop!" was Blossom's plea.

"Doctor," said the Professor in a calmer voice, "it seems we were hit by lightning. I would guess that to be her synapses firing and that she went into convulsions."

Waldman looked at his patient. They had Bubbles calmed down. Though the brainwave monitor had sprung into life briefly, it had flattened out once more.

"Yes, Professor, though I expected the convulsions some hours ago. It's a bit unusual for them to be coming now. But the synapses firing is very strange. That shouldn't be happening once brain activity has ceased. Are you absolutely sure you didn't strike something outside her brain?"

"No, I'm positive!" the Professor answered. "We made sure we were only firing on the blood vessels that fed into the gray tissue!"

Five sets of eyes flew wide open in the room. "What the...?" Waldman sputtered. "Professor, did you say gray tissue? Look very carefully. There should be pinkish areas with darker discoloration."

"No, we don't see any of that. It all looks the same color."

"Impossible!" he thought. "Stand by, Professor!" He removed the headset and began giving orders.

"Get the portable CAT scanner in here, now! See if those biopsy results are back! Stop the morphine drip and try waking her up!"

A series of beeps took them by surprise and the frenzied activity stopped. The flat brainwave line jumped briefly, then flattened out again, but another monitor was giving readings. Bubbles' kidneys were working again. Waldman snapped his fingers to break the spell and get them all going about their tasks.

He put the headset back on. "Professor, I don't know what you did in there, but I want you to get back to the PIC line ASAP. Don't do anything else!"

Waldman looked back and forth between the biopsy report and the newest CAT scan, totally bewildered. In the time spent waiting, blood tests showed that Bubbles' liver and her other organs were returning to normal, and her brainwaves were also back to normal. Her heart rate and respiration began to climb. It was too soon to say anything, but the people in the room looked at each other, knowing they had just witnessed a miracle.

Inside the sub, the Professor was trying to console the girls. They were still a bit woozy from being tossed about during the seizures, but they were nearing the exit spot without further incident. Their mission had failed.

"I killed her, Professor!" Buttercup sobbed.

"No, honey, you didn't. There wasn't anything we could do for her before we tried this."

"I did too!"

Blossom tried to convince her otherwise. "Buttercup, you can't blame yourself! We were only trying to do the right thing! Bubbles would have wanted us to."

"Professor? Girls?" Waldman's voice broke in. "I didn't mean to leave you in the dark, but we were kind of busy out here. I have someone who'd like to say something to you."

"Prob'ly the mayor." Blossom said.

"Professor? Blossom? Buttercup?"

"BUBBLES!" they shouted. It was the sweetest sound they'd ever heard.

"Are you guys really inside me?" she asked, her voice full of wonder.

Waldman took the headset back from Bubbles and smiled at her. She smiled back at him, and at the nurses who told her to close her eyes and get some more rest. The Professor and her sisters would be with her soon.

"I'm back." he said, and he was answered with three voices talking at once.

"Yes, she appears to be doing just fine, though I still want to run some more tests. Are you ready to come out?"

"And how!" Buttercup shouted.

"Doctor, I'm sorry we didn't get to see if this procedure would work, but I can't wait to get out of here!" the Professor said.

"But Professor," Blossom protested. "We can still find out!"

"How, Blossom?" Waldman asked. "I don't want you taking any needless risks."

"Not to worry," she smiled, "I know the 'key' to the whole thing!"

The Professor and Buttercup groaned, more at the bad joke than at the thought of going back in.

Between the Professor and Blossom, they managed to work the sub into one of the tiny capillaries that fed the little piece of skin protruding from the wall of Bubbles' stomach. The key to Buttercup's diary had gotten caught on it, on the small hole in the top of the key, and stayed there all this time.

"I got a firing solution, Professor!" Buttercup called out.

"We're ready, Doctor." came the Professor's voice over the headset.

Waldman looked down at the Powerpuff Girl, snuggled under the blanket. "Now, Bubbles, you might feel a little pain in your stomach. I want you to be honest and tell me how much it hurts. We might be able to help other people if this works."

"Okay! Why are they operatin' on my tummy?"

"Something they saw down there. We'll know soon. Any time, Professor."

Buttercup traced the laser beam across the piece of flesh until it fell off, taking the key with it. Then she aimed the beam down to a point just in front of the sub, and sealed off the capillary they were in.

"Well, Buttercup," the Professor said. "You should have your key back...in about two days."

"Two days? How come?" Her eyes widened. "Oh. Uh, I had an extra key, anyway. I ain't touching this one!"

Bubbles winced, and said, "Ow!"

"How badly did that hurt, Bubbles? Truthfully." the doctor asked.

"Well, not TOO much. But I AM a Powerpuff Girl and it takes a lot to hurt me!"

"I'll say." he thought. But in spite of her high pain threshold, he believed that with pain medication, and certainly some more testing, Professor Utonium's new form of 'microsurgery' would be highly successful on 'normal' citizens.

Bubbles was forced to wait until the Professor and her sisters were all 'shot' back to their normal sizes and had removed their suits, but then there was no stopping her. In a second, they were mobbing one another.

"Ahem. Back in bed, young lady!" said the doctor, after he'd let them have a brief joyous reunion. Bubbles needed her rest, yet.

"Okay, sorry!" Still dressed in her hospital gown, she zipped into the bed and got under the sheet.

They all spoke at once. "What happened?" "Bubbles, are you okay?" "Doctor, what...how?"

He held up his hands. "Let's all sit down."

Blossom disappeared. She raced back to the waiting area. Keane and Bellum were both still there, now just talking quietly.

"Ms. Keane! Ms. Bellum! Bubbles is OK! She's OK!"

They both jumped, stunned and still red-eyed.

"Well, don't just stand there, come on!"

She flew back to the room. Buttercup sat cross-legged on the bed right next to Bubbles and was messing up her sister's hair while she giggled. Blossom joined them. The Professor sat on the edge of the bed on the window side, and the doctor stood. The two women took the two available chairs when they came in.

"Doctor, how do you explain this?" the Professor asked.

"There is no logical explanation for it, Professor. We all thought we knew what we were dealing with. But there WERE signs that things were different."

"The Powerpuff physiology." the Professor said.

"It would appear so. Bubbles' heart and breathing continuing to function, almost normally, in spite of their being at levels no one could survive without help. The fact that she didn't go into convulsions the way she should have, and didn't until you triggered them."

"Yeah, " Blossom said, "It was like she was saying 'leave me alone!'"

"Yeah, Bubbles, your brain ATTACKED us!"

Bubbles was instantly horrified. "I did?"

"Yeah! It was GREAT!" Buttercup said, with the benefit of hindsight on her side.

Waldman continued. "Yes, and you fought us when we tried to put you on a respirator, Bubbles. It appears you didn't NEED our help. Professor," he said, looking his way, "When you said the brain tissue was all a solid gray, I knew that couldn't be. The cancer had consumed nearly all the healthy tissue by that time. Or so I thought. I asked for another CAT scan and for the biopsy results. Then, all of a sudden, one of the monitors went off. Her kidneys started functioning again."

"Eeep!" Bubbles flew out of the bed and into the bathroom.

"I'll say!" Buttercup giggled, and everyone laughed. A minute later, an embarrassed Bubbles floated out and got back into bed.

The Professor restarted the conversation by inquiring, "And all of her other organs started functioning again, one by one, is that what happened, Doctor?"

"Pretty much, yes. Within minutes, everything was back to normal."

"Whoa...creepy..." Buttercup said.

The doctor went on. "When I looked at the biopsy, it showed that the brain cells collected were completely normal. No different from a baseline done shortly after the girls were born. The CAT scan confirmed it. There is no trace of cancer anywhere. It fits with all the other signs. No sign of necrosis in the organs. The return of her vision. And here's one that never occurred to me at all. Bubbles' speech, according to the scans, should have been one of the first things affected, but it never was."

The Professor looked at Bubbles, then at his other two girls, who just kept staring at their sister. "Bubbles, I think I know what happened. Girls, this is very important."

They looked at him. "Girls, this wasn't any accident. I think it was planned all along as part of your natural development."

Their eyes bugged out. They were speechless.

"Don't ask me how that's possible," Waldman said, "but that is almost what it seemed like...like her body doing maintenance on itself."

"Yes, Doctor." the Professor said. " As her developing new brain took over, it shut her organs down and used what little energy it needed to keep her alive. When your brain was ready, Bubbles, it began to test each part of your body one by one to make sure everything was right, before it returned them to normal. Incredible!"

Keane, Bellum and the girls all looked back and forth at each other.

Buttercup was wide-eyed with wonder. "Professor, are you sayin' that Bubbles grew a whole new brain an? that it ATE her old one? AWESOME!"

Bubbles looked horrified to hear it put that way, but the Professor and the doctor both smiled.

"In a way, Buttercup, that's exactly what happened." said the Professor.

"The reason it appeared to be tumors was the new brain growth acted exactly the way tumors do." said the doctor. "They were very active and produced heat, which is what causes the images on a CAT scan to look the way they do. And, because for a time you had two brains in there, things got a little compressed and that's what made you sick."

"Won't Bubbles have memory lapses?" Keane asked, still worried about her pupil.

"If this is something built into the girls, she shouldn't, Ms. Keane." the Professor answered. "Think of her brain like a CD burner. It just copied everything over."

Buttercup touched Blossom's arm. "You were right, sis, for not wanting to go in. We didn't need to."

"But we did, and now maybe it's gonna help a lot of people! So you and the Professor were right for wanting to!"

"Yeah, but the main thing, Blossom, is that you didn't give up on Bubbles, like I was sayin'. I'm sorry."

They hugged, and then they hugged Bubbles. She looked over at the Professor.

"You didn't give up, neither, Professor. You told me I'd get to go home again."

"Bubbles," said the doctor, "I'm afraid we gave up on you, and I'm sorry."

"That's okay. When can I go home?"

"I'm going to order another CAT scan and some other tests, and if they all look good, you can go home tomorrow. Professor," he said, holding out his hand, "it looks like we got our miracle."

The Professor shook it. "No, Doctor," he said, putting his arm around his girls, "we've got three."

-14-

After the doctor excused himself, Keane and Bellum stayed only a few more minutes themselves before leaving. They knew Bubbles needed her rest, and the family needed to be alone to share their private thoughts with one another.

The Professor sat in a chair, watching his daughters huddled together on the bed. Blossom and Buttercup were looking drowsy and he'd have to get them home and into bed soon. If he could get the media people outside to leave them alone. The staff would be along to give Bubbles those tests and she was already worn out. But they had a few more questions for him.

"Professor? Do you really think this'll happen to us, too?" Blossom asked, sounding a bit frightened at the prospect. Who could blame her, after what she'd witnessed?

"I don't know, honey, but if it does, we'll be ready. We know what to watch for now, and we'll probably put you in here just to be safe; but it'll be bed rest and painkillers pretty much."

"Why did it happen to only one of us?" Buttercup wanted to know.

"Well, Buttercup, if this is all a part of your girls' makeup, it would make sense for it not to happen all at once. It's like a built-in defense system. Not only your bodies taking care of themselves, but making sure the other two of you are healthy and ready to protect not only Townsville, but each other."

"Yeah. Good answer!" she replied, and the girls smiled at each other.

"But Professor," Bubbles asked, "how come I got a new brain first?"

"Maybe you needed it more!" Buttercup laughed. Blossom whacked her in the back of the head with one of Bubbles' pillows.

"Hey, I was only kidding!"

"I know!" Blossom giggled, and the two started wrestling for control of the pillow. Bubbles giggled along and grabbed her second pillow and clobbered Buttercup with it.

"Hey, no fair!" Buttercup yelled, but she wasn't angry.

"Girls!" the Professor said sharply, but he was grinning. They settled down. "That's better. Now, to answer your question, Bubbles, I think-"

"I know why, Professor," Blossom broke in. "It was to teach us something. We learned just how much you mean to us, Bubbles."

"Did you guys really mean all that stuff you said when you came in to see me before?"

"Yeah, Bubbles," Buttercup said, dabbing at one of her eyes, "that and a whole lot of other stuff I didn't say." She touched her forehead to Bubbles' and put a hand on her shoulder. "Sometimes me an' Blossom say things to you that we really don't mean. Maybe this'll make us stop doing that." She sat back. "But I'll prob'ly forget, like always."

"Girls," the Professor asked thoughtfully, "is there something you can take from this experience, some little thing you can remember, so that when you start to pick on your sister, you'll think of today?"

They sat and thought, and after a minute, Blossom's eyes went wide. She leaned over to Buttercup and whispered something. Buttercup broke into a grin.

"Blossom, that's great! Bubbles, if me an' Blossom start picking on you and call you dummy and stuff, just say 'Code Blue!'

Bubbles didn't know what it meant, but she smiled. "Code Blue. I like it! 'Cause I wear blue!" She frowned. "But I don't have a cold!"

"No, Bubbles, not cold, code! C-O-D-E, CODE!" Blossom said loudly, annoyed.

Buttercup griped, "Yeah, dummy!"

"CODE BLUE!" Bubbles shouted, pointing at them and laughing. "Gotcha!"

They blinked at each other. Realizing they'd been caught, and so easily, too; they knew it would work. They burst into giggling and the group hug started one more time.

The Professor sat back and smiled, knowing just how lucky a man he was.

"Them's my girls!"

THE END

¹ 'Death of a Powerpuff Girl' by sjcobert

² 'Power Points' by sjcobert

Both of these stories can be read at Pokey Oaks Fan Fiction Library and I highly recommend them.