A large monarch butterfly flitted around Townsville, in no particular direction. It let the gentle current of wind blowing today take it along: past a window of the Mayor's office, through which the most powerful man in Townsville could be seen struggling with a pickle jar, past Pokey Oaks Kindergarten, where Sandy Keane was in the process of preparing her classroom for the morning kindergarten class, around the lens of the telescope of the volcano top observatory of a (fortunately) sleeping Mojo Jojo, if only for a moment, through the back alleyways of Townsville, before finally choosing a place to land: a gray fedora.
The butterfly didn't rest there for very long before it found itself threatened. A bluish-green pseudopod whipped out abruptly and swatted at the insect, trying to scare it away from its perch, to little avail. After a few tries, the assailant realized that his efforts to dislodge the butterfly from his boss's hat were futile at best. It seemed that even the local insects considered him, the other henchman of the group, and his boss harmless.
Still, one more attempt wouldn't hurt anything, would it? That considered, the would-be butterfly vanquisher, a tall, thin, tan fedora wearing amoeba, removed his hat, took aim at the butterfly, and swung it as hard as he could. He missed. His intended target realized that it was not wanted here and fluttered off, leaving the overgrown microbe to clock his boss over the head instead.
The effect was instantaneous. The owner of the gray fedora, who looked to be the oldest of the three protozoa slumped against the wall of the alleyway, opened his eyes in surprise and swung around to face his very guilty looking henchman.
"Slim, whaddya think yer doin'?" the leader of the trio, aptly named Bossman, snapped, eyeing the hat the taller amoeba held.
"Yeah, what?" the smallest and youngest of the group, the black cap clad Junior piped up from beside him. He too had just snapped out of sleep.
Skinny Slim looked nervously at his hat, to Bossman, back to the hat again. He nervously reset the brown fedora on his head as he stammered out an explanation. "I...I wasn't tryin' to hit you, Boss...there was this butterfly...an'..."
"And what?" Bossman inquired, leaning up into his taller henchman's face. Slim swallowed hard and began to cower as his boss continued to confront him. "What could a butterfly be doin' that would make ya wanna attack me? Well? What was it?"
"Yeah, what was it?" Junior parroted.
"It...it...was just sittin' there...an'...an'...that was it." Slim said, the last few words of his explanation barely above a whisper. The tall protist had now slouched into a puddle of cytoplasm on the sidewalk. He looked up appeasingly at his boss from his spot on the pavement. "Boss, I'm real sorry..."
Bossman didn't answer; the leader of the Amoeba Boys had just noticed the sun rising over the horizon, bathing the sidewalk he and his henchmen stood on in light. He smiled. "Boys, it's sunup. You know what that means, right?"
Both Slim, who had stopped cowering, and Junior stared blankly at him. "What's it mean, Boss?"
"It means it's morning, you mugs!" the older protozoan said, "And that means it's a new day, an' that means..."
"What?", the two henchman asked.
Their leader shrugged. "I don't know." He frowned, fishing around in whatever passed for a brain for the answer. "I had the answer a minute ago...there it is...no, not that...er...it's..."
The sound of something flying overhead jerked Bossman out of his thoughts, such as they were. He looked up in surprise, observing the flying object and the pink vapor trail it left behind. "That's it!", he said, beaming. "Today's a new day for us to prove ourselves to them Powerpuffs!"
Junior nodded. "Yeah, the Powerpuffs"
"Yeah, the...did ya notice somethin' funny there?" Slim asked.
Bossman raised an eyebrow. "Such as...?"
"There was only one of 'em." the taller henchman stated. "Isn't there three of 'em normally?"
The leader of the Amoeba Boys nodded "Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's three Powerpuffs.". His normally dull features lit up as he realized what this meant. "Wait a minute- if there's three of us an' only one of them...they's surrounded."
"Yeah, surrounded!" Junior agreed. "Boss, does this mean we're gonna fight them?"
"Exactly." Bossman said, trying to look and sound as villainous as possible and failing miserably. "Now where could the Powerpuffs...the one Powerpuff have gotten to?" He began to slither out of the alleyway, only going a few paces before he realized his henchmen weren't anywhere near him.
"Are ya comin'?" he shouted at Slim and Junior.
The two henchmen snapped to attention at those words and shot out of the alleyway as quickly as they could.
---
The two henchmen fell in behind their boss, who was parked on one of the nearby sidewalks, staring at the sky for signs of the Powerpuff, unmindful of the townspeople that were making their way to work or school, be it on foot on the sidewalks or down the street on cars or bikes. The citizens of Townsville were just as unmindful of the Amoeba Boys: Junior was almost stepped on several times and a woman almost stepped through Bossman. The three would-be Townsvillains may very well have been invisible.
"Ya see anything yet, Boss?" Slim inquired, scanning the horizon.
"Nope.", Bossman responded. "If I had, I woulda told you. What about you, Junior?"
The smallest of the amoebae nodded. "Yeah, I see a big, orange fireball. Does that count as somethin'?"
"That's the sun, schtupid!" Bossman snarled. "We was lookin' for the Powerpuffs, remember?"
"Yeah...that." the smaller henchman said, returning to staring at the sky. "Okay...how 'bout that girl floating over there?"
"It's probably not a..." Bossman began before he realized what Junior had just said. "Girl? Where?"
"Yeah, I see her too, Boss. She's next to that big volcano thingy." Slim said, pointing in the direction of Mojo Jojo's hideout in the middle of Townsville Park. Blossom Utonium, the leader of the Powerpuffs could be seen hovering near the observatory.
Bossman turned his gaze to where his henchmen were indicating. "Well I'll be." he said, before taking off again into the middle of street and towards Townsville Park, Slim and Junior trailing behind him. "I just hope she waits...ah!"
The would-be crime boss yelped in surprise as the car that'd almost pancaked the three of them swerved out of the way. He shuddered a little bit as he and his henchmen made it to the other side of the road. That was one of the pitfalls of jaywalking: it was illegal, it showed that he had no respect for the rules, but it also carried the risk of being run over, which, while not necessarily fatal to a giant amoeba was still quite painful.
"Alright, that's outta the way." the leader of the Amoeba Boys said a few moments later as the three protists continued making their way to their destination. He was trying his hardest to disguise how spooked he was. "Now...shoot, there she goes!"
Blossom was already flying off towards the observatory. The oversized microbe would've lost his quarry by now...only one thing left to do. Bossman made his way away from the cluster of shops he and his henchmen were parked by, and out into open air, took a deep breath and shouted with all the volume he could muster. "BLOSSOM!"
Thank goodness for ultrasonic hearing: red haired girl paused mid-flight within moments and turned around, making her way to where the Amoeba Boys stood.
From the look of it, the leader of the Powerpuff Girls was in a hurry: perhaps it had something to do with the package tucked under her arm. There were small, dark circles under her eyes, and her red hairbow was askew. She sounded a little drowsy as well when she spoke, stifling a yawn mid-sentence. "Look, guys, I'm in a bit of a hurry today. Did you need anything?"
Bossman straightened himself up, trying to look as menacing as he could. "Do we need anything, Blossom? Well, I guess considerin' youse surrounded by us, I guess ya could say we need somethin'...we need to fight!" On "fight" he lunged forwards at Blossom, trying to intimidate her the same way he had intimidated Slim earlier that morning. It didn't work.
Blossom shook her head. "I'm sorry, but now's not a good time for me. I don't have much time left before-"
"It's a good time for us." Bossman said, still trying to frighten Blossom by trying to tower over her. Slim and Junior were now flanking her on both sides. "Let's face it, it's our three to your one an' that means you is gonna have to fight yer way out!"
"Not again..." the red haired girl muttered. These guys did not know when to quit, probably never would.
Skinny Slim took this opportunity to lunge forwards and grab the package Blossom was holding. Something in there sure smelled delicious. He began to read the card that was attached to it and frowned. "O...backwards 2...O.. backwards 2...O...W...I don't get it, is this s'posed to be a secret code?"
"I think yer readin' it upside down." Bossman informed his henchman.
Blossom responded by calmly snatching the package back from the taller protozoan, who looked a little disappointed. "Aren't ya gonna hit me?" he asked.
"He has a point." Bossman agreed. "We've got you surrounded, so where's the fight? Ya gotta be angry at us- Slim there just did a robbery: a capital crime. Yer s'posed to beat us up for that."
Blossom shook her head. Her sisters were probably wondering exactly why she'd taken a detour by now. "I'm not angry at you, and I don't want to fight right now".
The Amoeba Boys slouched in unison, looks of crushing disappointment on their faces.
Bossman looked imploringly at his "adversary". "C'mon, just a quick fight! I'll let ya throw the first puch an' everything!"
The pink Puff sighed. Reasoning wasn't going to work with these three. "Look, if I give you some advice, will you leave me alone?"
Bossman recovered instantly. "I swear it on my honor as a criminal." he said, taking on a serious demeanor. "Now give us yer secrets, Blossom."
"Here it is, then: Take some initiative for once."
Judging by the Amoeba Boys' reaction, Blossom had said something thoroughly incomprehensible. "Inni...whatsit?" the three protists said in unison.
"Don't talk about committing crimes, do it." the redhead explained. "Watch the other villains at work and learn, maybe you'll get an idea or two then. I'm not an expert on this sort of thing, but I'm pretty sure some of history's biggest criminals got their start by watching and copying other, better criminals."
Bossman drew in a breath. "Ya mean even Al Capone started out littering? That's amazing!"
Blossom raised an eyebrow. "Um...not really, but I guess if you want to put it that way..."
The leader of the Amoeba Boys was already lost in his own little world."So we copy one of them better Townsvillains...that's it! We're s'posed ta build a giant laser an' ransom the city, ain't we?", Already, he was beginning to wonder where in the hell he was going to find a giant laser.
Blossom giggled a little at that one before her face took on a more serious cast. "No, no, that'd probably be a little too hard for you guys. Besides, that's something best left to Mojo Jojo."
"Aww, I knew it." Skinny Slim sighed. "All of them good ideas, an' the monkey's already taken' 'em."
"Mind control, then." Bossman suggested. "That's sinister enough. Think of it, Blossom, what if we was ta get all of them government types brainwashed an' doin' our bidding? Now there's a crime: the crime of the century!"
"Yeah, the crime of the century!" Junior agreed. His face fell. "Boss, where're we gonna find a brainwasher?"
The older protist shrugged. "I dunno, maybe we blackmail the monkey an' make him build it."
"How're we gonna blackmail him?" Slim asked. A frown creased his face. "What's blackmail?"
"I don't know." Bossman admitted . "Blossom, what's blackm- ah, Blossom?"
The leader of the Amoeba Boys realized he was addressing thin air. The leader of the Powerpuffs had taken this time to escape and fly off to her destination.
Junior sighed. "We lost her."
Bossman laughed quietly. "Ah, maybe we did...but we gained somethin': the power of knowledge!"
The two henchman looked starry-eyed at the revelation."Oh...so it's a good thing." Slim and Junior chorused.
"Now all we have to find is someone to observe..." Bossman said. "Well, we've got all day, we's the willin' students, so let's go find us a willin' teacher!"
That decided, the three amoebae took off in no particular direction, all three grinning and brimming with hope. This could be the lucky break they'd been waiting for.
---
"Now what?", Junior asked as the three arrived at the end of the sidewalk, near a bus stop.
It had only been an hour or two at the most, and the Amoeba Boys were already beginning to become bored. It didn't seem like today had been the best day for crime: it was just too hot outside. Even criminals were staying indoors. Well, most of them were, anyway.
"Maybe that guy knows what to do." Skinny Slim suggested, starting forwards toward the very proper looking businessman standing by the bus stop sign.
Bossman responded by grabbing his taller henchman and pulling him backwards towards him. "Do ya want to blow our cover?" he hissed.
"Yeah, do ya?" Junior said.
Bossman turned to his smaller henchman. "It goes for you too, genius. Lower yer voice." That said, the boss amoeba slouched down and began to slink away, taking refuge behind an oak tree conveniently situated near the bus stop.
Slim darted after him, Junior following suit.
"Boss, what's goin' on?" the tall microbe whispered.
"Ya don't hear it?" Bossman responded, indicating the area just beyond the bus stop. "It's comin' from over there someplace."
Slim concentrated on the noises and nodded. "You mean the laughing, right?"
Bossman nodded. "Exactly. An' not just any kind of laughter: evil laughter."
"Yeah, evil!" Junior said, forgetting to lower his voice again.
Both Bossman and Skinny Slim turned to face him. "Not so loud!" they both shouted.
Junior looked down at the ground. "Sorry."
The sources of the laughter came around the opposite corner, and the microbes, who were cautiously peering behind the tree, knew they were in luck: those were Townsvillains having a laugh there, the Gangreen Gang. The five green-skinned youths looked like they were sharing some private joke between them as they approached the spot where the businessman was standing, placidly staring out into space, smiling happily and occasionally checking his watch, apparently oblivious to the fact that he was about to be robbed.
Ace, the suave, shade wearing leader of the group nodded at the other four members as they arrived near their destination. Immediately, the group went into action. Ace and the smallest of the gang, Little Arturo slipped behind the man, who was still smiling chipperly and whistling a happy tune, as the heavyset and aptly named Big Billy approached him. The two remaining members, the slender Snake and the rather malformed looking Grubber snuck away to a nearby spot out of the victim's line of vision.
The Amoeba Boys leaned forwards a little, trying not to dislodge themselves from their hiding place. This looked like it might be promising.
"What's goin' on?" Junior whispered.
"Heck if I knows." Bossman responded. "We watch an' wait, remember?"
Were it not for the fact that the hulking young man standing in front of him was casting an equally hulking shadow, the chipper businessman wouldn't have looked up at all. However, seeing as the shadow was ruining the wonderful beam of sunlight he was standing in, moved to address the sun-blocker. "Why, hello there, young man." he said, grinning cheerfully.
Big Billy broke into a grin of his own."Duh...hi there." He looked over to where Ace and Arturo were; they were still waiting for the perfect oppurtunity to snatch the man's wallet.
"Keep going." Ace mouthed. "The time, remember?"
"Okay." Billy said. He turned his attentions back to the businessman. "What time is it?"
"Oh, the time?" the businessman said. He leaned forwards, extending out his watch and squinted at it: the shadow Big Billy was casting was making it difficult to see. "Well now, young man, it's 11...14?...no, wait just a second..."
A second was all Ace and Arturo needed. The smallest of the gang leapt up and snatched the man's wallet, which was just about to fall out of his pants pocket, as Ace shot a hand into the opposite pocket, extracting a few loose coins and a shiny button. The two miscreants darted off to where Snake and Grubber were waiting. Ace gave a "hurry up" signal to Big Billy.
"Uh...I don't need the time no more." the hulking youth said. "Bye." That said, he lumbered off to join his friends.
"Well that's quite alright." the businessman chirped. "At least I tried!"
The bus the man had been waiting for just then pulled up and he strode up to it, still as happy as a lark.
"Your money?" the bus driver asked, indicating the fare box.
"Oh, yes, that! Just give me a moment..." The man reached a hand into his pants pocket and came out empty handed. He frowned and tried again with the other pocket, but found nothing. "Well that's odd, I thought I left home with my wallet..." he muttered. "Golly gee, I hope something didn't happen to it!"
The bus driver only snorted and shut the bus doors, driving off.
The businessman stared sadly after the bus. "Oh dear, that's no good at all." He brightened up. "Well, it's quite alright! I'll just walk to work!" He struck out towards the open road just then, narrowly missing being ran over. He didn't care. It happened.
As soon as the man was out of sight, the Gangreen Gang emerged from their hiding spot, laughing hysterically.
"Can you believe that guy?" Ace sneered. "What an idiot! 'Where'd my wallet go?' 'I'll just walk to work'. I think the folks around here are gettin' dumber by the hour."
"You sssaid it, Bosss.", Snake agreed. Grubber blew a raspberry of assent as well.
"So, Arturo, what does this one got in it?" Ace inquired, staring at the wallet, which the smallest of the Gang was going through, over the tops of his shades. "Anything good, or is it just full of stupid baby pictures like that last one?"
Arturo shook his head. "No, Boss, we're in luck. Look at this: fifty dollars and some shiny credit cards!"
Ace grinned, exposing slightly pointed teeth. "Alright! Looks like we'll be having ourselves a time tonight!" He looked at the handful of coins (and the button) he'd grabbed. "Heh, a dollar fifty. Here, Billy, buy yourself a soda or something." He tossed the change to the large boy.
Bossman decided now was as good of a time as ever to make his presence know. The gray fedora clad amoeba darted out from behind the tree, his henchman following him. From the look on their faces, one would've thought the Gang had performed some sort of miracle.
The Amoeba Boys stood there for some time before realizing that the Gangreen Gang wasn't paying them any mind. The youths were too busy picking apart the contents of the wallet and inspecting them.
Bossman cleared his throat. Seeing as that didn't work, he spoke up, trying to hide the face that being in the presence of criminals, real criminals made him antsy. "Ah...excuse me," he said weakly "but could we...uh...talk?"
Ace looked up from the fan of dollar bills he was holding, a peeved expression crossing his face. "Who are you guys supposed to be and what the hell do you want?"
Bossman was a little confused by this; he was sure that all the villains in Townsville had at least some idea of who the other one was. Still, if Ace wanted an introduction, he would get one. "I'm Bossman." the leader of the amoebae said, "and this here's Skinny Slim, and Junior. We're the Amoeba Boys and we're bad guys...kinda like you."
"How interesting." Ace said, letting out a snort of laughter. Sure, he'd seen these guys around the city: they were more pathetic than that guy he and the rest of the Gang had just robbed! "Well, Amoeba Boys, is there any particular reason why you've been spying on us?" His face took on a solemn cast. "Because you know, I'm not very keen on being followed around, and neither is anyone else here." As if on cue, the other Gangreens focused their eyes on the amoebae. None of them looked very amused.
"We don't need-" Slim began, only to be clocked over the head by Bossman.
"What do ya call that trick you guys did just now?" Bossman asked Ace. "Y'know, where ya took that fellow's wallet and..."
The Gangreen Gang burst into laughter.
"Sheesh, you guys really are dumb as posts!" Ace exclaimed between laughs. "You've never seen anyone get pickpocketed before?"
"I'm sssurprised they knew that wass a crime!" Snake said, making sure to keep laughing as long as his boss was.
Bossman looked miffed. "What's so funny? So we ain't worldly types like you is, that's nothin' to laugh about..."
"Yeah, it's not funny!" Junior agreed.
This only had the opposite effect: the green skinned teenagers laughed even harder.
Ace was pratically doubled over. "Please, gimme a break! You guys...you guys are a hoot! Forget bein' criminals, go into comedy or something!"
"We just wanted you to teach us how to do that...pocket picking thing." Bossman said, trying to decide if he was offended or enraged. Probably a little of both. "Ya see, Blossom told us that..."
"Oh, you're the Powerpuff Girls' running dogs!", Ace sneered. "Three little girls tell you what to do and you listen to 'em?"
"No, we-" Slim began, only to be cut off by Ace.
"This is getting to be to much." the Gangreen leader. "We have lives. We are not gonna drop everything just to teach a bunch of moronic blobs how to pick pockets. Pssh, I'm no professor. Are you a professor, Arturo?"
"Don't look at me, Boss."
"What about you, Big Billy?"
"Nope."
"Grubber, are you a professor?"
Grubber blew a raspberry in dissent.
"What about you, Snake?"
"Well, there wasss a time where I-" the slender teen began, only to find himself being hit upside the head by Ace. "I mean no." Snake muttered.
"You see, none of us are in any shape to teach you fellows anything." Ace said, mock-sincerely. "Now, if you excuse us, we have to give this loot a good home." The five walked off, leaving the amoebae alone again.
Bossman was fuming. "Here I was, thinkin' the Powerpuffs gave us no respect...an' those...those...punks just..." He snarled, looking up to the heavens, throwing two pseudopods up in the air in frustration. "A little respect, is that too much to ask for?!"
Slim and Junior, on the other hand, were trying to slip away quietly.
"Where are you mugs headin' off to?" Bossman called.
"Well, don't we usually leave after this sorta thing?" Slim asked as he and Junior returned to their boss's side.
Bossman shook his head. "Not today we don't. We is gonna try that pocket pickin' trick ourselves! Then we'll see who's laughin' at who!"
"But, Boss...they never told us how to do that thing to nobody!" Slim said. "How's we gonna do it then?"
"Simple." Bossman responded. "Ya think I didn't watch what they did? They sent the big guy to ask the time, the little guy took the wallet, the leader took the other pocket, them other two was lookouts..."
The taller henchman frowned"There's three of us. That means..."
"I've already laid it out, schtupid!" Bossman snapped. "You ask the next face that comes by here the time, Junior takes the loot out of the pocket, I'm lookout? Go it?"
"Why do I gotta ask him?" the tall protozoan groused. "Why don't you do it?"
"Easy, yer the tallest guy here."
"Yeah, you's...how come I've gotta do the robbery?" Junior asked.
"Because you's the short one, an'...sheesh, I dunno, would ya just do what I say and shut up about it? Someone's comin' anyway."
The three amoebae returned to their hiding place and waited for their chance.
The click of heels on pavement could be heard now. From their spot behind the tree, the Amoeba Boys could see the blonde arriving at the bus stop. She was prim-looking in her sharp navy suit and had an icy look about her.
"There's our ticket to respect." Bossman whispered. "Alright, Slim, go on."
Skinny Slim hung back. "Um...boss, ya know I could never..."
"She's a dame, big deal. A victim is a victim. Now go on, I'll cover for ya."
Slim, quaking like a bowl of Jello, slithered up to where the woman stood, impatiently tapping one heel and occasionally checking her watch. He did not want to mess with this lady, no siree. Still, he knew better than to argue with the Boss, not when this single act could buy so much needed praise and recognition.
Thankfully, she was the one who spoke up. "What do you want?", she snipped, casting a disapproving glance at the brown fedora clad amoeba, who was scared out of his mind.
"I...I...well, um..." Slim sputtered. He did not like talking to people, didn't Bossman remember this? "Hello, I was just wonderin' if I...could...if you'd...er..."
Bossman wondered it himself: what had possessed him to use Skinny as the decoy? A rotten orange would've had more charisma! Speaking of that, now was Junior's turn to...no, he'd get it. He struck out towards a spot behind the woman. If you wanted something done right, best to do it yourself.
"Boss?" Junior hissed. If Bossman had heard him, he didn't respond. The smaller microbe sighed. Guess he was lookout then.
"Spit it out already!" the blonde snapped. God, men were idiots, didn't matter what species they were.
"I...I..." Skinny stammered, finally spitting the words out: "What time is it?"
The woman rolled her eyes, but moved to check her watch anyway.At the same time, Bossman shot a pseudopod into her left pants pocket, extracting something shiny before speeding off.
"It's 11:45." she informed Slim. "Happy?"
The tall amoeba didn't even bother saying anything this time. He just nodded nervously and slipped off, falling in with Bossman and Junior, who had ducked into a nearby alleyway.
"Didja get anything, Boss?" Junior was asking.
"If ya can call it that." Bossman muttered. He didn't look very happy as he produced the loot: a single diamond ring. "It's shiny...and it's...well, that's really it. It's no good if it isn't gonna help us take over Townsville or make us rich." Before either of his henchmen could object, he threw the ring over his "shoulder". It landed in the gutter, disappearing from sight.
"Yeah, no good." Junior sighed.
"We coulda've kept it." Slim said. "Ya know, for braggin rights an'-" He noticed the other two were narrowing their eyes at him. "Well, we could've."
"It's gone now." Bossman stated. "No great loss. Just wait, tomorrow's a new day. We'll hatch a new plan, our way."
"Our way?" the two henchmen asked.
"Yeah, none of this 'copyin' other villains business. What was we thinkin', listening to the Powerpuffs? We've almost destroyed them before on our own terms, right?"
Slim and Junior nodded. Neither pointed out that those times they had almost destroyed the girls were kind of, sort of complete accidents.
"Alright, you mugs, let's head out." Bossman said. "There's a whole city waitin' to be menaced, and we might be just the criminals to do it!"
The three amoebae struck out towards the heart of Townsville. Somewhere, there was a criminal act with their names on it.
---
So it goes. The Gangreen Gang enjoyed an illicit afternoon bouncing from arcade to store, buying pieces of loot off a stolen credit card here, enjoying a soda or a video game there. Mojo Jojo raged about his villainous lair, wondering who would have the audacity to deposit a package full of cookies, of all things at his doorstep. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup plugged on at their schoolwork, such as it was, at Pokey Oaks, thankful that, other than the usual trip to help the Mayor get the lid off that pickle jar, there really hadn't been any emergencies so far. And the Amoeba Boys, eternally quixotic, never really learning anything, plugged on, wondering exactly when opportunity might strike again.
---
Femme Fatale was furious.
One moment, she'd held the perfect weapon: a small mind control device embedded in a diamond, perfect for brainwashing those government types into extending more privileges to women everywhere, making them the most powerful sex for a change. The next moment, she'd lost it. That grubby amoeba or one of his cohorts must've swiped it while she wasn't looking, back at the bus stop. Why had she chosen to carry it in her pocket, of all places, and more importantly, where was it now? If it had fallen into the hands of other criminals, male criminals...
She drew in a nervous breath, trying not to unnerve the poor woman seated next to her on the bus. At the best, that thing was probably lost forever. Who was to say a man, any man would be bright enough to figure out what it was for?