Oneshot- Ace-mazing

This is why they say never walk alone at night…

The seventeen year old beauty walked down the road, one of the most deserted streets in Townsville. It was nearing midnight, and Blossom was beat from another hard night of work. Because of her superpowers, she was worked extra hard, but paid even better than her coworkers at the retail store. She adjusted her button down and played with her hair a bit, trying to relax as she walked down the dark street. She wasn't afraid; she was a superhero for goodness sake. But with the Rowdyruffs still around, she was always on full alert. As were her two sister, Buttercup and Bubbles. Only difference was that they didn't have to walk home alone at night from work. What Blossom was expecting was not what she got. She expected a simple walk home. Being a Powerpuff girl her entire life gave her a strong reputation for being able to defend herself. She thought everyone understood that. But apparently one didn't understand that lesson.

Out from the shadows of a nearby ally, a back mass arose, tall and lean. As he walked more into the light, she nearly gasped at the sight of another one of her enemies. Not one that was really threatening to her or her sisters, but just as irritating.

"Ace, what are you doing here? Stealing candy from kids again?"

The tall green villain smirked at her sassiness. Looking over her statuesque figure, from her long, milky legs to her silky auburn hair, she could tell he was not admiring her for her denim mini skirt.

He took the cigarette he had in his mouth and flung it aside. "Jus' out for a late night stroll. Ya shouldn' be out this late at night, doll. Not without protection at least."

She scoffed. "I can take care of myself, thank you very much. If I recall, I've kicked your butt on numerous occasions."

His smirk grew into a sadistic grin. Taking off his sunglasses, he said, "That's not the kinda protection I meant, sweetie."

Temped to inquire about what he was referring to, she decided against it. Knowing Ace, it was probably something vile and disgusting. I simply replied, "Don't call me 'sweetie'. Now, if you'll excuse me, Ace. I've got to get going. It's late and I am really not in the mood to play superhero."

She continued walking, but he only followed her. "I've got anotha game we could play." She nearly jumped when it seemed that his words were right by her ear.

She swirled around to inquire about this "game" he supposedly had. However, she was taken by surprise when Ace's hand covered her mouth, knife in his hand. He had the knife edge pressed against her stomach but not enough to puncture skin, merely a warning. He pushed her against the wall.

"Uh-uh, Blossy. Don't scream. Now, I hear ya are a smart girl. Can you figure out where this night's gonna go from here?"

She wriggled her face free from his hand, but he didn't care. He had his forearm pressed against her collarbone, holding her back. He was stronger than she last remembered. It had been about a year since Ace had needed a beating. But apparently he'd been using the time to gain strength, to do stupid things like this.

She glared. "Since when are you into the rapist gig? What happened? Did getting hit with granny's walking cane start to get tiresome?"

Smirking, he shook his head. "I've waited twelve years to get the upper hand against ya. I'm gonna really enjoy taking full advantage of this situation." She felt the blade leave her stomach and go down to her thigh. He used the tip of the blade to lift the skirt further up. "After I get my fun in, the first thing I cut off will be that sarcastic little tongue of yers-"

But she cut him off by kneeing him below the belt. He doubled over in pain and she took off. But before she had time to actually get anywhere, he grabbed her by the waist and the two fell to the ground. She punched him in the face but he only had a trickle of blood in the corner of his mouth.

"Ya're gonna pay for that, you little bitch." He hit her in the head with the hilt of the knife, causing everything to go blurry for a second. His lips went to her ear. "Come on, Red. I know ya know how to have fun. Yer sister, Buttercup, she wasn't as smart as you. She didn't know how to have fun. And I have the bruises to prove it. But you, you just need to relax, and we'll have a great time. You should feel special. You'll get to be the first one I do this to. I wanted Buttercup, but she's too bitchy for me. I like you betta."

She groaned in anger and punched him again. He grabbed both her wrists hand held them above her head, the other hand still holding the knife.

"You're a sick pig, you know that?" Blossom snapped, wriggling her wrists.

These words seemed to only turn him on. She felt the rise in his jeans as he straddled her. "Why thank you, doll, I do try." He looked the situation over, him pinning her to the ground as if she were just some human girl. "It's a shame. I thought ya were tougha. This was all jus' too easy." He shrugged. "Oh well. Better safe than sorry, probably a blessing. Ya're hot you know, hotta than yer sisters. Not that they're not gorgeous too, but the years were very good to ya."

He took the knife and cut the top three buttons of her shirt off, pulling the shirt back a bit to get a better view of her black lace bra. She sonic screamed and he jumped off her, covering his ears with his hands. Seeing it as the chance to make her getaway, she took to the skies, but still too disoriented for being hit in the head by the handle of the knife. She was slow. Too slow because Ace quickly grabbed her ankle and pulled her back down, shoving her into the wall.

"Ya really know how to make a night fun, Red," he said, still grinning sadistically. "But I'm tired of playing. Let's jus' get done so I can kill you already. Shame too, we could have made a great pair."

"You're a sick, twisted son of a bitch. When did you become this sadistic?"

He paused dramatically and pretended to think. "About two years ago. It's been a good two years. Now, let's get on with this, shall we?"

He started for her and she prepared another sonic scream, but it was cut short when a red streak crossed her line of sight, taking Ace with it. There was a loud clank in the ally and then grunting. She poked her head around the corner and watched the mysterious hero take Ace down like nothing. When the noises stopped, she knew it was over. Then she saw the hero she was waiting to thank. Brick of the Rowdyruffs? No way. She rubbed her eyes, wondering if she'd been seeing right. He had something in his hand, the knife, and he was bending it and mangling it beyond recognition. It looked like it hurt but he never fazed once. Throwing it and the now tied up Ace into the closest dumpster, he turned to meet her. Did he know it was Blossom he had saved? "Saved"… Since when did Brick save instead of hurt?

Extremely confused and a little more than disturbed at this revelation, she panicked and ran off, hiding behind one of the trees lining the street. She snuck a peek around the trunk, looking at a confused Brick. He looked around, wondering where she had gone. Red flashed and in a blink he was gone. Sighing with relief, Blossom turned to walk away but instead found herself face to face with Brick, whose hands were raised in a fighting stance. Despite the stance, he looked utterly confused.

"Pinky? What are you doing here?" he asked, frowning darkly at her. Had he not realized that it had been her he had just saved?

Stuttering incoherently, she shut her mouth and started again. "I-I was walking home. From work. Ace got the drop on me."

Acting as if he'd just seen something completely surreal, he froze, eyes huge with surprise. "That was you? You were the one about to be r…" he trailed off, not wanting to actually utter the words. He now seemed even more confused. "But how? You're a superhero. People with superpowers don't get hurt by Ace. Ace is too weak to have gotten the drop on you."

She glared. "Shut up. I didn't realize he'd gone sadistic."

Brick looked her over, realizing her button shirt was still cut and revealing her bra. He seemed to enjoy the sight. Feeling completely embarrassed, Blossom gripped her shirt shut, cutting him off from his sick fantasies. There was a moment of silence.

"Are you alright?" he asked, meeting her eyes again.

To be honest, she wasn't. She was weak and tired from work. Make that extremely tired because of what had just happened. But she wasn't about to let her evil-doing counterpart realize that. She nodded and watched him. He watched her right back, measuring her expression. He could tell she wasn't all right like she said.

"Why are you here?" Blossom asked.

Caught off guard by the question, Brick cocked his head to the side, crossing his arms. "What do you mean?"

"Why did you save me?" She watched his face, trying to gauge his expression.

"I didn't realize it was you," he lied. Blossom frowned at this. Would he not have saved her if he had known?

"Why did you save anyone? You're bad. You don't help people."

Waving it off, he turned to walk away. "So what, I felt like being nice. Even I'm not that cruel that I'd rape some girl on the street. Ace is a sick bastard."

She followed him, easily matching his pace. She was surprised by the fact he was walking at all, rather than flying off. "Thank you," she murmured.

He stopped dead in his tracks, unsure if he'd heard right. Turning to look at her, he smirked. "Did you just thank me? Did he hit you on the head or something?"

"Yes, he did. But that's beside the point. You did save me. And unlike some people, I do have manners. So thank you."

He took her words in, liking the way the sounded. "You're welcome."

Blossom was just as surprised. He'd never said that before. It was usually a snarky comment that was meant to make him look better or degrade the person thanking him. Not that he ever really had anyone thanking him. I mean, come on, it's Brick.

They stood there a moment, looking at each other with a strange feeling bubbling up inside them. Neither could quite pinpoint what it was. But whatever the feeling was, they both liked it. So foreign to the two of them, it practically overtook them, and they slowly walked to each other. Blossom froze when Brick raised his hand, but to the surprise of both of them, he merely stroked her hair and caressed her face.

After a moment, reality sank back in and they both took a giant step back. Brick shoved his hands in his pockets and cleared his throat. "Well, uh, I should go. Maybe we should keep this incident to ourselves?"

Holding her blouse shut, she nodded and swallowed hard, for some reason hurting that he was about to leave. "Right, smart idea."

But neither made a move to leave. Their eyes stayed locked, just watching each other. A whoosh in the sky made them both turn and look up.

"My sisters," she muttered to herself.

Brick heard her though, from both having super hearing. He nodded in agreement and started off, floating a little above the ground, but never actually releasing her gaze. The sound of her sister's calling her name send a wave of pain through the both of them. Neither wanted the other to have to go, but they never would admit that aloud. Brick gave one last farewell nod before taking off faster than lightning. Where he once stood was a red streak of light.

"Blossom?" Buttercup called somewhere on that deserted road, sounding as if she wasn't facing her, maybe looking around.

"Over here," she called, not actually taking her eyes off the spot where Brick had been. "Thank you," she murmured again, praying he was still close enough to hear it.

Buttercup was at her side in a second, wearing a lime green tank top and baggy black track sweats. She'd left on a moment's notice, not having time to change out of her lounging clothes. "Blossom, thank God. Bubbles! I found her!"

Her other sister was in front of her in a second, hugging Blossom fiercely as she sobbed. "Blossom, we were so worried! We heard your sonic scream so we came looking. Are you okay?"

Blossom couldn't help but giggle at her sweet, yet sappy, sister as she sobbed. She hugged her back, smiling. "I'm fine."

"We saw a red streak. Was it Brick?" Buttercup asked. When she saw Blossom holding her shirt, she forced Blossom to release her grip and watched her shirt fall off her shoulder slightly, revealing her bra. "Oh my God!"

Bubbles took a step back and looked her over as well, also taking note of the bleeding scratch on her thigh also. "Oh no! Blossom, what happened? You're bleeding, you hair is a mess, and your shirt is torn! Did he…?"

"Did that fucking asshole try raping you? Because if he did, that is a new low. Even for him. I'm gonna kill this jackass. Where is he? Did he take off when he heard us?" Buttercup ranted, looking around furiously.

Blossom glared at them, not liking the accusations they made towards Brick for some reason. "No! It wasn't him. It was Ace. He's tied up in the dumpster over there. He cut me with a knife."

Her green sister gasped, "That's low! That's too sick for even Ace. Now Brick I could see. Ace isn't smart enough or tough enough to do something like that."

Blossom jabbed her thumb in the direction of the dumpster. "Go look, he's there. Knife and everything."

The two exchanged a look and Buttercup went to investigate, only to return red faced and ready to burst with anger. "That little twerp! I should kill him. No one does that to my sister."

Bubbles nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Want us to take him to the river? I'll get some workout weights."

Laughing at Bubbles' joke, Blossom shook her head and smiled. "We'll just take him to the police department. I'll show them what he did to me. He won't be getting out anytime soon with that evidence. Especially having done this to a Powerpuff Girl."

Not seeming too pleased with his punishment, the two sisters sighed and nodded. Buttercup frowned at her redheaded sister and asked, "What about Brick? I saw him take off. What did he have to do with this?"

Blossom glared at Buttercup. "Nothing. He had absolutely nothing to do with this. This was all Ace."

Buttercup's eyebrows rose. "Jeeze, why so defensive?"

Bubbles grinned. "Did he save you? How romantic!" Almost immediately after asking the question she smacked herself in the head. "Oh wait, Brick's bad. He wouldn't save you."

Ignoring Bubbles entirely, Blossom stared at the floor, thinking about how utterly wrong both her sisters were about Brick. He had saved her and the way he had looked at her and had stroked her face, it made her heart skip a beat. No, she couldn't like Brick. That was completely illogical. But that was just it. In that short amount of time, from the moment that she realized it was Brick who saved her, she had started liking him. A lot.

"I can't believe I'm thinking this. But…I like Brick," she thought, her mind thousands of miles away.

She wanted to seriously smack herself for even admitting that in her head. But she couldn't control it. The way he looked at her…it sparked something in her, something she never thought would happen. He was really handsome, smart, and nearly perfect. Well, minus the fact he was evil by nature.

Her sisters pulled her out of her haze. "Blossom? You okay?"

She looked up, meeting two pairs of worried eyes. "What? Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure Brick didn't do anything?" Bubbles inquired.

She paused, because he had. He'd saved her. "No, Bubbles. He didn't hurt me. I promise."

Buttercup didn't believe her for a minute, but she had no reason to believe Blossom was lying. After all, save a few rare occasions back when they were younger, Blossom never lied. She nodded and went to grab Ace before the three took off.

At the police station, the Chief of Police looked Blossom over, being sure she was fine. After some paperwork, the Girls were free to go. "Don't worry, Girls," the chief said. "After this, that piece of filth is never getting out. No one attacks our Powerpuff Girls in such a malicious way."

The Girls smiled in response. "Thanks, Chief. That means a lot to us. At least we got him off the streets before he actually hurt anyone," Blossom said.

The police chief measured her expression. "Are you sure you're alright, Blossom? Do you need to speak to our counselor?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Really."

The Girls didn't believe her, nor did the Chief. "Really? You seem a bit…quiet."

"Yeah, Bloss. What's going on?" Buttercup pressed, crossing her arms.

Bubbles nodded in agreement. "Buttercup's right. Something's up. What is it? We're worried about you."

Blossom was perfectly fine. She was just so focused on Brick though. Seemed as if her mind, when she wasn't focusing on what was currently happening, went back to him. It was flooded with images of his smirk and those red eyes of his. Her face still tingled where he touched her. "I'm fine," she insisted.

No one believed her, not for a second. But they didn't speak any more of it. The Chief looked out the window and, narrowing his eyes, growled, "Those damn Rowdyruffs."

Blossom's head shot up. "Pardon me?"

He looked back to her, apologetic. "Sorry, I didn't mean you. I just saw that Brick fellow by the window. If he tries doing anything, I swear I'll throw him in jail for ten years."

Brick was by the window? Blossom instantly shot her gaze to said object. There was nothing there, save the cityscape. Immediately, her heart sank. Her sister's seem to notice her sudden interest and they watched her, wondering what was going on in that head of hers.

"Blossom, he's not there. Probably just passing by. It's fine," said Buttercup as she rested a hand on her sister's shoulder.

She looked up at Buttercup, having forgotten they were there for a moment, and nodded. "Right, of course."

Buttercup, Bubbles, and the Chief exchanged a look, but said nothing. The Chief then cleared his throat and said, "Well, you three best be off. It's after midnight. I'll have the deputy give you a ride home. Just for tonight."

Not arguing, the Girls followed the deputy to his car. Blossom walked beside him, Bubbles and Buttercup dragging back a little bit to talk.

"Do you think…?" Bubbles whispered, trying to be low enough that even Blossom didn't hear.

"I don't know. She couldn't like him. He's a Rowdyruff," Buttercup replied confidently, despite the dubious feeling she had in her chest.

Blossom couldn't help but smile a bit, because her sisters weren't far off. She did like him. When they drove off, she looked out the window, seeing a black shadow that was strangely familiar to her. Across from the police station stood Brick, nonchalantly leaning against the wall of the building adjacent to the police department. He was standing casually, watching her. She couldn't help but wonder…was that a smile on his face?

"What are you looking at?" Bubbles asked from beside her in the back.

Blossom's eyes never left Brick's. "Nothing bad." The two redheads smiled, as if they were sharing a very funny inside joke.

Brick watched as Blossom and her sisters drove away, Blossom smiling the whole drive home…

Well, that's that. I'm sorry if that one was a little dark. My friend is into Ace fanfics so I made one. But this is something I could totally see Ace doing, so yeah. Now he's a pedo. But oh well. I'm sure we all saw that coming eventually. Sorry if this offended any PPG/Ace couple fanatics.

Special thanks to by best friends and one of the most amazing writers I know (published or unpublished) Water Fairy a.k.a. Mizu. Check out her stuff. Excellent writer. She's also got a special fanfiction in the works right now called Storm. So check it out and review hers please. Thanks Water Fairy for editing this thing for me, and helping me with the Ace accent. I really hate writing his accent lol.

DON'T FORGET TO READ AND REVIEW MY STUFF. :D THANKS!

Check out some of my other oneshots. And I'll be getting ready to post a PPG story/fanfic really soon. Revolving around Brick and Blossom obviously. But check them out. They'll be pretty good I hope. Thanks for reading!