The cold chill of winter, the high altitude with lack of oxygen, the monochromatic colors of snow and stone, attributes of the cold snow-capped range of the Himalayas. No ordinary human could survive without the right equipment, but no ordinary person had come to this place. Streaking across the flurried sky in engulfed in white light, Bell was falling down from the sky in a daze and crashed into the snow, the impact scattering the ice and melting part of the permafrost into hot boiling water.

"Ooooh… what happened?"

Bell scrambled up the crater she formed, clutching her belly which was somehow throbbing in pain. Standing over the hole, Bell was overcome by the sensation of aches and pain all over, as though she was doing strenuous exercise, but her memory was a little hazy.

"How did I get here, ow, why do I hurt all over?" without any warning another explosion blasted the ground some thirty paces away from her. Bell stumbled on her butt looking wide-eyed at the source of the explosion, still in shock about her previous unexpected development.

A figure, obscured by smoke at first but becoming more distinctive the closer he approached, walked towards her, with every step refreshing her mind of the events that led to this predicament, "Oh, now I remember…"

Ten hours ago…

It was dark, which was just the way she liked it. Bell had just received a spanking, a very painful spanking at that, from her own father, for throwing one of her ferocious superhuman tantrums. She left to sulk in her room, angry over her father for Susan's death. He knew he would die; she convinced herself that she and Susan were getting close and Dr. X thought it wasn't good for his plans. Tears slid down her face, her dad never wanted her to make friends, even though GIR was a close companion, she wanted her own clique of friends to give her a sense of belonging.

The door opened to shed a little light in. A tall, looming figure with three sets of three glowing eyes, he pulled out a chair and sat next to the edge of Bell's bed. He gently stroked his little girl's hair, a simple gesture of reassurance that he had not come to cause her more harm. In spite of his fearsome appearance, he was nevertheless a good father to his one and only child.

"Bell, sweetheart?" he nudged her curled-up body in a futile attempt to get her out of her slump, but she wasn't going to let it go.

"I don't want to talk to you dad," she said with punctuated sobs. Although they knew each other only recently, Bell and Susan had developed a strong bond. Her father only understood Susan's value in his intellect and creativity but not the social comfort he provided for his lonesome daughter.

Her father sighed in exasperation, "Bell, you know this was bound to happen, it comes with the territory of being a supervillain."

Bell jumped up and threw her pillow at his face with such force he was actually thrown back against the door, "I don't care! You should've let me save him!" She flailed her arms wildly and shouted incomprehensible words out of her mouth before unfurling into a sullen, sobbing heap on her sheets.

Her father pinched on his face again sighing in exasperation, "Bell, I'm sorry that Susan died, and I realize I've been a bit insensitive about the issue." A bit was really stretching it, Bell thought.

"I've decided that maybe a nice hot family dinner will settle any dispute between us, what do you say?"

Bell sighed, there was no other way out of it, she just wanted to be left alone, but she figured it was better to get it over with, since it was clear her Dad wasn't going to let up on her until she got over Susan.

Eight hours ago…

"So Bell, how was your macaroni soup?" he asked from across the dining table, but Bell wasn't even eating, she was just swishing her soup aimlessly.

Dr. X wiped his arms on some alcohol cloths as he finished, "Bell, I'm here to help you, always, you are my daughter, and I know how much Susan meant to you, but he made his choice, it's what he wanted."

Bell dropped her spoon and sighed, "I… I just don't understand, Dad. I just want a friend."

Her father motioned to her pet robot, "What about GIR?"

She plopped her pet dog, dubbed "Girly," on her lap, swaying him lovingly in her arms, "Girly is fine dad, but… I want a friend, but not the kind I go to malls and watch movies or throw parties with…"

"And what kind of friend is that, Bell?"

She stared into space without any real answer, "I… don't' know."

"Very well then, perhaps you'd be interested if I told you I brought you here to discuss that matter."

Bell looked perplexed, "Huh?"

Dr. X flashed out a remote control and handled it to bring up a holographic monitor with a three-dimensional image of the Earth on it, with a tiny red blip flashing on a certain spot on Nepal.

"Before he died, Susan had left me with a decrypted data log containing a special location I've held considerable interest in. It was essentially composed of over a thousand bits of data encrypted over a hundred times to ensure security, when I first learned of its existence of course, I was naturally curious. He was the only one smart enough and patient enough to crack the code."

Bell was picking her ear, not really interested in what he was talking about.

Dr. X quickly got the hint, "To cut a long story short, I've found something hidden somewhere in the Himalayas that may provide me with the edge we need to overcome the Powerpuff Girls."

The screen changed to show a detailed diagram with various physiological charts and numbers framed around a mug-shot of a boy with jet-black hair and, most distinctively, his moon-white skin.

Bell looked at his picture and felt something stir in her, his appearance accentuated a sort of notion of ghostly loneliness about him. She felt like reaching out to his image for some indiscernible reason.

Her father noticed she was staring into space at his image, "Bell, honey, focus."

She shook off her distracted thinking when her dad called out to her. "Anyway, Bell, all I ask is that you get your head back in the game for this next mission: I want you to find this boy, and I want you to bring him here."

Bell raised a curious brow, "Why, daddy?"

Dr. X brought his fingers to hunching over the table. "Bell, these people who own this boy are, shall we say, a dangerous sort. They think they fight for a noble cause, but they will do anything, even kidnapping and brainwash, to get what they want. Those who commit evil for the sake of good are far more dangerous than those who commit evil for the sake of it."

"So, they'll get in your way if they keep him and you want me to bring him over to us, right?"

"You get the idea; I knew I could depend on you, sweetie."

Five hours ago…

Charging down in a streak of pearl-white light, Bell was on her way towards a spot at the Himalayas near where the pinpoint was located. To disguise her movement she traveled next to a decommissioned satellite that happened to burn into the atmosphere and was in a position to crash right where Bell just so happened to be.

"Bell, do you read me?"

"Yes, Dad, I'm here. I'm scorching up here."

"Relax, dear, it'll cool off in a little bit. Anyway, the location will be approximately 5 klicks west from your estimated landing point."

"Got it, Dad. So, what's this place look like?"

"I don't know Bell, they've probably hidden it very well, so keep your eyes peeled."

Bell broke away from the satellite once she was close enough and departed westward to find the mysterious facility of this enigmatic group.

Bell, however, did not anticipate what she would see next. In fact she could swear she must have gone back in time or something.

"Um… Dad?"

"Yes Bell?"

"Is it possible to go back in time when you fall down to Earth?"

"Well, theoretically, but the speed in which you travelled really shouldn't be enough to do that, why do you ask?"

"I've found a castle."

Nestled in the center of a basin of ice was, very clearly, some kind of medieval European castle, replete with thick stone walls and angled by corner towers that terminated into skyward spires. Bell rubbed her eyes in disbelief, what was a castle doing in the middle of Asia?

Bell glided low near the snow as she neared the unusual fortification, as she neared it, she could see what appeared to be guards, and now she was fairly certain she was both in a different place and back in time. The guards wore chainmail, riveted helmets, and held funky-looking crossbows, flanged maces and battle axes as weapons. Quietly, Bell jumped a massive distance over the armed men and the wall and stood on the roof of a Gothic cruciform building that looked like a cathedral. Solemn music played within the stone halls. Bell approached an opening near the top of the roof and peeked down to see what looked like Mass in session. A huge man standing behind the altar gave a feverous sermon.

"…And like clay I shall mould him and in the fires of battle he will be forged. His body shall be his instrument of conquest, blessed of strength that no blow shall smite him, and fortitude that no disease shall blight him. He will be schooled in the arts of war to defeat the weapons of his enemies and all the disciplines of knowledge to overcome the false truths of the lost and wayward. He shall be the Herald of the Heavenly Hosts, the Angel of Death, the Scourge of the Unclean! Behold, my children, witness the glory of your Messiah!"

The wall behind the man opened to give way to a massive plexiglass tank of amniotic fluid. Encased inside was the young boy that she had seen on her father's screen, naked save for a pair of black trunks and some unusual hand restraints, floating unconsciously inside the fluids inside.

"…Rejoice, brethren, for soon, the Eagle shall soar over the far corners of the Earth and reclaim the Kingdom of Heaven!"

The assembled congregation broke in raucous cheer and swayed their arms feverishly.

Four hours ago…

As soon as it was over, Bell followed the large man through the same opening in the wall, leading down a flight of stairs and into a huge, spherical chamber holding a huge cylinder suspended by what appeared to be anti-gravitic forces that pulsed around the chamber, at least now Bell knew that they weren't as archaic as she initially suspected.

Bell walked a walkway towards an opening into the cylinder, entering to a sight of steps lining up to the top of the cylinder with blocks of transparent material of varying sizes containing various items, from antiquated relics and browned paper Scriptures, to tanks containing unusual specimens of different animals, both native and alien to Earth.

Bell flew up looking for the tank holding the boy. She actually felt a little anxiety regarding looking for him, a personal sense of urgency, she scrambled looking everywhere for him. "Where is he? Where is he?"

Out of the corner of her eye Bell saw the tank holding him; she flew down quickly and examined him carefully. He was, much like the image she saw in the previous screen, exuding the same ghostly aura she saw earlier, except that it felt more intensified and focused than before. Bell grasped the tank in her hands and attempted to lift the tank out of its containment unit, but he was set inside tight.

"Come on, get off this damn thing!"

Bell tugged and pulled with enough strength that she managed to loosen the tank out of its moorings, unfortunately it didn't go as smoothly as she hoped. The alarm sirens blared loudly throughout the entire facility, Bell jolted with a shock at the sudden break in silence. Almost immediately, a group of armed guards, they were wearing medieval armor under synthetic tunics and with bulky machines strapped to their backs. The backpacks, as it turns out, were jetpacks, carrying the knights up towards Bell on wings of fire. With no time to get him out, Bell flew upwards to avoid the incoming attackers, who came upon her armed with broadswords that hummed with a light blue glow.

One of them reached up to her and swung his sword horizontally at her, Bell bent back and dodged the attack, kicking into his gut and hurtling him away towards the wall. Two more charged straight for her from opposite angles, Bell backhanded one and jumped over the other with her legs apart before kicking him downwards. However, the falling warrior crashed into the moorings of the boy's tank, separating from the wall and crashing into pieces on the floor.

"Hey! Watch it!" Bell flailed like a berserker around the guards surrounding her, trying to reach for the boy lying down.

A pair of men wearing beige hooded cloaks and carrying fanny packs with various instruments huddled around the boy, "He's all right, but we can't let him be conscious y-" His sentence was cut short when the boy slammed his head with the force of a speeding train to his gut, propelling the medic into the wall in a massive crash. The other medic was struck on the chin and thrown up into the roof of the cylinder, sending a shockwave that tore through the interior and threw all inside, Bell included, out into the sphere.

Roaring loud like a lion the boy smashed through the cylinder and out of the cylinder.

Bell saw him leave, "Hey, wait!"

The boy smashed into a long, ornate hallway. He started running through the hall with no apparent direction in mind, in fact, there was no mind, just wild instinct directing him where to go next.

"Owie… " Bell flew up after the boy, hoping that these guys wouldn't hurt him; she was worried that he would get killed. Though he appeared strong, he probably won't last long against those guys, Bell had to find him, and quickly.

As soon as she got into the hallway, she found a trail of total mayhem, strewn everywhere were the bodies of various guards lying in crumpled heaps throughout the area, despite the restraints on his arms, he really did some damage. Bell found one guard still conscious. She grabbed him by the collar and interrogated him.

"Where is he? Where is the boy!?"

He pointed weakly towards a hallway that curved over to a passage up ahead that curved to the right. The sound of battle could still be heard even from there. Suddenly, some shuffling footsteps could be heard coming from the other direction.

Guards were coming towards Bell, opening fire with their crossbows, red-hot from internal superheating from their weapons, Bell would have to put off her search for now, she needed to defend herself.

Two hours ago…

The boy rammed through a stained glass window and out into a frozen courtyard. He was suddenly overcome with fatigue and took a knee to catch his breath. He looked up, his first break since he had been awakened, to take in the sight of a square courtyard, at the edges were black, monolithic walls adorned with carved statues of angels; uncharacteristically, the angels were depicted with what appeared to be bionic implants on their heads and bodies, attached to tubes and cables that extended on the walls they were attached on. "Where am I? Who am I?" were questions that flew into his mind, for he had no identity to speak for himself beyond mental interactive simulations on the master's virtual replication device.

Yes, the master, he thought, the large man who gave the feverish sermon earlier. Despite looking as though he were in his early teens, he was as mentally fresh as a newborn, his only taste of the outside world being replicate simulations run by his custodian. The silence of his respite was broken by the rumbling thunder of big footsteps about the courtyard. Ahead a pair of large doors slid upwards and open and from their passages, a pair of big, blocky robots with stubby arms and legs, marched out towards him.

One hour ago…

Bell dashed through the hallway, blasting and punching through scores of guards who stood in her way. Upon coming up to the stained window he punched out from, and looked down in the courtyard below. The boy was being handed his ass by a pair of clumsy-looking automata armed who battered him with a heavy swing of their arms.

Unwilling to watch this fight any further, Bell jumped to his rescue and lunged into one of the machines, dislodging its arm in the process. Bell picked up the discarded object and began hammering the robot into scrap with it. "Hey, are you okay?"

Bell turned to face the boy, but she was greeted with a headbutt to the face and flew towards the second robot. She smashed the back of her head into the machine which crumbled from the force of impact, before it was propelled straight towards the wall and Bell was thrown high into the air. The boy howled and fired a massive arcing ray of laser fire at her, sending Bell hurtling into the sky, his blows leaving her unconscious…

Present…

Bell looked with a bit of apprehension at the boy who had landed next to her, he looked peeved, as though he had woken on the wrong side of the bed and was eager to smash the skulls of those responsible. Bell scuffled up to her legs and assumed a fighting pose to try and intimidate him, "Stay back, I'm warning you!"

He lunged towards her, swinging his head as though it were a flail, Bell extended her leg to kick at his side, but he caught it in his arm and smashed his head at her face, sending Bell recoiling back a bit. She turned around again and hooked her fist to his face, hitting it dead on his cheek, his face contorted to accommodate her hand on it, but he didn't look fazed.

He responded with a knee to her abdomen, causing her to wretch. Having had it, Bell started throwing her fists at him uncontrollably, angry that he had the audacity to strike at her for trying to rescue him. She threw her final punch at his gut with enough force to shatter a hill. The boy winced slightly at the impact, but he didn't back down, throwing his foot back to stop him from being thrown into the ground, and countered with a headbutt of equal force to her face, knocking her back and over her head and landing face-first into the snow.

Bell struggled up but not fast enough to establish some distance before he was just in front of her. The boy huffed and puffed, he retracted his head, ready to headbutt her again, when at that moment, a blue collar wrapped around his neck and shocked him with powerful charges. He collapsed into the snow limp. Bell turned around to see who shot that object at him. To her surprise, it was GIR.

"Live Action!"

Behind him stood Cluster robots and Samantha, the boy was pulled up and into a cryonic tank to transport him back to Black Eden.

"Thanks for saving me Girly, you saved my bacon out here."

In a faux Austrian accent, he replied, "No problemo."

The boy was hauled in through a portal that materialized nearby. Bell followed suit and they were all back in a familiar field of dark flowers which were located near their headquarters. Bell's father walked up to her, "Well done Bell, that went a little bit messier than I would have preferred, but nevertheless, you got what I've been looking for."

"Yeah…" Bell was looking at the tank transporting the mysterious berserker that attacked her. In spite of everything that happened, she was still worried about him.

"Bell, honey, are you all right? You look like you're up in the clouds."

She shook her head, "It… it's nothing, Dad, I'm fine."

"Are you worried about him, Bell?"

"Dad, I don't want you to use him like you used Susan, so I want you to promise me that whatever you have in store for him you let me in on it."

He clutched his face in exasperation, "Bell, if you have any kind of 'relationship' with this guy, I don't know just how useful he's going to be."

"I don't care! I'm not going to let you put my friends in a situation where they'll be killed!"

In the end, Dr. X acquiesced to her demand; he decided to let her take some proactive interaction with the boy, but he was still hesitant to see if they would have some kind of relationship too interpersonal to be of any use to him. He needed a weapon, not another child, Bell was the only one he trusted and favored most of all, and a friend for Bell may break her focus on the tasks he may require of her, not to mention undermine that parent-child trust he was building up with her.

He returned to the isolation chamber where the boy was being held behind a power field to keep him in place.

"You may be my best weapon or my greatest adversary. I wonder which one you'll be?"

The boy slowly woke up from his stupor and looked at Bell's father straight in the eye. He remained quiet the whole time, not willing to engage in casual conversation just yet.

"It looks like I'm going to be taking care of you from now on. Hopefully you won't be a colossal disappointment like Mandark was."

"Biarce"

"Pardon?"

"My name, Biarce."

"Well, Biarce, welcome to Black Eden, we'll be spending some time with each other from now on."