A/N: A quick note, I've toned down the Girls' power in this fic.
Chapter 1: A Gauntlet Thrown
Blossom's POV
The wind blew cold across the mountain tops. Of course, Blossom barely felt its sting as she scanned the snowdrifts. Her jeweled eyes searched every crevice and crest but there was no sign of her quandary. The redhead let out a sigh as she glanced at the sky.
Three days.
That's how long she had been tracking this foe of hers. She'd give him one thing, he was good at hiding. That was the sole reason he wasn't behind bars yet. The Pink Puff would have put him there months ago if not for his talent of slipping into the shadows and disappearing like a ghost.
It irritated her to no end! It was utterly ridiculous to think about, a completely normal human, minus the psychotic tendencies, being able to avoid capture by one of the world's premier super heroes. Talk about humiliating.
Blossom had been determined to catch him this time around, the up and coming criminal known only as "The Dicer," named for the state his left his victims' bodies in. In the past three months, he had already committed fifty two murders and all of them gruesome.
She had almost had his ass this time, that is, until he ran into these stupid mountains while she was dealing with his goons. By the time she had finished them all off and disarmed the dozens of bombs he had planted around the city, he had vanished.
By all accounts, he should have been frozen solid by now. No normal human could withstand the frigid temperatures up near the peaks of the Himalaya mountains for three days straight. Even if he had been prepared and packed a mountain survival emergency kit away before he had escaped up here, Blossom was less than convinced he'd survive.
Unless he had help. This was "The Dicer." Not only was he cruel and malicious, he was damn resourceful, either that or just damn lucky. Maybe a bit of both.
In Blossom's line of work that usually equated to help from other sources. Political backers looking to get rid of the competition, crazed sociopaths who wanted in on his path of destruction, or just the everyday joe having his family threatened. All of them could be potential consorts.
Well, whatever it was and wherever he was, there was no sign of him out here. She had been over this span of mountains at least half a dozen times by now. If he had been hiding out, she would have found him by now. That left her with only one disappointing conclusion.
He had slipped through her grasp.
Again.
Ugh, talk about frustrating! The redhead could hardly remember the last time she had faced such a troublesome opponent. It had to be years ago, when she was still in her early teens.
Since then it had been a pretty standard affair. Bad guy pops up, she defeats said bad guy, he or she goes to jail, Blossom moves on to the next schmoe with a tendency for psychotic endeavors.
But "The Dicer" was different. He wasn't just some ordinary psychopath. He had brains too. Somehow, he had managed to always plan ahead and thwart all her attempts at his capture.
She'd raid his drug trafficking facility only to find that he'd skipped town an hour before hand. She'd get a call about a murder he had committed only to find that he had scrubbed the scene clean of any evidence. Always he outsmarted her at every turn.
It was insane, she was freakin' Blossom Utonium! The leader of the Powerpuff Girls and arguably one of the most intelligent people of her generation. The fact that some dirty, low life criminal was able to run circles around her and keep her one step behind was utterly ridiculous!
Unfortunately, that didn't make it any less true.
The redhead let out a sigh as she threw in the towel and floated upward through the low hanging clouds over head. Like it or not, "The Dicer" had gotten away again, but next time…Oh she'd get him next time. And then he'd pay for his crimes. Mark her words.
The flight back to her home in Seoul, South Korea was uneventful and downright boring, but thankfully it wasn't long. It took the Pink Puff less than an hour to travel across half the continent and touch down outside her humble abode.
The familiar sounds of a bustling city and the sight of her snug little apartment lifted her mood a little, enough to where her frown slid from her face and a small, rueful smile replaced it.
She might have failed once again but she couldn't let that get her down. Like the Professor and Bubbles always said, 'good will always triumph over evil in the end.' She fully believed that.
Maybe the problem she faced with this guy wasn't that he was smarter than her, maybe it was just that he had more resources available to him than she did? Sure, she had super powers but even those could fail in the sight of a well-established network of contacts and willing accomplices.
Maybe…the best way to deal with this horrid man was to fight fire with fire? He obviously had tons of cohorts, she was starting to think that it was time she called in a few of her own. One rather violent and no-nonsense partner to be specific.
If she knew her sister, Buttercup would leap at the chance to take down a vicious criminal who was steadily working his way to super villain status. She was only two hours away, stationed in Cairo, Egypt.
And from the last time they had talked a few months ago, the brunette sounded like she could use a well-deserved break from trying to contain all the rogue militias and war bands that were popping up like cockroaches over there. A little change of pace might just cheer her up.
Besides, it would be good to see her in person for once.
One might think it would be easier to stay in touch with your family when they were just a short flight away, but unfortunately, it wasn't that simple.
Being the world's premiere crime fighting group had some rather hefty strings attached to it. The Powerpuff Girls had been forced to change their modus operandi over the years to meet the world's growing need for protection and safety.
Because they were the best, everyone wanted their help and as a super hero is wasn't like they could really say no. So as the Girls had grown older, they had broadened their responsibilities, took on their own challenges.
It was rare that they even fought together as a cohesive unit anymore. Each of them were more or less on their own now-a-days, protecting various parts of the world from evil super villains, devastating natural disasters, and the occasional common criminal if things were ever slow.
Of course, things were never slow.
Blossom knew that when she accepted the task of protecting all of Asia and Australia some years ago, it wouldn't be a walk in the park. Between the billions of people and the crazy amount of natural disasters, the redhead never got a moment of peace. There was always something calling her attention somewhere in the region.
She was sure her sisters had it just as bad with their respective areas of responsibility. Buttercup was stuck dealing with the political battlefield of Europe and the war torn nations of Africa. That was definitely not an easy job.
Bubbles might have had it a bit easier, staying close to home and taking care of North and South America. At least she got to stay with their father and keep him company. That was more than she could say for herself.
This whole set up was a sound idea, it was the best way for them to use their gifts and protect the world, but sometimes the price seemed too high. She knew that it was all for the greater good, but it pained her to be so far removed from the very people who gave her a reason to live.
Justice always came with a price didn't it? Too bad it had to be her family, but like that guy from those Spiderman comics Buttercup loved as a child had once said, 'with great power comes great responsibility.'
And her and her sisters' responsibility was to maintain order and peace throughout the world.
Such was life.
The superhero entered her apartment with little fanfare. It was silent as she took off her shoes and deposited her jacket on the coat rack, but she was used to that by now. She didn't even have a pet to greet her.
It could have been fun to have another living being to help brighten up the dull drudgery of her home life, but it would have also been cruel. There wasn't a day that went by where she wasn't getting called out at all hours to answer some threat or emergency.
What kind of owner would do that to their pet? Leave them alone for possible days on end? A terrible owner, that's who. So she lived alone with no one besides her books to keep her company.
Wow, that actually sounded really sad and pathetic when she put it bluntly like that. It wasn't all that bad though. A bit lonely sure, but she had plenty of time to herself for reading and research when she wasn't out saving the world.
It was a little known secret, but Blossom had followed admirably in her father's footsteps and become enamored by the field of bio chemistry. More specifically, the effects of a certain chemical that had super natural capabilities when it came into contact with various life forms.
She hadn't really discovered anything ground breaking in the field like her father before her. It was hard to justify having a controlled substance like Chemical X left in her apartment when she was gone for a majority of the time. Talk about tempting to potential villains.
Instead, she had stuck with studying the papers and research her father had complied on the subject and adding her own thoughts to them. While she may not have had access to it, learning about the base chemical component that were the building blocks for her whole genetic structure was a fascinating pursuit.
But boy, would she like to be able to perform some experiments with it. Maybe she should schedule a vacation period someday in the near future and go give her father a visit? That sounded like a wonderful idea actually, spending some time with the family and getting a chance at more research? Boom, couldn't get much better than that.
The redhead made a quick mental note to schedule that soon. It would take talking with some of the more prominent world leaders but she was positive that they'd be able to handle things on their own for a week or so. They had managed it before Powerpuff Girls after all.
Rubbing tiredly at her eyes, the Pink Puff made her way into her modest kitchen and searched through the fridge for something to fill her empty stomach. Travel rations and random food bought from street carts had not done her any favors in the last three days. She needed something with some substance and taste. Taste was important.
Hmm. What to eat, what to eat? Maybe a sandwich? You couldn't go wrong with a classic after all.
Giving herself a nod, the redhead pulled out the necessary ingredients and set them on the counter. It was as she was shutting the door to her fridge that she noticed her cellphone lying on the countertop.
She had forgotten it by mistake when she rushed off to face "The Dicer" and by the flashing light on its front, it looked like she had missed a call.
Blossom picked up the phone and turned it on. As she looked at the screen, her eyes widened in alarm. There wasn't just one or two messages, more like hundreds. Each one sent by her violence prone sister, sent on the hour, every hour.
Whatever it was Buttercup wanted to talk to her about must have been incredibly important for her to try so hard to contact her. Maybe she had even flown over to speak with her in person?
With a frown marring her lips, the redhead hit the redial button and listened the phone ring anxiously. The first few rings went unanswered, but when Buttercup finally did pick up, it was not in the manner which she had been expecting.
Although, maybe she should have.
"Don't tell me you're just now checking your Goddamn phone?! Where the hell have you been?! I've been trying to reach you for a whole day!"
The venom coating her sister's voice caused Blossom to blink in shock. She and Buttercup weren't exactly peas in a pod but they were never this caustic towards each other. They hardly ever raised their voices when talking anymore, and never in anything more in jest.
What had the brunette so riled up? It couldn't have been anything good. Despite the venom in her sister's voice, Blossom picked up something else. There was an undertone that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
She almost sounded…frightened.
"Woah, woah, I'm sorry. I was out tracking someone and left my phone behind on accident. What is it BC? What's wrong?" Blossom replied, food lying forgotten on the counter as she took a seat on a nearby chair.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?! Bubbles in lying on her f-ing death bed and you wouldn't answer your Goddamn phone! That's what's wrong here!" That wasn't just fear in her sister's voice, panic practically dripped off it as the brunette drew in sharp breaths.
"Wait –what?! Bubbles is what now?" Blossom asked in alarm.
"She's hurt alright?! Like really fucking bad."
"Like how bad?" Blossom pushed, fear holding her heart in a tight grip.
The brunette drew in a deep breath and sighed. "Look, she's not really going to die or anything, but it's not good Blossom. The-…the Professor isn't sure how she'll recover or how long it will take. Maybe months he said."
That one comment nearly rocked Blossom out of her seat. Months?! That was absurd! The Chemical X flowing through their bodies gave them enhanced healing capabilities that bordered on near miraculous. What sort of damage could have been done to her baby sister that would take months to heal?
Blossom steadied herself with a hand on the counter and swallowed heavily. "Ho-how, how did this happen Buttercup? Was it an accident? Did Bubbles get caught up in some disaster or something?"
"No, it wasn't any of that. Someone did this to her, on purpose." A smoldering anger rang through her sister's voice as she revealed that terrible fact.
"What?! Someone did this? A villain? Who?!" Blossom choked out.
The brunette hesitated a moment before answering. "I don't know. The Professor called me the day before last and told me Bubbles was hurt bad and that I needed to come over right away. He said he tried but couldn't get a hold of you. When I got there, he told me that someone had attack Bubbles but he wouldn't tell me who."
"What do you mean he wouldn't tell you who?" The redhead asked incredulously.
"Exactly like I said, he wouldn't tell me." The smoldering anger seemed to roar hotter as Buttercup growled low in her throat. "He said he wouldn't tell me a damn thing until you were here too. Said this involved both of us. So, drop whatever the fuck you're doing and get your ass over here pronto."
The Professor wouldn't say until both of them were present? What sort of villain were they facing if he was holding back that sort of information until they were together as a group again? Whoever it was, she'd find out soon enough.
Blossom shoved herself from her seat and quickly threw her food back into the refrigerator. "Alright Buttercup, I'll leave in ten minutes and try to get there as quickly as I can."
"Good, and Blossom?...hurry. Please?" The Pink Puff hadn't heard that lost tone in her sister's voice since they were children.
That note of fear made her stomach twist into a tight knot. It was so at odds with Buttercup's normal personality, it just wasn't like the tough Puff she knew and grew up with. Whatever damage had been done to Bubbles, it was enough to almost send Buttercup into a panic and that was more frightening than anything else.
"I will, I promise. Give me four hours okay?" Blossom replied, already heading towards her bedroom to pack.
"Alright. See you soon." With that, the Green Puff hung up the phone and Blossom was left with the dial tone.
She flicked the cell off and slipped it back into her pocket as she threw open her closet and dug around for a pack. Thoughts and emotions raced through her mind at a hundred miles an hour.
Bubbles attacked? How? Why? By whom? This didn't make any sense, it was all too sudden. Blossom didn't even know how she felt right now. Fear, worry, anger, and a dozen other emotions battled for dominance of her mind. It almost overwhelmed her and sent her into a paralyzed trance.
Almost.
There was one thing that kept her from freezing up though, and that singular fact was that her sisters needed her. Right at this moment, more than ever before. She couldn't let them down. They needed her.
It took her all of five minutes to pack and head out the door. She had places to be, responsibility to the world be damned. Her responsibility to her family came first.
"Hang on, I'm coming." Blossom muttered to herself as she blasted off into the sky, her pink trail blazing behind her like a banner.
Four hours later, the redhead touched down right outside her childhood home and hit the ground running. She had pushed herself to her limits on the flight here but that didn't stop her from charging the door at a dead sprint. All she cared about right now was Buttercup, Bubbles, and the Professor.
The brunette must have been waiting for her because the door to the house burst open before she could even reach it. Buttercup came flying out at top speed and bowled into the redhead, grabbing her in the tightest hug the Pink Puff had ever experienced.
"Blossom! You're here!" Buttercup shouted as she squeezed her tight and then pulled back, holding her by the shoulder.
Relief flooded those lime green eyes as Buttercup shot her a nervous smile. Blossom returned it as best she could, gripping her sister's arms in turn.
"Yes, how's Bubbles? How are you and the Professor? No other attacks right?"
Buttercup shook her head and let the redhead go. She must have just noticed the somewhat 'mushy' greeting they shared because a smattering of red was lighting up her cheeks. The brunette had always felt somewhat embarrassed at abrupt emotional displays.
At least that meant she was acting somewhat normal, things with Bubbles must have not worsened any since their last talk. She hoped it was that way.
"Nah, things have been quiet here. I've just been sitting on my ass keeping watch over Bubbles all day. Not even one monster attack call." The brunette replied.
Blossom favored her with a nod and switched her gaze towards the house. "How's Bubbles? Where is she? The lab or a hospital."
Hooking a thumb over her shoulder, Buttercup gestured to the house. "She's downstairs in the lab. The Professor's got more specialized equipment to deal with her injuries than any hospital could even dream of. Come on, I'll lead you to her."
Again, the redhead gave her sister a nod and followed her into the house. The walk down the stairs seemed almost like an execution march.
Blossom honestly wasn't sure what to expect. Buttercup had sounded so distraught on the phone. The Green Puff didn't get emotional over injuries unless they were critical. She had tried to prepare herself for the worst on the flight over but as she entered the lab and Buttercup pulled aside the curtain that separated the lab from the medical section, Blossom knew that no amount of preparation could have lessened the blow.
The low thrum of the machines punctuated the silence as Blossom stood there, staring at her sweet, baby sister in horror.
The blonde was covered in bandages and medical equipment. Stiff outlines under the sheets indicated the multiple casts protecting her broken limbs. Tubes ran from her mouth and nose while an IV hung from her arm and fed her body vital nutrients.
The only part left unwrapped was Bubbles cherub like face. Blossom almost wished that hadn't been so.
It hurt her, almost physically, to look onto her baby sister's damaged face. Bruises and cuts littered every inch of exposed skin. A molted yellow patch colored the entire left side of her face, emphasizing the crushed nature of her cheek and eye socket.
The blonde looked like she had been run over and then thrown face first into a wall, several dozen times. The sight instantly caused tears to spring up in the Pink Puff's eyes as she brought up a hand to cover her mouth.
She understood now, all of Buttercup's panic and fear. One look at the sight before her and she understood perfectly. This was worse than anything she had ever imagined. It was a horrendous act in every sense of the word.
How could someone do this to Bubbles? To her kind, innocent, baby sister?
The silence hung heavy in the air, interrupted only by the beeping of the heart monitor that kept an even pace. That was one small miracle at least. Blossom couldn't believe Bubbles was even in a stable condition with the state she was in.
Finally, it became too much for the redhead and she had to avert her eyes. Looking towards Buttercup, Blossom tried to reign in her emotions and project that leadership air that she hadn't used in years. It wasn't easy but the thought of finding whoever was responsible for this heinous crime helped.
The utter devastation that had been battering her inside gave way to a wave of anger unlike anything she had ever felt before. The more she thought about someone doing this to Bubbles, the more furious she became.
This wasn't some mindless act, this was poignant message, an act of war that demanded a response. And Blossom was determined to answer it. When she found out who did this, they weren't going to be dead, they were going to be obliterated.
Buttercup flinched back slightly at the look in her older sister's eye. The unbridled hatred she saw there must caught her off guard. Blossom was sure the brunette had never seen her this mad. Hell, she wasn't even sure she had ever been this mad before.
But no one had ever rendered one of her family members in a state of near death before either.
Blossom cleared her throat and fixed Buttercup was a deadly serious stare. "Where's the Professor? I want answers and I want them now."
"And you'll get them." A voice from the stairwell called out.
The Pink Puff switched her gaze and found the man she called father standing at the bottom of the steps, considering her and Buttercup with dull, tired eyes. His face had a drawn, emaciated quality to it, like he hadn't slept or eaten in days. In all likelihood, he probably hadn't.
"Professor…what happened? Who did this?" Blossom asked as he approached them and glanced down at Bubbles' still form sadly.
He let out a weary sigh as he looked away from his youngest and met his oldest daughter's eyes. A terrible knowledge seemed to lie within those careworn, hazel eyes. It was a knowledge that she desperately wanted, no needed to find out.
The vengeance burning within her wouldn't accept anything less. If she knew her sister, Buttercup felt the exact same way. The brunette stepped up beside her and they stared at the Professor with the same fire reflecting in both their eyes.
Beneath the combined weight of their eyes, the man could do little more than sigh again. He reached up into his pocket and drew forth a small white card, a photograph to be exact. Giving it one final look, he met their eyes and turned it towards them.
The Professor said only two words as Blossom stared at the three figures in the photo with an incredulous feeling of dread whelming up in her stomach.
"They're back."
A/N: Alright and we have the first installment of "A Vendetta to be Paid" A special thank you story for my one year anniversary of my main story "Misconceptions" What'd you guys think?
This is going to be a really interesting experiment for me because although this story will be short(five or six chapters at most), it will be the first one that I'm writing without any real preparation. I have the rough draft all written out but I have no chapters prewritten. If you follow me with Misconceptions then you know I like to have 'bumper chapters' to give me a bit of wiggle room. Not so on this project. I will literally be writing each chapter of this story the week it's posted, all while trying to keep up with Misconceptions.
So I would like to ask all of you to be patient in this endeavor because this is something brand new to me. We'll see if I can keep up writing 10k words a week and juggle two jobs along with it. Wish me luck!
Oh, and as noted above, I've toned down the Girl's power in this fic. They are still strong and awesome, just a bit more believable. (No flying around the world in six seconds type of things.) And also, expect this to be a rather heavy story. I wanted to try something a bit darker for this so we'll see how it goes.
Let me know what you think with a review! I'd love to hear from you :D Okay, have a good weekend!