Authors Note: hey everyone, this is the last of the 20 years series, I hope you all like it as much as the others. For those of you who are new to this, read the very first one, 20 Years in the making: the beginning, to see where it all begin. This new story will be easier to follow if you start there. For those of you who have followed, welcome back and enjoy.
20 Years in the Making: The Finale
Chapter 1
8 years in the future
A little girl sits at the interrogation table looking at the police chief sitting across from her. He looks at her astounded, it didn't seem like he was talking to a child. When police officer dragged her into the station, she put up more of a fight then her brother and cousin did, it was unbelievable how resilient this little powerless 8 year old was. The girl flips her long red hair behind her back and glares at him "where is my brother, Ryan?"
The police chief gets agitated with her "that's Chief Ryan to you little lady". He adjusts his seat a little before continuing "he's being detained in a holding cell, unlike you he's willing to cooperate with us".
"The police are incompetent" she says.
"Excuse me?" Ryan asks outraged.
"We cannot rely on you" The girl says "the one who took my dark lord and his queen away from us is not human".
The chief looks at her confused "by dark lord and queen, you mean your father and mother".
"Yes" the girl continues "Lord Hades, ruler of the underworld and Athena, the goddess of wisdom".
Chief Ryan definitely had his work cut out for him. Today was just full of surprises, it all started when he got a call today about some random shooting at the Utonium house. Now he's got 2 eight year olds and one 9 year old under custody. This girl's twin brother had to be physically separate from his sister and it took nearly 8 men to get him in the cell. Luckily he calmed down enough to cooperate with them but this girl was working his last nerve. He sighs and gets up from his chair "I need a break, I'll be back, don't move from this spot Bella".
Bella slams her hands on the table angrily "the more time we waste is the less time my parents have. YOU MUST LET ME SEE JUSTIN".
Ryan gets agitated "listen kid, the only thing keeping me from hauling your butt to a Juvenile prison is the fact that your mother is one of our heroes of Townsville. I mean for Christ sake girl you shot and killed one of the gangreen gang and…"
"THEY WERE TRESPASSING IN MY GRANDFATHERS HOME" Bella shouts angrily at him "they assaulted and beat grandpa to death….."
"He's not dead, he's just in a coma" The chief says interrupting her "regardless of that you have to understand you took a human life…"
"I SHOULD HAVE KILLED ALL OF THEM" Bella's blood red eyes glare at him "they came after my family and attacked my grandpa. When I find our parents, I am going to have my father rip their heads off and send them to hell where they belong".
Chief Ryan took a step back for a minute a bit startled, he had never seen such anger and fury coming from someone so small "look kiddo, I know you don't mean that, you're just angry and I understand where you are coming from. But that doesn't condone murder, you obviously need some alone time to think about what you have done. I'll come back to you when you're a little less psychotic". He walks out of the room quickly and locks the door behind him before she could follow. That girl was definitely Brick Jojo's daughter, he could only pray that she isn't entirely like her dad and starts a crime wave before she reaches the age of 10. He walks down the hall to where Justin's cell is, five cops were on stand by in front of the boy's cell with tranquilizer guns. They weren't sure if this would work on him but the recent freak-out moment he had earlier, had put them all on edge. As soon as Justin sees Ryan coming by he floats up out of his seat a little and towards the bars. This freaks out the cops there and they aim their guns at him. Ryan rushes over to them "HEY, put those guns away, this is the sane one".
Justin frowns "Bella's not crazy; she just has a different way of seeing things".
"I can see that" Ryan signals the other cops to return to their posts "listen son, your parents, aunts and uncles are gone, your grandfather's in a coma and your sister murdered Big Billy from the Gangreen gang. A lot has happened within the last 24 hours and I'm just trying to get to the bottom of it all".
"Well I don't know exactly what went on", Justin looks down a bit "I came home and there was a dead body on the floor and grandpa was just laying there". Justin then gives him a worried look "please don't send Bella away, I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason why she did what she did. She's not a criminal I swear".
"Alright, alright" Ryan looks at him sympathetically, the boy had a certain respect for the law, otherwise he would have probably zoomed right out of the cell a long time ago. He could only guess that this one took after Blossom "look, I'll help you all out the best way I can, and don't worry, nobody's being sent away, we just need you kids to stay put until we can figure out where your parents are, so just sit tight ok?" Justin looks relieved at that explanation and complies by sitting back down on the cot in his cell. Ryan then walks further down the hall to the last interrogation room at the end. He enters the room and can clearly see how nervous the brunette girl was sitting there shaking a little at the table, so he decides to be gentle with her "good evening Megan".
The brown haired girl looks up at him like a scared rabbit; she had never been in Jail before. She was so used to her father fighting all of her battle that she never truly fought for herself. She was a year older then her cousins and felt absolutely useless despite the fact that she had taken karate lessons a few times before. She looks up at Ryan teary eyed "please don't arrest Bella, she gets out of hand sometimes but her intentions are always good, honest".
Ryan grins at her, it was touching that both Justin and Megan want to defend Bella so readily instead of saving their own skins "relax sweetheart". He puts a comforting hand on top of her head and lightly pets her "don't worry, if she behaves herself she can avoid jail time". He then sits opposite her at the table "interesting you should mention that though, seeing as how you were the one that supplied her with the rifle. My question is how does a bunch of kids have access to lethal weaponry in the first place?"
Megan's eyes cast downward for a moment "I didn't know she knew how to use it too, I guess Uncle Jason took her to the firing range also. He was always talking about how she doesn't have powers so she should learn how to use a weapon to defend herself".
"You have an Uncle Jason?" Ryan looks at her confused "I thought there were only 3 rowdyruff boys….WAIT A MINUTE, HE TOOK A BUNCH OF 8 YEARS TO A FIRING RANGE".
"No…no…no" Megan becomes startled trying to set the record straight "just me and Bella but don't tell my parents, my mom has a habit of exploding over things like this and usually gets into fist fights with my dad".
"Wait just stop" Ryan pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs feeling a headache coming on. What were they teaching these kids? Where are the parents? Why is every adult in their lives gone? He looks at Megan for a bit "ok Megan, lets start from the beginning; I want to hear the entire story from your point of view".
Megan puts her hand to her forehead and sighs, she wanted to scream out in frustration, things had started out so normal. When did everything go so wrong? "Well I guess this morning started out like every Saturday morning. Dad was passed out sleeping on the fire escape, mom left for work not to be seen for the rest of the day…
[Megan's Story begins]
[My dad is the perfect dad, but every Friday night he goes out with his friends from work and ends up coming home drunk. This happens so often that he makes my breakfast and lunches the night before. So when I get up in the morning on Saturday's I'll have something to eat. Today was pretty much the same as any day.]
[Butch's home]
Megan walks bare foot out of her bedroom dressed in blue pajamas; she walks across the living room floor and looks to her left out the window outside. She noticed her father sleeping out there and smiles shaking her head, she decides not to disturb him just yet and walks to the kitchen. She opens the fridge and sees a plate of pancakes and bacon sealed with clear plastic wrap. She takes it out and unwraps the food to heat it up in the microwave. Afterwards she sits at the table and enjoys her breakfast; this was the normal thing on Saturdays. 5 Days a week, Butch JoJo took on the responsibility of a family man, Buttercup had become a detective throughout the years, so almost all of her time was taken up by work. Butch did all the cooking, while Megan cleaned and the dishes were done by the both of them, since butch owned his own vehicle repair business he chose his own hours to work. This meant that he could be home as much as he wanted, between him and Megan they were able to keep the place from going to hell. Megan had grown to be a gentle, intelligent, and pretty little girl, however with a rough and tough mechanic for a father and a kick ass crime solving detective for a mother, no one would dare to even mess with her and those who did were always severely dealt with. However despite this, Megan was sad that she was nothing like her parents. They were strong, hot tempered and always ready for a fight, she was weak, slightly asthmatic and shrank away from confrontation. She knew she was adopted so she didn't expect to be just like them but she had hoped that their strength would rub off on her.
Megan sighs a little and finishes her breakfast dreading what would come this evening, her pointless karate class. It was pointless to her because whenever there came a time to spar or defend herself she would always freeze up and forget what she was taught. She washes her plate in the sink and goes over to the living room window; she then opens it "Morning dad".
Butch jumps a little out of his drunken slumber on the fire escape, he looks at her with red blood shot eyes and gives her a weak smile "hey babe".
"Thank you for breakfast" Megan leans over to hug him.
Butch slowly raises an arm up to give her a weak hug back "no problem my queen". He squints at the sky and flinches as the bright sun invaded his senses "hmm, what time is it?"
Megan looks at the clock on the cable box in the living room "9:00 am".
"Shit" Butch rolls onto his side and closes his eyes "hnnn, don't worry…..I'll fly you to school…..don…don't worry….baby girl".
"Its Saturday daddy" Megan says, butch begins to snore as he lapses back into a comatose slumber. Megan sighs and plants a soft kiss on her papa's forehead. She actually liked moments like this; it gave her the opportunity to take care of him for once. It made her feel useful as if she were the only person he could rely on. She steps away from the window and rushes into his bedroom to retrieve a blanket and a pillow. She comes back to him and drapes the blanket over him and puts the pillow under his head, she then looks at him thoughtfully and tenderly pushes a strand of hair from his face "love you daddy". She walks back into the living room and plops herself on the couch, then turns on the T.V for her Saturday morning cartoons.
3 Hours Later:
Megan is snoozing on the couch while the T.V was still running; she had gotten bored and nodded off 2 hours ago. Suddenly a knocking on the door jolts her awake, she raises her head a little and squints at the door as the knocking grew hard and loud. She grumbles and lowly gets up "ok, ok keep your pants on"; she grabs the stool next to the door and stands on it to peak into the peep hole. She could see nothing more then a glimpse of red hair; she instantly realized who it was. She hops off the stool and puts it back where she found it; she then opens the door "what's your problem B?"
"There's a problem M" Bella says marching into the apartment "where's Uncle Butch?"
"Shhh daddy's sleeping" Megan says "what's the problem? Maybe I can help?"
Bella sees butch lying with his face buried in the pillow on the fire escape, she sighs and looks back at Megan "my dark lord is being stalked by a succubus spirit from the underworld".
"Seriously Bella" Megan says as butch begins to stir from his sleep "you have to stop watching "Clash of the Titans".
"Wake up Uncle Butch" Bella says demandingly looking at Butch groans a little "I need the god of war to fashion me a weapon to protect my family".
Butch slowly raises his head and rests his chin on the window sill to look at the two girls, after a while he wipes the drool off of his face and grumpily glares at the two girls "HEY what are you brats doing out of school?"
"Its SATURDAY dad" Megan says getting agitated "and Bella how do you even know Uncle Brick is being stalked, I mean doesn't every lady in your neighborhood have a crush on your dad?"
"Well yeah, but they don't stalk him constantly", Bella says getting a bit agitated herself "there's a woman who walks past our house at least 2 times a day".
"You mean the next door neighbor" Megan smirks teasingly "you know the one that pretends to do yoga outside her house hoping to catch your dad staring at her butt when he steps out to work every morning".
"OK I GET IT, MY DAD'S THE NEIGHBORHOOD EYE CANDY" Bella shouts at her "can we get back to the subject at hand here. This stalker woman is not from my neighborhood, she has brown hair and brown eyes and she wears a red business suit".
Megan quirks an eyebrow "maybe she's going to work everyday", she watches Butch float through the window and between them to drift to the couch as the two girls argued.
Bella also watches him "if she was just going to work then why does she pass our home twice?" She walks over to butch who has now landed on his back on the couch "Mighty Aeries, I am in dire need of your assistance". Butch looks at her then closes his eyes again, Bella becomes determined and get on the couch, she then straddles his stomach "Uncle Butch come on you need to look into this".
"And you need to get off of me" Butch glares at her, he then turns on his side and Bella slides right off of him and onto the floor.
Bella gets mad and glares back at him from the floor "Uncle Butch if you don't help me I'll…I'll…."
"You'll what?" Butch grins a little.
Bella puts her small hand on his chin and stands up, she then holds her cell phone camera in her other hand and points it at him "I'll kiss you on the lips, take a picture of it and send it to the police".
"BELLA!" Megan yells at her and walks over to them at the side of the couch, "don't blackmail my dad".
"Ever been in jail for indecent sexual behavior towards a minor" Bella grins at Butch evilly.
Butch grins evilly back at her and scoops Bella up in his arms "well if I'm going to jail anyway, we might as well make out". He puckers his lips and makes loud kissing noises at her.
Bella puts her hands on his chest to push him away "ewww, get away from me".
Megan rolls her eyes and moves closer to them "daddy that's not funny, it's disturbing".
"Aww does my baby want a piece of this action too?" Butch scoops her up in his other arm and holds both girls by the waist and starts tickling them "come on ladies; give this creepy old man some sugar". He floats up and kisses them both on the cheek sloppily.
Megan chuckles and laughs as Bella does the same "dad …..S….stop….you smell like beer and cigarettes".
Bella chuckles while struggling against him "get off, you dirty old fart".
Suddenly Butch's cell phone rings and he stops "oh a phone call", he drops both girls on the floor and answers his phone "hello?"
Bella glares at him as he talks on the phone and Megan gives him an angry pout, they both say in unison "jerk".
Butch listens on the phone for a while and his face contorts in confusion "what...whoa…whoa slow down boomer. What happened to bubbles?" his expression turns serious "ok, where are you?" Megan looks up at him a bit worried.
[I knew something was wrong right there and then, I just didn't know what. I suddenly remembered what Uncle Jason taught me on the firing range. If I was ever in danger I could burrow one of his rifles. So after dad got off the phone, I made a decision that I guess led us here]
Butch hangs up the phone and looks over at the girls "Bella where's Justin?"
"He's with dad" Bella says "they left this morning to train".
Butch gives them a stern look "Megan pack your stuff, the 2 of you are going to spend the night at Grandpa's".
Megan gets up and walks over to him "did something happen?"
"I don't know yet" Butch says, he looks down at her and kneels down to her eye level "listen Megan, go pack your stuff, you might be staying more then one night". He was about to go off to the kitchen to get his keys when he felt a tug on his arm.
Megan holds his hand and looks up at him even more concerned "are you going away? Where are you going? Will you be back soon?"
"Hey, hey, hey" he puts his hands on her shoulders to calm her down "listen, I'll be back before you know it, in the mean time stay safe and looks after Bella. Can you do that for me, my queen?" Megan looks at him for a moment before nodding, butch smiles and pets her hair "that's my girl".
[I packed the detachable hunting rifle in my saxophone case; I told him I wanted to carry my sax because it made me feel better, so he let me. he had no idea I carried a weapon with me , I admit now that I was paranoid, I thought that if something happens we would be able to protect ourselves without our parents around. So daddy took us over to grandpas, for some reason he wouldn't tell us why he wouldn't take us back to Bella's house]
[The Utonium home]
The professor lets them in and immediately leads the 2 girls upstairs to the powerpuff girl's old room "stay in here until dinner time", the professor then rushes out.
Megan grips her suitcase nervously "I have a very bad feeling about this".
"Me too" Bella says equally worried, she then walks over to the door "I have to know what's going on".
Megan grabs Bella's wrist "grandpa said to stay here".
Bella yanks her wrist away "I can't just sit here, my dark lord might be in trouble". She opens the door and looks downstairs through the railing; she can see what is going on in the living room.
Megan tries to quietly call out to her "Bella….Bella"; she stays in the room her mind going a mile a minute. Should she go out and eavesdrop with Bella or stay where she is, Bella walks back in and sits on the bed extremely distressed. Megan puts the saxophone case down and looks at her, suddenly the zooming sound of 2 super powered beings speed away from the house. She turns pale and looks out the window, she panics as she sees a blue and green light flying away.
[My mom talked my dad into taking me to therapy a coupled of weeks ago. I get high anxiety panic attacks when I'm not around them except for when I go to school or at my friend's house. She said I needed to learn to be ok without daddy around. I guess the therapy didn't work, so I immediately assumed the worst.]
"Oh my god" Megan puts her case down on the floor and opens it.
Bella looks at her "their going to save auntie Bubbles, but they don't know where my parents are. Aunt Buttercups joining them on the search". She notices her frantic cousin's movements and quirks an eyebrow "what are you doing?"
"Daddy's gone" Megan says while opening the sax case "so is mom, we're all alone, w….we can't survive alone".
Bella tilts her head "are you ok? You look a little freaked". She sees Megan pull out the detachable pieces of the rifle. Bella's eyes widen "whoa… where did you get that?"
Megan starts assembling the rifle "its ok…. Everything's ok…mom and dad are coming back", she mutters this over and over again while she assembles the rifle.
"GIRLS DINNER TIME".
Bella now panics as they hear the professor coming up the stair's "Megan hide the gun". She takes it away and shoves it under the bed. She then sits on the bed just as the door opens while Megan sits on the floor.
The professor gives them a smiles "you girls hungry? I made tacos and burritos".
Bella forces a smile "uh yeah we'll be down in a minute"; the professor closes the door and goes back downstairs. She then nudges Megan with her foot "snap out of it, I want to see the rifle again".
Megan shakes her head and frowns at her "it's not a toy to be played with; Uncle Jason says not to touch it unless you plan to use it".
Bella chuckles "you plan to use that? you can't even kill a cockroach without getting grossed out. Come on, let me see it".
"NO" Megan yells at her and stands up "listen I'm the oldest ok, so you have to do what I say".
"Get over yourself Meg" Bella says calmly "you're only a year older then me….."
"That doesn't matter" Megan says getting angry "if I say stay away from the rifle then STAY AWAY FROM THE RIFLE".
"ALRIGHT" Bella yells back "what are you tweaking out about? It's not like anything dangerous is going to happen tonight, you shouldn't have brought it in the first place".
Suddenly a huge explosion rocks the entire house, the 2 girls look at each other and run for the door. They open it and run over to the banister looking downstairs, the entire living room was gone as a large hole took up the entire wall. But what freaked them out the most was seeing the professor lying lifelessly on the floor. He must have been waiting for them to come down. Bella was about to call out to him but then sees the shadows of 5 strangers strolling into the area. They all had weird looking green skin and black business suits on, the first two they spotted looked extremely different from one another. One was tall thin, with long black messy hair and shades on, the other was bigger then him hulky in stature and had red hair covering his face. The two stepped towards the stairs while the other three surrounded the professor who lay semiconscious on the floor.
The thin one with shades looks back at the others "we still got it boys, The Gangreen Gangs back in action".
The short green one with the straight black bang of hair covering half his face looks over at the tall one "you think the old mans dead Ace?"
Ace shrugs "who cares?" he turns fully to the other three "snake, Grubber, Altoro you three finish off the professor. Big Billy, you come with me".
Bella had seen enough "NO LEAVE HIM ALONE". All five of the men look up at her.
Megan quickly grabs her hand and pulls her towards the rooms "Bella hide". She pushes the redhead back into the room they were just in and runs into the room next to it. It turns out to be the professor's bedroom and she locates the phone by the nightstand. She grabs it and hides in a dark corner of the room praying that Bella is doing the same "I have to call the cops". She dials 911 and talks to the operator, when she finishes she waits on the line. She suddenly hears gunshots going off, some shouting and cursing followed by more gunshot noises, she drops the phone immediately and runs to the door "OH GOD NO BELLA!" She runs out of the room and what she sees is….
End Note: don't you just love cliffhangers, Sorry but this chapter was taking too long, had to end it somewhere.