¡Viva La Gloria!
Chapter 3
Brick could not believe his eyes when he returned home that night, and decided to tear open that final stuffed bear. It promised to be "special," and indeed it was. At first Brick detected nothing but stuffing inside the toy animal. But after carefully searching, he retrieved two small glass vials, filled with a thick, black liquid. He held a single vial in his hand and held it up to the light.
Sedusa knelt down beside him to admire the find. It was only she and Brick in the room together. "So," Brick began, "We're supposed to take this Chemical X, and be super villains again. Is that right?"
"No," Sedusa said. She carefully plucked the container from Brick's hand and safely put it back inside the teddy bear. "Your brothers will take the Chemical X and become super villains again. But that comes later."
Brick placed the remaining vial inside the stuffed bear, and put the toy back in his closet. "So, why are you talking to me alone, if I apparently am not a part of this plan?"
Sedusa smiled and took a seat on Brick's bed. "Dear Boy, you are the absolute center of this plan. You are the leader, aren't you? Of course your creator reserved a special role for you."
Brick kept his back turned towards the woman. Her tone of voice absolutely annoyed him. Why did she have to talk like that? "Get to the point. What does the monkey want me to do exactly?" He turned and faced Sedusa.
Sedusa was fishing for something inside her bra, and finally retrieved it. Brick reluctantly approached the woman and took it from her. It was an envelope filled with photos of a redheaded, teenage girl—Blossom. The photos were taken without Blossom's awareness. She was sitting in school, at her desk, studying diligently. The next photo was of her talking to another group of students, who all looked very interested in whatever she was saying. The photo after was of her at some apparent protest, holding a sign that said "Free Joe" although Brick wasn't familiar with who that was. The photos that followed all seemed to be taken at protests or marches. The teenage girl was obviously passionate and loud in every photo taken.
"Blossom Utonium—oh I've been watching her alright—she is far from the little goody-goody she used to be. Or at least that's how she views herself today. She feels that she is liberal, progressive, and freethinking—she likes to 'fight for the lost cause' despite anyone else's opinion. In fact, if you argue with her, it just fuels her further."
Brick passed the photos back to Sedusa. "And where do I come in?"
"Your job is to befriend her. Convince her that you're a changed boy. You were used by those nasty villains and that bad monkey, to do their dirty work for them. You were a child, and now you are almost an adult but still have that childhood reputation. You wish there was a way to show the world how much you've changed, and how you wish to do good.
The media will be announcing finally about several prison breaks of past villains and monsters. Townsville will need its defenders again. I know that those spoiled little girls will not want to return to the battlefield. And if it's what society wants from her—Blossom will refuse.
You must convince Blossom that you want to be a super hero, and that you want to protect Townsville. If you succeed, that girl will beg her daddy and beg the mayor that you deserve this chance to prove yourself, and you should receive Chemical X. If our predictions are correct about those brats' selfishness… Townsville will be desperate for any volunteer."
Brick pulled off his cap, and scratched his head. His first reaction was that he wanted no part in this mess. If anything he felt exactly how he was supposed to pretend to feel. He did feel cheated. He did feel used. He did live forever with his childhood reputation.
But honestly, he didn't really give a shit. Everyone would always see him as that bad little kid. No one could change that. Even if he was a "hero" people would still not like him. And he was fine with that. He didn't need anybody else. He just wanted to live his life, and make sure that he and his brothers survived, and had a chance at some version of happiness. If the villains were going to supply money, food, and shelter for him and his brothers, then was it really different from any other job? It was dirty work, but he was used to dirty jobs.
"Alright," Brick sighed and placed his hat back on his head. "What other info you got on this chick?" he sat down beside Sedusa.
"Good boy," Sedusa grinned, and she began to search in her bra for yet another envelope.
Princess watched her girlfriend from across the basketball court. The game had just finished. They lost, but only by four points. It was a very close game, and Buttercup played well. Buttercup was huddled around her coach with the rest of her teammates. They were packed in so close together, the only way to recognize her was by her jersey number: "19." Finally, the green-eyed girl glanced over her shoulder and smiled briefly at Princess. Princess returned the smile, and then took her leave to join the rest of the cheerleaders in the locker room.
Princess walked to her locker, and began to change out of her cheer uniform.
"Princess, are you going to Jimmy's party tonight?"
"Nope," Princess simply answered as she pulled on her blouse.
"Come on, Girl, it's Friday night!"
"Daddy is taking me shopping in Paris this weekend. I think I'll pass," she smiled. She continued to pull on her skirt and slip into her heels.
The cheerleaders ooh-ed and aww-ed in unison. "Jimmy will be disappointed to not see you there!"
Princess smirked. She shrugged her shoulders indifferently, "Again: I'll pass."
The cheerleader clones giggled. "Well I guess we'll see you on Monday then! Have fun!"
Princess waited for everyone to leave before she pulled out her cell phone and began to text her sweetheart: "So what time should I come over?"
She tucked her phone safely in her front pocket, and closed her locker. Suddenly she could hear echoing footsteps in the empty locker room. She thought that one of the girls must have forgotten something, and continued towards the exit.
As she turned the corner, she was confronted by a tall, slender woman, with black hair. The woman stood directly in Princess's path. It immediately annoyed her. "Excuse me," Princess said loudly, "You're in my way."
As Princess tried to move around her, the woman moved in her way again. The woman reached into her business jacket and pulled out a small, golden box. "This is for you."
Princess reluctantly took the box from her. She carefully set her purse on the bench closest to her, and opened the box. Inside was a beautiful charm bracelet. She took out the gold bracelet and inspected the charms. There was a princess tiara, a castle, a pony, a butterfly and a pixie fairy. "It's adorable," she said as she immediately began to fasten it around her wrist. She could never refuse a present from anyone.
The woman reached over and helped her fix the jewelry in place. "You remind me so much of when I was your age. You tease and flirt, but you know better not to do anything more than that. You get what you want, and all the boys get are broken hearts."
Princess stared at the woman. Finally it dawned on her. "Oh my god… Sedusa?" She couldn't help but throw her arms around the villain, and hug her tightly. When she was a little girl, that woman was her idol and mentor. "How did you get out of prison?" Princess asked eagerly.
"I was lucky," Sedusa shrugged her shoulders.
Princess raised an eyebrow. "That's not a good enough story, at all, and you know it."
Sedusa sighed. "Okay, okay. Mojo busted me out, and this is why I need to talk to you. The monkey's got a hell of plan for all of us. We need your help. We need you—"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Princess interrupted. "What do you mean?" Princess stared at her old friend. "I'm sorry, Sedusa, but I don't want to be a villain any more. That was a long time ago, and it's too dangerous." She paused, as if to consider the possibility for a moment, but quickly shook the idea from her head. "No!" She continued, "Why would I want to be a part of your little plan anyways? There's nothing in it for me."
"Why wouldn't you?" Sedusa questioned. "Don't you hate them? Don't you want revenge against those brats?"
"I wasn't in prison, Sedusa. I don't need revenge."
Sedusa paused. She was surprised with Princess's reaction. She remembered an eager little girl, thirsty for popularity and hateful for not being a Powerpuff herself. She was a young little villain, but a villain nonetheless. She fought and schemed every day to try and prove herself.
"Well," Sedusa began, "To be honest, I'm surprised. I see how you are at school with them. They're still more popular than you. They always will be. I thought that this infuriated you. Aren't you jealous of their fame?"
Princess laughed a little. "I'm a Morebucks!" she announced with a flip of her hair. "I don't need anymore fame!" She reached into her pocket and took out her cell phone. She began to play with it, as she retrieved her purse, and began to walk past Sedusa.
As the teenager laughed, Sedusa filled with anger. "Listen here, you spoiled little bitch!" she shouted. She grabbed Princess by the wrist and pulled her face to her own. "You think you're hot shit because you sat pretty in your mansion this whole time, while the rest of us rotted behind bars? I treated you good back then, and we all did you big favors by keeping your little juvenile, royal butt out of harm's way! Now is your time to pay us back! So you better pay up and listen up! You do not want us on your bad side; do you? Do you?" The villain's nails dug into Princess's wrist, and she began to bleed.
"NO!" Princess screamed.
"Why does it matter to you anyway? What?—Are you friends with them secretly?"
"N-no!"
At that moment, the cell phone still in Princess's grasp began to ring. An obvious love song played as its ring tone. Sedusa looked Princess in the eyes, and saw a look of panic sweep the young girl's face. Sedusa read the caller ID that brightly shined on the screen of the cell phone. It read: "19" and was accompanied with a little heart. She forcefully took it from Princess's grasp and answered the phone, placing it on "speaker phone" and shoving it back in Princess's hand.
"H-hello?" Princess answered quietly against her will.
"Hey, sorry, I just got your text," Buttercup's voice echoed from the device. A devilish smile immediately swept Sedusa's face, and Princess cringed. "Well," Buttercup continued, "I'm headed home now. I'll probably be there in about ten or fifteen minutes, I guess. So you can come over any time after that."
Princess's mouth was dry and she found it difficult to speak. Her lips quivered: "Oh-okay," she finally responded.
"...You okay?"
"Mmm-hmm," she answered quickly.
"Okay... Well I'll see you soon, okay? Bye, Sweetie."
"Bye, Baby."
Princess hung up the phone, and Sedusa finally released her grip on her. As soon as she did so, Princess ran as fast as she could out of the locker room, throwing the charm bracelet that Sedusa had given her roughly on the ground.
Sedusa watched the girl flee, and then exited the locker room after her. As she came out, Brick, Butch, and Boomer were waiting for her. "So?" Butch asked. "Doesn't look like it went too well."
Sedusa smiled to herself, and picked up the bracelet Princess abandoned. "Actually, it went better than I could ever expect."
"Hey, Blossom, do me a favor and be sure that you guys clean the display case tonight, alright?" Blossom's work supervisor asked as he walked past the redheaded employee.
"Yeah, no probem!" She answered as she continued to unlock the cash register to begin preparing the day's daily cash deposit. As she sorted the bills, and change, her co-workers, Mitch and Elmer, stood beside her.
"Do you need help, Blossom?" Elmer inquired.
"Sure!" She smiled, and Elmer blushed pathetically. "I'll count the twenty's and ten's, if you count the one's and five's, okay?"
"Okay," the short nerd replied shyly.
Mitch leaned across the counter, setting down the broom in his hand.
"You all done sweeping the arcade, Mitch?" Blossom asked without taking her eyes off the money. She was the bowling alley's "team lead", and as a team lead, she was responsible for overseeing her co-worker's nightly duties.
"Man, that's a lot of cash!" Mitch ignored the question completely.
"Well, it was Friday night, and Friday nights are pretty big nights for us," Blossom smiled at him.
Mitch playfully pretended to outstretch his hand for the cash in Blossom's hands. Blossom playfully swatted it away with a giggle. "Get back to work!" she said with a smirk.
"Yes, Ma'am," Mitch winked at her, and disappeared back into the arcade room. Blossom's cheeks turned bright pink. She always found Mitch Mitchelson's care-free attitude so funny and oddly charming, much to Elmer's dismay. Yes, it was quickly becoming a known fact, that Blossom liked "bad boys."
As she organized the cash register, Blossom's eyes fell on the television set that hung on the wall, opposite from the counter. The nightly news was playing. There was a reporter standing outside the Townsville County Prison. "Hey, turn that up, would you, Elmer?" Blossom asked. Elmer retrieved the remote and raised the TV set's volume.
"Along with Sedusa, there are rumors circulating that there have been other prison outbreaks here at Townsville County Prison. In fact, critics are stating that Sedusa escaped, right under the nose of officials, well over a month ago. Widely known for her art of disguise—she somehow obtained a guard's uniform, and disguised another inmate as herself. How this went undetected for so long… officials are not commenting at this time."
"What's this?" Blossom frowned. "I thought this was going to be about Joe."
"Sedusa escaped?" Elmer sounded nervous. "And others maybe, too?"
Blossom took the remote from Elmer and shut off the television set. She continued to close up the register, and finish her final paperwork. "You okay, Blossom?" Elmer asked quietly.
"I'm fine," she responded simply.
"It's okay if you're scared. I would be, too, if-"
"I'm not scared, Elmer."
"What if she comes after you? Or somebody worse? You don't have powers anymore to protect yourselves. Or what if—"
"I'm not scared, Elmer." She set down her pen, and faced him. "Now, if you're done here, can you start cleaning the display case for me?"
"S-Sure, Blossom."
Blossom closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She feared this day for a long time. Of course a villain would escape—it was bound to happen. They want freedom. She didn't blame them. She would try to do the exact same thing if she was in their position. If it was true that others had escaped… she knew one of two things, if not both, would happen:
One: Townsville would want the Powerpuff Girls back.
Two: Blossom and her family would be in immediate danger of any revenge schemes the villains may have been plotting.
She took another deep breath, and began to head towards her manager's office with the day's deposit in hand. Just as she approached the office, her boss emerged from the door. "Hey," Blossom smiled, "I was just finished with—"
"Blossom, your sister's one the phone. It sounds pretty urgent." Her boss placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, as if consoling her for some sort of loss. Blossom dropped the deposit in her hands and rushed for the telephone.
It wasn't until very late when Princess arrived. Buttercup practically flew down the stairs of the household, the very moment she heard the doorbell ring. She answered the door, and found a very upset Princess on the other side. Her hair was a mess, and her cheeks were stained with tears and smudged mascara.
"What's wrong?" Buttercup immediately escorted her inside. "What took you so long?"
Princess immediately began to sob and threw her arms around Buttercup, grasping her tightly. "It was horrible! Just horrible, Buttercup!" she cried.
Buttercup was used to dealing with water works, with Princess as her girlfriend and Bubbles as her sister. Drama would forever be a part of her life. "Calm down, calm down," Buttercup tried to console her and walked her over to the living room sofa. At this time, she thought it was just another "bad day" for Princess. For Princess a bad day traditionally meant that she saw another girl with the same shoes she had on… but as Princess continued to cry harder and harder, Buttercup began to realize that this wasn't a fashion-related disaster. Finally she noticed the wounds on Princess's wrist from earlier. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed. "Baby, what the hell happened?"
Princess sobbed loudly: "I was attacked!"
"I can see that! By who?"
"S-Sedusa!"
Buttercup stared at her blankly for a while. It took some time for the name to finally register. "What?" Buttercup grabbed Princess's face, and forced her to look at her. "Now, I have no idea what the hell is going on, Baby. So you really need to try and talk to me, okay? How the hell did you run into Sedusa? She's supposed to be in jail for life!"
Princess took a deep breath and forced herself to spit the words out: "She escaped! And-and she was in the locker room at school! She-she wa-wanted me to help her with some villain-plan-thingy! And so I said no! And so she attacked me!" Princess continued to sob loudly.
At that moment the doorbell rang again. "Shit!" Buttercup shot up from the sofa. She took Princess's arm and quickly rushed her over to the hallway closet. "I'm so sorry baby, but I promise I'll come get you as soon as possible, okay?" Buttercup slammed the closet door with Princess inside before her girlfriend could even realize what was happening.
Buttercup rushed to the door and answered it. Mayor Bellum was on the other side. Mayor Mayor had passed away several years ago. She barged into the home, past Buttercup. "I'm really sorry to intrude like this, Buttercup, but I really need to discuss some things immediately with you and your family."
Buttercup closed the door behind her. She had a pretty good idea of what this was going to be about after hearing the news from Princess. She had to try to act like she wasn't suspecting a thing though. However, given the fact, that she was still in shock from what her girlfriend told her, it wouldn't be too hard to act. "What's going on? Do you need me to call the Professor? I'm pretty sure his presentation is long over by now. I can probably reach him on his cell."
"I need to talk to all of you," she said seriously. "You, your sisters, and the Professor. When will the Professor be home? And your sisters?" She spoke fast, and her voice was strained as if she had been talking fast all day to a million different people.
"They're all out tonight. Blossom gets off work at eleven. And Bubbles is out with friends, so I don't know when she'll be back. Probably not until twelve or one in the morning. What's going on?"
Mayor Bellum sighed deeply. "It's very urgent, Buttercup. Very, very urgent."
"Okay, okay," Buttercup said, as she watched the mayor pace back and forth. "But can I know what is so urgent?"
Ms Bellum stopped in front of Buttercup. She was hesistant. She wanted everyone present before she said anything. But if they were in front of a TV, radio or computer… chances were they were already finding out. "Very well," Ms. Bellum began, "The news just broke. You would think the media would like to relay things to me first, but they don't. Townsville is in a panic right now. There's been a few ex-villains who have escaped from prison, Buttercup. Your family is in danger—if not the entire city. Please. Can you call the Professor and the other girls?"
Buttercup slowly nodded. "Yeah, yeah of course." Her mind began to race with the possibilities of just how serious this matter was turning out to be. She swallowed hard. "Uh, Ms. Bellum? Can you wait for me in the kitchen? I just… need some time."
"Yes, of course, Buttercup," she nodded. Her face looked pained with sincere sympathy for the child. "I'm sorry," she said softly as she left the room.
Buttercup stood still for a moment, not realizing that Ms. Bellum had already left. What was "a few ex-villains" exactly? Sedusa, obviously, since she had just learned from Princess. But who else?
Buttercup remembered Princess immediately and rushed to the closet door. She opened it and found Princess on the floor of the closet, weeping silently into her hands. She helped the girl off the floor. "I'm so sorry, Sweetheart. I really, really am!" she whispered to her girlfriend.
"Tonight was supposed to be special!" Princess whispered back harshly. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this…."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry." She hugged Princess tightly.
"Please don't be a super hero again. I don't want you to. And I don't want to be a villain. I want normal lives. In the Beverly Hills or Malibu. Even Miami would do! Anything but that! Please… please, please please—"
"I know, I know. I'm sorry," Buttercup repeated. It was all she could think of to say. "Honestly, I don't know, Princess. I don't know what's going to happen. But… I promise… I will call you tonight, okay? I promise I'll call. No matter how late it is. I will call you, okay?"
Buttercup quickly walked Princess to the door. It broke her heart to close it so quickly on the face of her lover, but she had no other choice. She reached into her pocket, and immediately began to call Blossom first.
