I don't have a lot to say this time. I guess just read and review! I love hearing (err, reading) what you guys have to think!
CHAPTER 4: DIAL 555-WE DON'T CARE
My life can never be simple, can it? I just wanted to save the day, honest! Sure, my long term goal involved the eradication of the Powerpuff Girls, but until then I was still doing the 'right' thing!
After too long of inactivity, my watch beeped in alarm. There was a museum that was being robbed over at the other side of town. A silent alarm had been sounded and the cops would be arriving soon, but the crooks were heavily armed, and would be gone by the time they got there. In the middle of town was a giant monster attack. The giant monster was definitely a bigger threat, and that's where the Powerpuff Girls would be. They would probably take their time if they were still a little sick from last week. So it was my job to deal with the museum thieves.
I called Gina as I was equipping my suit, strapping the jetpack to my back.
"So, you've got something new for me to work with?" I asked.
"Uh-huh!" she replied enthusiastically. "It's still going through beta testing, so be prepared for faults. Still, use it frequently. I want to get test data for it." I flew out of my bedroom window. I think I put a little bit too much force in the action, because all the windows around it shattered as I left. Ah well. I'd just get someone to fix it when I got back.
"So what exactly does it do?" I asked, looking at my watch skeptically. There was now a purple button on the side with a smiley face on it.
"Well, remember my old nanobots?" she asked. I nodded my head, then realised that she couldn't see me and replied with a 'yeah' instead. "Well, I've upgraded them a bit and reconfigured them to recognise your suit as an ally or command post. When you press that button, they'll come crawling out of your backpack and head for any moving object or living organism nearby. Then they'll self destruct and blast them to a million pieces!"
"Ooh, sounds flashy!"
"Yeah! I haven't installed them with proper threat detection software though, so they'll have a hard time telling apart friendlies from enemies. Don't use them near hostages or other people! Only use them on bad guys!"
"No problem! I'll make sure the big bads get very acquainted with them!"
I could see the museum coming up in my view already, my contacts circling it as the target destination.
"Alright then," I mumbled, "tell me where the crooks are…." I started seeing multicoloured, vaguely human shapes appearing through the walls, probably all the guards that they had managed to get past. Some of them were lying down or slumped against stuff. At first I thought they were sleeping, but then I realised that they had been knocked out. They also had much cooler colours than the guards who were awake. Instead of reds and bright oranges, they were mainly yellows.
I spotted two people crouching and creeping about in the middle of the museum. Those were definitely the guys I was looking for. I charged straight for them, roof or no roof, fist extended.
I slammed through it with ease, the roof caving in as I landed inside the museum, perfectly on my feet this time. It was all coming back to me now. It was all routine again. So routine that I took the time to celebrate.
"Princess has arrived!" I cried, throwing my hands up in the air. I only wished I had a ribbon or some fireworks to make my entrance more flamboyant.
"Who are you?" one of the two crooks snarled. They were both dressed from head to toe in black, with black ski masks covering their faces. They also looked kind of short, like pint sized bank robbers.
"Hello? Didn't you hear me? I already said my name is-"
"Hyaa!" Another section of the roof blew up, and coming down along with it came a Powerpuff. And of all the Powepuff Girls it could have been, it had to be Buttercup.
"Princess Morbucks, I should have known that it would have been you who's up to something like this!" she roared. Once upon a time, all of the girls were just pallet swaps of each other, dressed the same with different colours. They still did that a lot, but today Buttercup had decided to go with her own thing. I guess they were caught off guard when the cry for help sprung up.
She was wearing a black Ramones t-shirt with neon green gloves and green jeans, black combat boots, and a green hair band. Add super thick mascara and a spiked choker and she would have looked like a punk rocker. I was kind of expecting her sisters to join her in vandalising the roof (note to self: fly in through the window next time), but the roof remained (mostly) intact.
"Buttercup, what are you doing?" I screamed at her. "You're supposed to be fighting a giant monster round about now!"
"The others said they could handle it and told me to go on ahead. And look what I find? You're back in the act, stealing from museums. Museums!"
"What? I'm not stealing anything, I'm here to save the day!"
"Yeah right, I've already caught you red handed!" I was wondering what she was talking about when I looked down. I was standing right on top of a giant ruby, the display case broken from me smashing into it. From up on that pedestal, I understood why everybody looked so short. Even though my contacts could see people through walls, it wasn't so great at spotting objects. This was a lesson to look before you crash through roofs.
"Oops," I said. "Wait, Buttercup, I can explai-" Nope. That wasn't happening. She'd already launched herself at me, her fist slamming into my face. The world flipped crazily around me as I spun around, only becoming still as I slammed into a wall, cracks forming around my body. If I didn't have my suit, I would have been dead, and even with it, I was seeing stars. It took me a few seconds to refocus.
By the time I'd come to, Buttercup was gone. I looked around frantically for her, then I realised my mistake. I dived sideways, using my jet pack for that extra burst of speed. Buttercup slammed down on where I was standing just a second ago, her fist sticking in the ground.
"W-wait a second Buttercup, I'm trying to stop the real crooks, you have to calm down!" I yelled. Really, nobody understood grace and patience anymore, did they?
"Shut up you liar!" she spat back. "I thought you quit? I guess once a villain, always a villain!" I actually had to agree with her on that one, but that wasn't the point!
She lunged at me, swinging a barrage of fury filled punches. It was all I could do just to block them, let alone dodge. What scared me even more was that even if I was using the ultra upgraded golden edition of my suit, I don't think I would have been able to deal with it. It had been so long since I'd fought the Powerpuffs, and they had only been improving over time.
She kicked me in the side, sending me rolling through the ground. I flew into the air, trying to get any advantage I could over her, and this time, I made sure to keep my eyes locked on her. It didn't help. She disappeared in a green flash.
I kept seeing green blurs and flashes all around me. I was constantly turning around, trying desperately to lock onto her, only to get hit from behind or swept off me feet and knocked to the walls. This was definitely not working.
"Will you calm down?!" I roared, pressing the button on my watch. If I couldn't fight her, then maybe Gina's little gadget would do the trick?
A small army of black insect-looking machines crawled out from my jet pack, each about the size of a ping pong ball, but as soon as they leaped off of my shoulders they expanded until they were the size and shape of bowling balls, the little windup keys still in their backs, now with a lit fuse on the top of their heads.
"Go, my robot minions!" I yelled, pointing forwards. "Turn that Powder puff into mincemeat!" They all marched forward, the sound of their tiny feet and a ticking like a time bomb filling the air. Buttercup came to a stop in front of one of them.
"What the heck is this thing?" she asked. It clung to her ankle, glowing red as the beeping it made got faster and faster. "Whoa! No, no, don't do that!" She tore it off and chucked it out the window. I couldn't see it anymore, but I could still hear the explosion, sending shock waves across the room. She picked up all of the bombs before they could get anywhere near detonating and tossed them out the window, all in the space of a few seconds. I stared, slack jawed at the whole thing. I was so surprised, I didn't even notice Buttercup punching me in the gut.
It felt like coughing up a black hole. It was no surprise that I was sent flying straight up, slamming into the ceiling with a resounding crash. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, and I couldn't feel most of my body.
I, the great and powerful Princess Morbucks, had been defeated.
And the worst part was that I could see the crooks sneaking off with the giant ruby I had landed on, yet I couldn't even speak or yell at Buttercup to stop them.
Buttercup was just dusting off her hands, a proud look on her face.
"That'll teach ya not to to try anything funny when I'm on watch! The cops will get here any minute now." Two more crashes later, and Blossom and Bubbles were also standing in the room, brushing off the bits of debris. Blossom was wearing a pink blouse and a red skirt, and of course, her usual red ribbons that made her look like some kind of giant pink bunny rabbit. Bubbles looked more like she usually did, with a blue and black sun dress, although she'd added to it with a big wide brimmed hat that now had a big suspiciously shaped chunk of it missing. It looked like somebody had tried to bite her head off, but just got her hat instead.
"Sorry we're late," Blossom apologised. "That monster was a lot tougher than it looked."
"Yeah, Blossom had to freeze the highway and slide it out of Townsville," Bubbles added. "Then we could fight it without holding back."
"It was a close match, but Bubbles gave it an uppercut, punching it all the way into the Pacific Ocean!"
"Although not before it ate my hat…."
"Don't worry, I'll make a new one for you."
"Really?"
"Yup! Promise! So, Buttercup… did you stop the museum thief?"
"Duh! It was none other than our good friend, Princess Morbucks." As soon as she said my name, I fell from the ceiling, slamming into the ground. Honestly, I barely even felt it. I was in too much pain from everything else for it to even register.
"No… you didn't," I wheezed, still trying to get my breath back.
"What, you still wanna fight?" Buttercup asked, readying her fists.
"No!" I choked. Revenge would have to wait if this was all I could manage against one of them. "I'm saying that you didn't stop the jewel thief! Look over there!" The girls all turned around, and saw a shockingly lonely looking pedestal. Buttercup dashed towards me, picking me up by the collar and shaking me like a rag doll.
"Alright Princess, where did you hide it? I know you've got it!"
"Stop… shaking me! You were fighting me the whole time, I didn't do it!"
"Liar!"
"Buttercup, wait!" Blossom interrupted. Reluctantly, Buttercup lowered me to the floor. "Princess, what are you talking about? Why are you here anyway?"
"I was trying to stop the jewel thief when Buttercup came through and attacked me for no reason!" I whined. "I tried to explain, but she called me a liar!" My voice caught a little on that last word. I'd had some bad days the past few weeks, but absolutely everything that could have gone wrong went wrong this time. I lost to the Powerpuffs (in a one on one fight!), the bad guy got away, Gina's invention didn't work, and the only person who wanted to even listen to me was my worst enemy, and even she was struggling to believe me. At least Bubbles looked a little sympathetic.
"Oh… sorry Princess, we didn't mean to jump to conclusions like that… right Buttercup?"
"She started it with her stuck up attitude," Buttercup grumbled.
"Buttercup!"
"Fine, I'm sorry I beat you up." I didn't answer, not because I didn't want to (I didn't), but because I could feel myself breaking into tears. I was sobbing quietly to myself, clenching my fists as I tried to get back up.
"Man, you don't have to cry about it," Blossom said, although she definitely sounded annoyed instead of sympathetic.
"Blossom, she's miserable, stop picking on her," Bubbles said. Buttercup glared at her.
"Come on, Bubbles, it's not like she hasn't tried to trick us by crying before."
"But even if she is lying, we still attacked her for no reason."
"She's at a crime scene, in a super suit! What did you expect me to think, that she got lost flying to Mojo's? What would you guys have done?" Bubbles didn't answer, looking at her toes in embarrassment.
"Guys, this isn't the time for this," Blossom said. "If we hurry, we can still catch the real crooks." Just as they began to fly into the air, I noticed one of Gina's nanobots, stumbling towards me. It looked like it had gotten lost, and was coming back to it's owner.
Wait, coming back? Are they meant to do that?
I screamed in horror as it sat down, glowing red and beeping red. There was a sound like the world's biggest drum getting struck by lightning, a flash of all sorts of colours flaring across my vision, and then the feeling that somebody was pulling my breath out of me.
Then the world went dark.
The first thing that I noticed was the smell of mushroom soup. It felt positively divine, like somebody melted down heaven and its aroma was dancing around in my nose. Next, I noticed was that I was lying down in something soft. I couldn't really remember much of anything, but I was pretty sure that I was nowhere near my nice, comfy bed when I fell asleep. Actually, when did I fall asleep? What was even going on?
The third thing I noticed was the sound of one of those cheap, rotating fans. That was probably what was responsible for the fourth thing I noticed: the fact that I felt cool, even refreshed, as long as I ignored the throbbing in my head and my aching muscles at least.
Slowly, I opened my eyes, and that's when I noticed the fifth thing: I had no idea where I was.
On the bright side, I knew all of my senses were working.
I was in a small, quaint little room, with pink walls and a white floor and ceiling. Or at least, I thought they were pink. It was hard to tell with only the bedside lamps being on. The bed I was in was big enough, with three vertical stripes along the blankets: blue, green, and pink. I didn't really like the colour arrangement, but it worked.
I felt like I'd been hit by a truck on ice skates, and my face was practically burning. My head was still ringing as I tried to piece together bits of my memory. I remembered getting a signal about a robbery or something. I went to stop it, but met Buttercup instead. I lost, badly, and then….
"Gina, I'm going to kill you and your stupid malfunctioning gadgets," I grumbled as I staggered out of bed. Every movement hurt, but I could still stand and walk without falling over. I stomped towards the door, trying desperately to reign in my anger. I opened the door, looking around nervously. I still had no idea where I was, but the house seemed ordinary enough, if not a bit on the small side. I walked downstairs, looking around for any clue of my location. As I descended, I could hear the sounds of the TV and some excited voices yelling and cheering about it. I looked down at the room below me, and boy was I not prepared for what I saw!
"Ha! How do you like me now, huh?"
"Buttercup, that attack nearly took me out too!"
"I told you I was using the air strike, didn't I?"
"Yeah but I'm using the Vegalta mech! How am I meant to escape with this thing?"
"Oh relax, you're still alive so it's fine."
"The Vegalta is damaged and there's a whole wave of super robots coming! Giant ants are the least of our worries! Bubbles, back me up here!"
"Well she did warn you to move…."
"What? You too?"
"You can always redeploy the Vegalta later."
"Oh come on, there can't be nobody on my side!"
The scene I was looking at was almost enough to give me a heart attack. All three of the Powerpuffs were together in one room, huddled in front of the screen or on the sofa, and playing some kind of video game with robots, absurd weapons, and giant ants. And their guest was none other than the designer of my failed weaponry, Gina.
I didn't know whether to freak out and scream, or punch somebody in the face, so I just stared slack jawed until a man in a white lab coat and an apron appeared from the kitchen door.
"Ah, Princess," he said as soon as he spotted me, "good to see you're up! Are you feeling any better?" I nodded my head slowly, too dumbstruck to speak. "That's great! You looked like a mess when the girls brought you here, but luckily, you weren't too harmed, and were just a little shocked." The others seemed to notice me at that point. Bubbles waved excitedly at me.
"Hi Princess!" she yelled.
"Focus on the game, Bubbles," Buttercup snapped back.
"Sorry…." She resumed playing with twice the intensity, hammering away at the buttons.
"Yeah, a bomb kind of blew up in your face," Buttercup stated before she added, "Don't worry, your face is fine," just as the blood drained out of me at the thought of my perfect, flawless face being ruined. "It's kinda annoying too. We had to check on you and take you back so the crooks got away."
"Buttercup, it's not her fault," Blossom said, although she looked more focused on the game than on me.
"Yeah, that's actually my fault," Gina said. "I thought that the nanobot's AI would prevent them from harming their source, so I didn't bother installing a proper threat detection system. I guess I was wrong…. If it wasn't for that, they wouldn't have blown up, and you wouldn't be here. I am really, really sorry about all of this."
I wanted to scream at her for creating faulty pieces of black market junk that nearly got me killed. I mean, a bomb went off in my face! I bet the only reason I was still alive was because she was such a terrible inventor that she couldn't even get it to kill me right! But I was still kind of recovering from waking up in the house of my mortal enemies. I took a step forward, but felt myself losing my balance. I nearly collapsed on the spot when the man in the lab coat surged forward, catching me before I could fall completely.
"Whoa, take it easy! You still took a pretty nasty hit. Here, take a seat." He directed me to a sofa, slowly sitting me down. I must have looked like I'd seen a ghost, or maybe that I'd become the ghost instead, my skin pale and eyes sunken like a skeleton. "I was preparing soup for when you woke up. Wait here and get some rest. Try not to move too much." The man darted away towards the kitchen, leaving me to stare at my mortal enemies with a vacant look in my eyes. It looked like they'd finished their level, because they were all whooping and cheering until Bubbles noticed me and came to play the 'good' host.
"Sorry, this is all still kind of our fault," she said. "We asked the Professor for help making sure you were okay. Your clothes were all really badly damaged, so we swapped them out for some of my own since we're the same size." That's when I realised I wasn't wearing the fibre-o-tomic-omic. I looked down and saw I was dressed in pink pyjamas with purple sleeves and a picture of a white unicorn with a purple mane.
"You took my suit?!" I screamed, feeling my wrath surging back to me as I bolted out of my chair. The effort nearly made me black out, and I collapsed back into the sofa, clutching my head and fighting back the nausea.
"Don't move so much!" Blossom scolded me. "You took a bomb to your face. I'm not even sure why you're awake…."
"What did you do to my suit? Please don't tell me you tried to wash it to be 'helpful' because that's thousands of dollars of expensive equipment!"
"Of course not! We called Gina. She's the only one who's seen how your suit actually works, right?"
"Gina? How did you know that she would know?"
"There's only one person in school who could make bombs that moved like that. We heard all about how she took over school while we were sick, and she was the last person you called on your phone. She was more than happy to help after we explained the situation to her." Gina waved nervously at me, although it kind of looked like she was hiding behind her glasses somehow.
"Gina, where's the suit?" I snapped.
"It's in the Professor's lab," she said. "I didn't mess around with it. I just looked it over to see what was still salvageable."
"Salvageable?"
"Uhh… maybe you misunderstand! It's fine, it's still operational, but I'm not sure if it's safe to use right now. It will need a full checkup later. But it can be fixed no problem!" I inhaled deeply and exhaled, trying to calm myself down. Having a meltdown wasn't going to help anybody, especially not myself. I could get mad at Gina for her faulty inventions later. Right now, my priority was getting better.
The man (I guess the Professor?) came back into the room, carrying a bowl of soup on a tray. He pulled a small coffee table towards me and placed the tray on top of it.
"Careful, it's pretty hot," he said. I grabbed the bowl and shoved a spoonful into my mouth. I felt like my face was going to explode as I fanned my face frantically. I could see Buttercup snickering as I swallowed the stuff like it was lava, frantically fanning my face like it would somehow make it better. The Professor raised an eyebrow at me. "You see? What did I tell you."
"Why would you serve it to me so hot? Are you trying to kill me?"
"Well, it's better than cold soup, I can tell you that much," he laughed. Then, he suddenly stopped on the spot. He sniffed the air a few times. "Do you guys smell that?" His eyes widened in horror as whatever mistake he'd made dawned on him. "The chicken! It's still in the oven!"He sprinted out of the room again while the rest of the girls all seemed to drift back to various places. Bubbles went back to the couch and pulled out a sketchbook and pencil from beneath the cushions. Buttercup changed the game to something else, and Gina followed, cracking her knuckles as if she was getting ready for a fight. Only Blossom stayed behind, staring at me.
"What? Are you here to make fun of me?" I asked. Blossom shook her head. "Oh, so you're just going to stare at me until I'm self conscious of my ridiculous clothes and messed up hair, right?"
"I don't think Bubble's pyjamas are ridiculous."
"Well obviously you don't. Your fashion sense is just as absurd." Blossom rolled her eyes, but chose not to comment on it. "Then what do you want?"
"I just wanna know something. Why did you do it?"
"What, blow myself up? Were you paying any attention?"
"No! Not that! Why you were at the museum! I know you weren't the jewel thief, so why were you there at all?"
"Gina didn't tell you?" She shook her head.
"Gina said you were testing out a new weapon, but that doesn't explain why you were at the museum just as a robbery was taking place."
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me." She looked resolved. Time to see her prove me right.
"I was there trying to 'save the day in the name of justice'. Believe me?"
"Elaborate."
"Ugh, all these questions. I've been watching the streets lately, looking for crimes that you might have missed. Whenever something goes wrong and you're occupied, I go and deal with it. If I'm lucky, there's even a crowd waiting to cheer me on. If not, then it's an angry mob trying to chuck stones."
"Sounds… harsh."
"Tell me about it! And all I'm doing is my fair share as a good citizen of Townsville and mopping the streets with the cretins and convicts that are too selfish to do it themselves! And I'm treated with such hatred! Can you imagine?"
"Maybe it's because you have a history of trying to take over Townsville?"
"Wait… you actually believe me?"
"Well, the police have said they've spotted you showing up to crime scenes, causing trouble, but a lot of the people we interviewed have been saying you've actually helped save them or beat up the bad guy. I guess I didn't know who to believe until tonight. And now that you've told me, it's a little easier to swallow. What's your hidden agenda?" I held my hand to my chest, a shocked expression on my face.
"Madame, you wound me! Why can't you just trust me a bit? Why must I have a hidden agenda to everything?"
"Because you're Princess Morbucks!"
"When have I ever had such a two faced nature though?"
"That time when you wanted to destroy the Rowdyruff Boys, and you roped us into your scheme to do it, claiming it was because you turned a new leaf?"
"That was in the past! Now I fight for the forces of good! Although I can't say I'd be looking forward to working with you guys anyway."
"Don't flatter yourself Princess. You're not cut out to be a Powerpuff Girl anyway."
"Why, because I'm better than you guys in every way possible?"
"No, because you're still a stuck up brat, even after all these years."
"You just say that because you're jealous of all the stuff that I have that you can't afford."
"As if I could ever be jealous of you."
"Of course not. You can't be jealous of somebody if you're not even in the same league as them."
"If you're so superior, then why don't you try and back it up, huh?"
"I think I might just do that, starting with you!" I could feel my temper flaring up, and I could almost feel enraged sparks between us as we stared each other down.
I wonder what would have happened if Bubbles hadn't said "hey, do you guys hear that?" At first I thought she was making it up to distract me, so her sister could get an advantage. But then I heard it too. A shrill, high pitched ringing. It was hard to make out, but I could definitely hear it, and it was coming from upstairs….
"Daddy!" I cried, forgetting all about our little discussion. I sprung out of the sofa, fell flat on my face, and then forced myself back to my feet, sprinting upstairs.
"Wait, Princess, don't move so much!" I heard Gina yell. I ignored her, bounding up to the room I'd awoken in. Sure enough, on the bedside table was a pink smart phone, its screen flashing as it vibrated and beeped with an annoying ring tone that I seriously needed to change. I practically dived across the bed, grabbing it and pulling it to my ear.
"Hi Daddy!" I yelled as cheerfully as possible.
"Good evening Miss Morbucks," a morbid voice said over the phone. I felt my stomach sinking a little bit. It was not daddy. It was just one of the butlers.
"Oh… hello Conan," I said, feeling the energy drain out of me. "What is it?"
"I heard that you're at the Utonium household. Are you unharmed?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Just a little bit dizzy, that's all."
"That's good to hear. We were all worried when you suddenly disappeared. We received a phone call from Professor Utonium a few hours ago explaining the situation and your injuries. I can arrange transport to take you back to the manor at your earliest convenience." I was about to jump at the chance. Getting away from the Power poofs would probably do me some good. But for some reason, I hesitated.
"Does Daddy know about what happened?"
"Master Morbucks has been informed."
"Did… did he say anything?"
"… Master Morbucks asked me to apologise on his behalf for being unable to be with you. He has urgent business to attend to."
"…. You're lying. He didn't say anything, did he?" There was a moment of silence, like Conan was contemplating whether to tell the truth or feed me with another lie.
"Unfortunately, he was preoccupied when we told him the news. He has been incredibly busy of late. He did, however, suggest that you hurry home immediately."
"But he didn't care? He wasn't worried, or even look for me himself? He hasn't even come to pick me up?"
"I assure you, Master Morbucks was almost certainly concerned for your safety, but he also trusts that you are a responsible young lady, and has other matters of importance to attend to."
"I'm twelve. He can't just assume that I'm 'responsible'. And he has stuff more important than his daughter?"
"You can discuss matters with him personally when you are retrieved back to the manor. Perhaps I should pick you up in thirty minutes?"
"Yeah, that would be… actually…. No, you can't pick me up in thirty minutes."
"An hour then?"
"No. Don't even bother!"
"I'm… I'm sorry?"
"I'm not going to get picked up today. In fact, I'm having a slumber party at the Utonium house tonight!" I yelled triumphantly. "It's clear that Daddy doesn't care where I am, so I might as well sleep over at… at my friend's house! I'm sure he won't object to that!"
"I… as you wish." He hung up, leaving me standing with my phone loosely in my hands. He didn't even try to argue with me. He didn't try and stop and reason with me or anything, and if Daddy really didn't care, then it wouldn't even matter.
Fine. Who needed them anyway? Not me, that's for sure. He was never really there when it mattered. Even if he was there, he may as well have been across the country with how detached he was. I could be fine just on my own. In fact, I could have fun with my friends! I just had to make some first. And since Saffron wasn't around, the closest thing I had to those right now were the Powerpuffs and Gina.
Yeah, I would be fine. We would party and eat snacks and tell ghost stories and gossip and do all those other things Jessie and James talked about doing when they had slumber parties. All the things I never got the chance to do. I tried to ignore the gnawing feeling in my gut that something was wrong. I wiped the tears away before they could start streaming down my face (why was I even crying?) and headed for the door. I pushed it open and saw Gina standing there, frozen mid step going up.
"I… I came up to check on you," she said. "You were taking a while, and I got worried…."
"How much did you hear?" I asked.
"Not much, I just got here. I didn't mean to eavesdrop or anything." I felt too drained to get mad at her, trudging miserably down the stairs. I sat down on the couch, unwilling to move again. The Professor entered the room one more time, a pair of big oven mitts on his hands.
"Oh, Princess, just one question," he said. "I can take you back to your parents if you want. What time do you want me to drop you?"
"Don't bother," I replied.
"Oh, of course… wait, what?" Everyone was looking at me funny now. If there was one thing I got out of this, it was seeing the looks of pure bafflement on the Powerpuff's faces.
"I think I'll be sleeping over tonight," I said. "Think of it as one giant sleepover!"
