Chapter 4
Rebel Girl
Sophomore Year - September
A bullet bounced off of Buttercup's forehead and fell to the ground. It was followed by a hailstorm of gunfire. The bullets may as well have been marshmallows. She didn't have to expend much X to make herself bulletproof. She could go all day, and she would have kept it on while she slept if she didn't have to turn off all her powers to recharge.
Buttercup sighed. Taking down bank robbers was boring. They always did the same thing when she showed up, shot at her and maybe try to hit her with a car. It wasn't a challenge, not like fighting a monster where she would be low on X and have to choose between keeping her body together and getting a good hit in. And Buttercup needed a good fight. Her muscles were twitching for it.
She strode up to the closest guy. Instead of reloading when he ran out of bullets, he tried to whip her with the gun. It was not effective. A quick throat strike later, and he went into the fetal position, trying to open his windpipe.
Somehow, the Rowdyruff Boys had killed that stupid squid and two questions ran through Buttercup's head. How? And even more importantly, why was everyone saying they were heroes all of a sudden?
The next two robbers stood closely together, unloading every bullet they had into Buttercup. She walked up to them calmly and caught a bullet out of the air to show them. Her fingers flattened it easily. The robbers looked at her dumbfounded just before she slammed their heads together.
It was all that idiot mayor's fault. Buttercup and her sisters had a tough time defeating one monster and now they can only take care on petty crime. It was such bullshit. She wasn't fighting anymore, it was effortless.
The fourth robber unloaded a shotgun on her. Buttercup had never understood the mindset behind them. Several tiny marshmallows didn't equal one big marshmallow. She snatched it out of the robber's hand and snapped it in half. The robber's head slammed into the wall.
As Buttercup made her way to the back, the final robber stopped drilling the vault door and turned the power tool on her. The diamond-tipped drill bit went into Buttercup's palm and broke. He looked like he was going to crap his pants.
Buttercup glared at him, not moving just yet. He got to his knees with his hands behind his head, surrendering without her having to do a thing. That felt good.
That was all five, way too easy. Buttercup scanned the building with her x-ray vision to make sure it wasn't a diversion. While she was busy checking the upper floors the first robber bolted for the door. She stayed behind to finish her task, he wasn't going anywhere.
He made it outside, bounding down the steps to the bank, and looking over his shoulder for Buttercup. He fumbled with the keys to his getaway car. He opened the driver's side door and Buttercup landed on hood. She felt the front axle break under her feet and the car's guts spilled out onto the road.
"Going somewhere?"
He cowered on the ground trying not to look.
Buttercup grabbed him and flew to a 10-story antenna in the suburbs. She left him at the top, clutching onto the thin structure for dear life as it swayed in the breeze. "Now you're not going anywhere."
"Are you fucking crazy!?"
"Stop crying, someone will be by to pick you up." Buttercup ripped the ladder off the side so he couldn't get down and made it back to the bank to find the other four in handcuffs.
"No injuries, minor damage," the lieutenant in charge noted. "Thanks, Buttercup."
Buttercup's hands still wanted to punch something. "It was easy." A waste of her time. At least it got her out of first period.
School was only a short flight away. She waved to the robber on the antenna and flew to the back of the school, behind the Ag equipment shed, where she knew Mitch and the guys would be.
Mitch was sitting on a crate, smoking a cigarette with Harry and Pablo. The instant Buttercup saw her boyfriend's dumb face, she remembered she was mad at him.
"Hey babe," Mitch came over and threw his arms around her. Buttercup shrugged him off. "Woah, why so frosty?"
"Shut the fuck up, Mitch."
"Okay, babe. What happened?"
Buttercup side-eyed him. "What do you mean 'what happened?' I saw you hanging out with Butch."
"Butch?" Mitch acted like he didn't understand, but he did. The asshole was just acting innocent. "What's the matter? The dude is cool."
Buttercup stopped mid-breath. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Blossom had texted her. [Do you need help with that bank robbery?]
Buttercup typed in a reply. [No.]
[Let me know when you finish]
Buttercup rolled her eyes. "Do not hang out with him."
"Come on, Babe. Even Blossom can't tell him what to do. You should've seen it. He was telling me about a band he saw in Megaville."
Buttercup squeezed her fists. She wanted to wring Mitch's neck until he saw it her way. She wanted to yell and scream, but she didn't. She shouldn't have had to. Her idiot boyfriend should have understood.
"Besides, he's a hero now-"
"He's not a fucking hero!" She was so mad at him, she was shaking.
Then Buttercup heard the sound of impending doom. A classroom door opened on the other side of the school. No escape, even if she ran. She was fucked.
"Thought so," Blossom said, her chin all high and mighty.
The guys scrambled away to whatever class they should have been in. Buttercup huffed. She wasn't about to move just because her sister had caught her.
"I take it the robbery has been handled?" Blossom asked.
Buttercup rolled her eyes. "It was a robbery, Bloss. It's not like they're hard."
"Why are you like this?"
Buttercup twitched. She could punch her sister in the face and it wouldn't matter. "Why are you always trying to control me?"
"I am not trying to control you."
She could do it, Buttercup could punch her sister in the face. She'd catch hell later for fighting her sister, but Blossom wouldn't die. She might even fight back. "So you aren't about to tell me to go to class?"
Blossom scowled. "Do whatever you want." She flipped her hair over her shoulder, and walked away.
School took forever like it usually did. After it was over, she could do what she really wanted. She was the first one to practice. She got her pads and skates on, grabbed her stick, and hit the ice.
It didn't take long before Buttercup's body throbbed at holding itself back. The hockey team rules said she had to keep her powers off, but her entire being propelled her to give everything she had, plus a little more. Even slamming her boyfriend into the boards didn't make the urge go away.
She felt too safe. Even with her invincibility turned off, those pads kept anyone from doing her any real damage. She needed to hit and be hit. The need built to a point that she couldn't stand it. She left early to get an itch she needed scratched.
A burst of far off explosions told her the boys were in the hills outside of town. Buttercup followed the signs, There were several craters, a few leveled areas, and gashes in the ground. Signs of a heated training session.
She found them at the end of the trail. Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, and Needle Dick were busy yelling at each other in an open area with no trees or anything. Butch wasn't wearing a shirt, probably to show off his muscles to no one. Brick and Boomer had kept their shirts on, thank god.
Apparently, she had missed the action. They were busy yelling at each other about some stupid thing. Buttercup figured she'd let them air their balls out and see who could piss the farthest before she said anything. Boys were so stupid.
"I want a rematch!" Butch demanded at Boomer.
"Seriously?" Brick said. "Butch, you're too slow to hit him. You need to work on your speed."
"Fuck you! Just 'cuz I'm the beefy one doesn't mean I'm slow."
"No, the fact that I can run circles around you does," Boomer said.
"Come here and say that!" Butch lunged at Boomer, only for him to narrowly avoid Butch's grasp.
"Hey, fuckers," Buttercup said over the noise.
They didn't hear her and kept arguing.
"Idiots who could never satisfy a woman..." No answer again.
Buttercup grabbed a boulder and threw it at them. Boomer zipped out of the way to avoid it. Butch punched it, shattering the rock. Brick didn't move, even when a piece of the boulder broke on his shoulder.
They all looked Buttercup, realizing they had a spectator.
Boomer glared at her. "What do you want?"
Butch smiled and cracked his knuckles. "She came for me." He started strutting toward her. "That's why she threw that rock." He took a wide stance and put his fists up. "She wants to play."
Buttercup ignored him and the feeling in her chest that wanted to fuck him up. She handed a piece of paper to Brick.
Brick raised an eyebrow reading it. That got his brothers' attention. They looked over his shoulder at what it said.
ResumeButtercup Utonium542-5227Age: 15Experience: 10 years of fighting monsters attacking Townsville
The rest was blank.
"Do you have any references?" Brick asked.
"Yeah, I got references." Her eyes narrowed at him and she raised her fists.
Brick huffed.
"What!?" You're going to let her join the Rowdyruffs!?" Butch said.
"Thinking about it."
Buttercup eyed Butch. His head twitched subtly. He wanted a fight. And she couldn't deny that she wanted to fight him too. But she was out for bigger fish: monsters. She needed a steady supply to fight.
"Aren't you with that 'other' superhero team?" Boomer asked.
"Doesn't mean I can't freelance."
Brick cocked his head and considered it. "What can you bring to the Rowdyruff Boys?"
"I can run circles around Butch and I can fold Boomer in half."
"No you can't," Boomer said.
Buttercup opened her hands like she was going to grab him. "Want to wrestle for it?"
Boomer pursed his lips and snorted, but didn't follow up with anything. Smart boy.
"How about a try-out?" Brick asked.
"Sure," Buttercup said, looking to Butch. She was about to get the best of both options.
Butch had a shit-eating grin bigger than his whole face. A wave pulsed through her. Buttercup vs Butch, a war of arch-rivals. Butch was Buttercup's only equal. He would try to kill her, and unlike everyone else in the world, he had a shot at succeeding.
They squared off against each other. Buttercup's heart pounded. She loved the moment right before the action. The breeze waved through her hair. The sun beat down on the battlefield. The anticipation of a great fight, Butch. She had only beaten him in a fair fight a few times.
The thing about Butch was that he was ridiculously strong, those muscles weren't just for show. No one threw a punch like Butch. And if he got his hands on you, he could unscrew your head.
Butch had three weaknesses. The first was that he was slow, Buttercup could outmaneuver him. The second was that he only had one ranged attack: his eyebeams. Butch's eyebeams attacked the target's nervous system. They didn't hurt much, but stunned whoever they hit for a few seconds, giving Butch the chance to get in close. His third weakness was that he was all offense. He hardly ever blocked, and when he did, he would meet Buttercup's fist with his own. It was more like punching punches than actual blocking.
Get in close. Don't let him use his eyebeams, but don't let him grab you. Make him swing and miss. Get your shots in around his defense. Hooks and uppercuts so he can't block effectively. Speed and coordination over strength. He was tough, so it might take a while. If the worst should happen, she could always use her own eyebeams.
Buttercup was ready. She dug her foot into the ground.
"No." Brick unbuttoned his overshirt and rolled up the sleeves. "Me."
Buttercup's eyes went wide for a split second. Her heart fell out of her chest. Fighting Brick was nothing like fighting Butch. Butch was all striking and grappling, standard stuff, stuff she was used to. Brick was totally different. He kept an entire arsenal behind his back.
"Great."
Buttercup kept her gaze on him. He glared at her with blood red eyes and hands open and at his sides, casual as could be. He could do almost anything. Brick was Blossom's problem. Buttercup had no idea how to fight him.
Brick dashed toward her with his arm cocked and ready, his fist blazing.
Buttercup blocked and countered with a series of punches that Brick blocked. He was much more coordinated than Butch. She came around with a spin kick trying to circle him right, but he grabbed her ankle and came at her with his own kick.
It was like being hit in the head with an ocean liner. She told herself it didn't hurt and used the momentum to spin backward. He let go rather than lose his footing.
The instant she hit the ground again the air boomed as Brick's fist moved through it. On instinct, Buttercup threw up her forcefield to block the hit.
Brick slammed her shield so hard it cracked and her boots slid back through the dirt. She kept it up to buy time to figure out what to do next. He smirked at her through the translucent green energy, studying its size. "How strong is that thing?"
Buttercup hated using her shield, it was a huge Chemical X suck. She only ever used it when she absolutely had to. Right then she kicked herself at not training as much with forcefields as her sisters had. Whatever Brick was planning, it was going to be bad.
Brick flew a few yards back, then brought his hands together and started collecting fire between them. When they were kids, he could breathe fire. Sometime around middle school he learned to channel it through his hands. When it built enough, Brick unleashed a beam of fire.
Buttercup's shield survived the initial hit, but she couldn't keep it up. It shattered within a second. She was already out of there, circling through the flames, around his left.
She remembered something Blossom once told her about Brick. How did she put it? 'Pain is an insult to his ego.' A fancy way of saying he had a glass jaw. A few really good hits would take him down. Thing was, she'd never get the chance to actually hit him. Brick was hitting hard and fast. She was going to have to get in closer and survive a few hits so she could get a couple good ones.
Brick saw her and spun his leg to where he thought she was going to make contact.
Buttercup held back just out of range of his kick. She spun behind him and took an elbow to the head. Her fist went into his side with at thunderous 'crack'. She smiled through the pain, breaking the sound barrier with that beauty. Brick and Buttercup's hits forced them away from each other again.
Brick glared at her as if she had offended him, trying not to show she had hurt him, the frustration clear in his eyes. They began glowing as he forced the X in his body to send energy into them.
Imagine getting dunked into a vat of acid, your skin ripping off and your flesh dissolving the longer you're submerged, not being able to move because of the agony while your life leaked out of you. That's what Brick's eyebeams felt like. He could grind even a superhuman to nothing.
Buttercup charged in close and rammed at him before he could get the shot off.
Brick slammed her head and kneed her in the gut. Pure adrenaline let her get a pair of jabs in, but they bounced right off, just marshmallows.
In desperation, Buttercup aimed at his chest and unleashed a heat beam out of her eyes.
Brick exploded. Fountains of fire licked her face while the force knocked her into a boulder. She sucked in a breath.
Brick strode through the dust. Fire blazed over his clothes. He cocked his head at her, totally in control.
Ever since Buttercup could remember, her eyebeams had been permanently set to heat. They were great for melting steel, but she should have known it was a long shot using them against Fire Incarnate.
Buttercup grabbed both halves of the split boulder on either side of her, took off into the sky, and hurled them at him from above.
Brick came at her and punched both out of his way. Buttercup took advantage of the distraction to kick him in the head, pounding him into the ground.
All she had to do was finish him. Buttercup came down like a meteor with a drop-kick.
He grabbed her leg before she could connect and spun her into the dirt with him. He forced her into a hold. The flames engulfing him scorched her skin. It wasn't the exhilarating jolt of being hit really hard, it was agony.
Pure adrenaline let Buttercup jerk him off of her and escape.
Brick's next punch was already tracking her. Buttercup got her arms into position to block, planning to just muscle through the hit and counter. She could still outlast him.
Brick's punch broke her defense and he hit her in the eye with a loud 'boom'. The world blinked out and three more hits, two in the gut, one in the jaw, came in, Buttercup never saw them coming.
She hit the ground tasting blood. Her legs wouldn't get her back up and she didn't have enough X to do anything. Her hand grabbed a clump of dirt and gave out on her. Something on her face was wet.
Brick stood over her and crouched down. The fire went out. "Pretty good."
It took a few seconds before Buttercup realized what was going on. She rolled onto her back to catch her breath. Every part of her hurt. Not all of it bad, most of it not good.
"We'll keep your resume on file and call if we need you." Brick looked at Boomer and Butch. "We're done for the day." He and Boomer flew off.
Butch didn't watch his brothers leave. He glared at her, jaw clenched.
Buttercup staggered to her feet. She couldn't take him, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. He could end her right there if he wanted to and if he did, she wasn't going to be helpless on the ground.
Then she noticed the burns on his hands and a discolored spider web pattern on his chest. Pain, courtesy of his brothers, though the wounds were already healing.
He strode up to her, smiling. She scowled, not giving him an inch.
"Next time, I get to kick your ass," Butch said.
"Fuck off."
Butch's shark-toothed grin got wider. He took off following his brothers, leaving only a green streak behind him.
With her ass thoroughly kicked, Buttercup collapsed. She focused on healing while she watched the sun go down over Townsville. The sideways light bathed the buildings in gold and purple and eventually surrendered to blue and gray. It got quiet and cold.
She got home an hour later. Blossom was on the couch, doing homework, and Bubbles rested her head on Blossom's shoulder, texting like a madwoman. Buttercup kicked her boots off, grabbed a bag of marshmallows from the pantry, and turned on the TV. There was a recap of the MMA fight over the weekend. Buttercup didn't get to watch live, the professor wouldn't spring for it.
Bubbles leaned against her on the couch. It wouldn't be long before she had her head in Buttercup's lap. And sure enough, within a minute, Bubbles stretched out, taking the entirety of Buttercup's personal space. Blossom stood up to let Bubbles fully extend herself over the couch, never taking her eyes off of her textbook, then sat on her back. Buttercup draped her arm over her sisters and leaned against Blossom.
"I'm still upset with you," Blossom said, resting some of her weight into Buttercup. She could be mad, it never lasted that long anyway.
They curled up together for awhile, each doing their own thing. Buttercup's heart finally calmed. There was no way her sisters couldn't have noticed the bruises and burns still healing on Buttercup's skin, but neither said anything. They just let her be Buttercup.
The sound of the garage door opening and then closing droned through the house. Mrs Bellum stepped into the living room after parking her car. Her heels clicked across the tile.
"Hey mom," Bubbles said. Blossom smiled at her.
"Buttercup," Mrs. Bellum said in a soft tone. She crossed her arms over her chest. "I think we need to have a talk."
Great, another one of these. Blossom and Bubbles untangled and excused themselves, leaving Buttercup alone with her mom.
Mrs. Bellum sat on the ottoman and clasped her hands. "The police said there were five assailants at the bank robbery today, but they only arrested four. He was found on an antenna. The ladder was badly damaged near the top, as if someone had ripped it off. He couldn't get down."
"Oh yeah?" Buttercup tossing some marshmallows into her mouth.
"He was up there for over 8-hours before an emergency crew was able to retrieve him."
Buttercup laughed to herself.
"This is not funny, Buttercup."
She had been an inch from death earlier that day. Yeah, it was pretty fucking funny.
Brick nearly collapsed in the bathroom of the burger joint the guys stopped at for dinner. He had ordered them there, using the meal as an excuse. There was no way he was going to make it all the way home, he would have fallen right out of the sky.
Buttercup sure as hell knew how to kick ass. It was one thing to hear about it on the news, and quite another to actually feel it. Definitely faster than Butch and a fair bit stronger than Boomer. He was pretty sure she knocked his brain loose.
He didn't get a chance to test his eyebeams on her. She saw what he was about to do and pressed the attack. Smart too, smart enough not to let herself get blasted anyway. Brick could use that.
He had managed to keep it together. That was one thing he had to do, make it look like he was invincible. His brothers couldn't know she almost had him. And she absolutely couldn't know. He used the last drop of X he had to heal a little then turned off his powers so he could regenerate. He'd feel a lot better once he got something to eat.
When he got back to the table, the food was waiting for him. Butch and Boomer were mostly done with their meals. Brick sat on his side of the table and took a bite of the burger.
"She kick your ass or what?" Butch asked, ribbing Brick.
Brick snorted. "I don't know why you have such a tough time with her."
"Fuck you, bro."
"She's not actually going to be part of the team, is she?" Boomer asked.
He had hit her so fucking hard, and she would not go down. She took hits that would have laid Butch out. 'Toughest Fighter', fuck, she earned that one.
"I don't know." Brick dipped a bunch of fries in ketchup and ate them. "Probably not." If one of his brothers missed a call, it was good to know she was an option.
Kindergarten
"And your name will be... Buttercup. Because it also begins with a 'B'."
She crossed her arms. 'Buttercup'!? What kind of dumb name is that? She didn't want to be 'Buttercup'. She wanted to be... she didn't know, but something else, something cool.
Well she wasn't going to answer to 'Buttercup'. That wasn't her name. She wasn't some stupid flower.
If Blossom was Blossom because she opened right up, and Bubbles was Bubbles because she was bubbly, what did being named Buttercup make her? Her name didn't have to start with a 'B' just because her sisters' did.
Ugh! Fine! They could call her 'Buttercup, but she was going to make it her own. She was going to be her own person. She was going to do whatever she wanted, no matter what anyone said. Everyone would know 'Buttercup' meant 'tough' from now on.
