Fill in the Blanks

LuluCalliope

Chapter Three

"How could anyone forget about you, Your Majesty?" Butch asked, dropping into a mocking curtsy. The girl standing in the doorway rolled her eyes.

"I still haven't forgiven you for crashing into Daddy's car…or for refusing my offer to team up and defeat the Powerpuff Girls," she huffed. I stared at her, shocked. I had seen pictures of the criminal Princess Morbucks from her youth. Eight years ago, she had donned a golden dress similar to the ones worn by the Powerpuff Girls. She had worn her frizzy red hair up in two ponytails, which she had hidden behind a golden tiara, and she was incredibly petulant and loud-mouthed. She had undergone a transformation since her last crime spree. Her red hair hung loose, framing a startlingly pretty heart-shaped face that was sprinkled with freckles. Her look was more conservative, less clichéd—the gold dress had been exchanged for a soft, canary yellow sweater, a black skirt, and yellow ballet flats. Only two things displayed that she was of an extraordinarily wealthy family. One was what replaced the golden tiara: a diamond-encrusted one, which clung daintily to the crown of her head. The other was the diamond-encrusted clutch she held in her carefully manicured hands.

The boys had also gone through a transformation—their third one. They didn't look clean-cut or rebellious now, but they still looked tough. They wore loose T-shirts that hung over jeans now and little alterations had been made to their physical appearances here and there. Butch, for example, had a fake tattoo on his right shoulder, and it was one in his likeness. I knew that it wasn't a real one—not one tattoo parlor would do business with a fifteen-year-old. Brick had a new diamond earring in his left ear, and his hair was grown longer, long enough to wrestle into a ponytail of his own. And Boomer had his hair his spiked up into some ridiculous Mohawk. The only things that hadn't really changed about the boys were their signature colors: dark red (Brick), dark green (Butch), and dark blue (Boomer).

"But I digress," Princess continued, strutting from the doorway to the table. She sat on top of it pertly before she addressed the Rowdyruff Riffraff again. "I have my own car, now." And then she looked to us, the Gangrene Gang. "I don't believe we've met in person, gentlemen. I'm Princess Morbucks. I have heard a…lot about you." She smirked, and I saw the shadow of the impertinent criminal pass over her features quickly as she turned to Ace. "Isn't it true that you managed to get Buttercup on your side? How on earth did you manage to do that?" She leaned forward eagerly, and Ace bit his lip. His sunglasses fell down the bridge of his nose a little, and he didn't bother to adjust them. He didn't like thinking about what had happened between him and Buttercup when we were younger: she was seven, and we were twelve.

First of all, we all felt a twinge of shame and embarrassment whenever we recalled the days in which we had been twelve-year-old delinquents. If we had been older, we would have probably been viewed with just as much respect as Mojo Jojo or the more advanced criminals.

Second of all, it had been Ace's brilliant idea to sweet-talk the toughest Powerpuff Girl, Buttercup. She had been cute, for a seven-year-old, and she really had looked up to us. She hadn't taken it very well when she discovered us trying to get rid of her sisters. Ace had spent about a week in the hospital as doctors tried to heal his broken nose. They also offered to cure us of our gangrene, but—

"Oh, I'm sure that he had his ways," the Monster cooed when Ace didn't answer Princess's question. Princess stiffened when it was Him that turned to her. "How is your father, by the way?"

"Does that matter?" Princess asked in a voice barely above a whisper. She began to drum her manicured nails anxiously on the table. "You invited me here, not Daddy, didn't you?"

"Yes, and I am quite delighted to see that you have made it here. However, it is your father that is financing your involvement in this project, and I want to make sure that nothing happens to him…and that nothing will need to happen to him." The Creature's high-pitched voice became a little darker, and Princess froze, her fingers hovering above the table's surface.

"He doesn't even know why I'm here. He doesn't know what his money is being used for," she explained.

"Keep it that way," the Monster ordered. He hadn't stopped floating since he had entered the room, but he now descended into that ridiculous throne that was placed at the table. "Don't tell him what we're doing until I tell you to, and don't let him use his resources against us. If so, things could get messier than needed…" His voice brightened, and it was back to that irritating squeak he had. "Please, everyone, sit down. The others will be joining us soon, I think."

"You are correct," a gruff voice boomed from the doorway, and we all turned to face the most well-known nemesis of the Powerpuff Girls, Mojo Jojo. "It is I, Mojo Jojo, here to annihilate, destroy, pummel, and, in short, crush those puny Powerpuff Girls!"

It was hard to take Mojo seriously. He was a monkey with green skin and an enormous brain. Wouldn't that description make you giggle? And even though he had an incredibly high intelligence—he was probably smarter than Him—he was not the best strategist. Almost all of his plans were failures: miserable failures.

Still, we put up with Mojo because of his intellect. And he did have some of the best weapons in all of Townsville, if not the world. So his intimidation factor was higher than average, and that earned him villainy points in my book.

He strutted into the room, ignored the Creature's outstretched claw, and placed himself in a chair by the table. He didn't talk to anybody unless they talked to him.

And then the Amoeba Boys showed up. No one heard them come in, and I think that they were probably going for the stealth image. It didn't work very well. I think that they expected someone to cry out, "Ah, it's those dreadful Amoeba Boys! How did you get in?" But they had to clear their throats in order to get our attention, and no one really wanted to talk to them.

There was an awkward silence in the room for a while as we all waited for Sedusa, one of the only female villains in Townsville. Speaking of the female villains, Princess's phone rang after about five minutes, and she answered in huffily.

"What is it? Look, I went over this with you: red to black, you're okay, Jack. Red to yellow kills a fellow. I need the red and yellow ones, not the red and black ones. How stupid can you get? That was a rhetorical question, you idiots! Get me those snakes ASAP, or I will see you boiling in a pit of acid! Gosh!" She hung up the phone and rolled her eyes. She texted something to a different person, muttering, "What does a person need to do to get her private Snake Pit? Is that too much to ask?"

"Not with me," Sedusa bragged. We all rolled our eyes. It had taken her forever, but now she was here. Her bizarre hairstyle hadn't changed a bit, and her clothes were still the same. I didn't know what to think about that, only that I wasn't too thrilled to see her. The rest of the Gangrene Gang seemed to be on the same page as me, because we invited the Amoeba Boys to sit in the vacant seats next to us, not her. She scowled at us briefly before taking the one seat remaining: the one next to Him.

"I think since everyone is here," the Monster said, placing his feet elegantly on top of the table. "We can get down to business. None of you know why you are here, and I think that we should change that." He removed his feet from the table and suddenly stood, pacing around the table slowly. We all stiffened, not sure of what he was going to do now. "I have been working on this plan for months, and stages one and two of it are complete."

"How many stages are there?"

"What is this plan?"

"Yeah, and what were the stages? What are they?"

The Monster held up one claw. We all became silent before he continued. "I know you're all very excited about this. Now, this is an extremely elaborate plan. There are many stages. The first two were the simple ones…or at least the second one was. The first one was a bit of a struggle, but I was able to pull it off in the end. It's the third stage that we should all be concerned about. You all have a role in it," he assured us, smiling. "And the fourth stage will be as easy as pie if stage three is a success, and stage five will be smooth sailing. And stage six, I can tell you, is the best one: it's where we retire from this grand scheme in the lap of luxury."

I smiled. Riches were always temping to me.

"Stage two was simple. The sole purpose of it was to bring you here tonight. And you all have come..."

"What about the first stage?" Snake blurted out, and the Creature rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, some people have no appreciation for dramatic tension," he muttered. But then the most evil of all smiles broke out, and I couldn't help but quiver as he said:

"Stage one was to kidnap the Powerpuff Girls."

A/N: Phew! Hard chapter to write, but I'm glad that I pulled it off. I had a lot of fun with Princess. Her character is so devious at times! Please review!