Hi everyone ^^ Thank you so much all of you who have been reviewing. It really means a lot. So here's another chapter. Only two more to go for those of you that are rereading until we get to new stuff ^^ Hope you like it.
Boomer's vision instantly returned and he shut his eyes from the blinding light and colors before soon realizing he was gasping for air and sweating bullets. He wasn't lying down as he had expected, but was instead kneeling on all fours, one hand raised. His limbs ached.
Then his eyes began to focus on a figure just lying beneath him.
He jumped in shock, falling on his back. No. No, no, no, no, no. That did not just happen. He didn't… That didn't happen. It couldn't have. Blossom took Mojo's remote. He saw her take it just before he blacked out. He didn't. He couldn't. There was no way he could've lost control when he wasn't even awake.
And there was no way Bubbles was laying on the ground in front of him.
Boomer crawled over to her, the color draining from his face. One of her cheeks was bruised, her lip swollen. She had two large gashes on her forehead and one on her left arm which was surrounded by smaller ones. Her dress was torn in several places, often accompanied with blood spots.
Boomer bit down on his lip that was starting to tremble. Why? Bubbles had been so nice to him, nicer than anyone had ever been to him. Why did this have to…
"Dang it!"
Boomer didn't need to look up, nor did he want to. He knew Butch was angry already judging by his outburst, and Brick probably wasn't doing any better.
He heard footsteps, but didn't bother raising his head. Brick came over and squatted down next to him, scanning over Bubbles and then leaning forward to look at him. Boomer could feel the wet streaks on his cheeks.
Brick patted Boomer's shoulder lightly. "Come on, Boomer," he murmured, standing up.
Then a metallic screeching sound came from behind him. He turned along with Butch and Brick to see a hatch in Mojo's robot open up and a ramp extend into the ground. The monkey stepped out laughing arrogantly, remote in hand.
Brick's eyes widened slightly for a moment before his eyebrows furrowed. After the girls had successfully stolen the first control Mojo must've had a spare, just like the time him and his brothers had tried.
Brick sighed and glanced back at Blossom before dropping his eyes to his feet. Mojo must have reactivated the signal while he was out cold, which means he must've attacked her again while he was unconscious. That meant he wasn't awake enough to resist at all and Him's blood just took over without interference. Hey, he could figure things out for himself sometimes, or at least guess.
As Mojo approached the sound of his incessant chuckling grew louder. "Yes! Yes!" he cheered. "The Powerpuff Girls have finally been defeated!"
Brick's glum expression never changed as he scanned over the three girls lying in the clearing. He tried to look somewhat happy; after all, if Mojo really thought they were on his side then they should be, right?
"What's the matter with him?" Mojo asked, gesturing towards Boomer. "Why is he crying? There is nothing to cry about! This is our greatest victory ever!"
Brick and Butch exchanged a tired and defeated look. They weren't really in the mood for coming up with an excuse for Boomer. They were both fairly numb from the shock.
But Brick attempted to anyway. "He's... happy," he mumbled, a slight smile on his face that contradicted his dull eyes. "You know… tears of joy, and all that."
Mojo nodded in understanding. "You have a good point, after all this is a very beautiful moment," he agreed, a tear coming to his eye as he smiled, which he quickly wiped away.
Brick's eyes darted instantly to his brothers who were both looking up at him with the most heartbreaking expressions he'd ever seen them make. He smiled as reassuringly as he could muster and shook his head. The Powerpuffs weren't dead, but Mojo didn't need to know that. The Rowdyruffs could never kill the girls before and no black button was going to change that. Let Mojo think what he wants; he'll figure it out eventually.
"So…" Boomer sniffled, "They're gone for good?" He smiled a little, trying to keep up the act. Brick smiled back at him.
"No, not yet. While you boys were away I did some follow up experiments and looked over the materials regarding your creation, and it seems that merely increasing the flow of Him's DNA in your systems isn't enough to override the failsafe instinct you inherited from the girls when it mixed with Him's DNA, and so they are just on the brink of death but will not be dying because of you boys anytime soon. However, I have devised some new…"
Brick's attention span finally ran out somewhere in the middle of Mojo's rant. Butch had stopped listening too, and Boomer had been distracted by Mojo's various hand gestures for a while before his attention turned back to Bubbles. Keeping up the charade at this point didn't mean much anyway; Mojo was just pacing around mumbling scientific nonsense as always.
Brick glanced over to Blossom out of the corner of his eye every so often. There was no way they'd ever take them back, not now. They hadn't trusted them at all after the nightmares, why should the girls help them now?
This was starting to make Brick angry. Now what could they do? The Powerpuff Girls were the only hope they had of getting rid of those accused remotes.
Okay, so now they were down the support of the only superheroes in Townsville, right back where they started two days ago; Mojo yelling stuff nobody really cared about, and three Powerpuffs laying in the street.
Then Mojo abruptly stopped pacing, "Alright boys, time to go home."
Brick glanced up in surprise and saw both his brothers eyeing him with distress. He sighed; he'd forgotten about having a false home at Mojo's lab, and despite how much he did not want to go back with the psychotic monkey, he knew they had to. It would raise too much suspicion for him and his brothers if they stayed behind with the girls, and even though Mojo was a beyond stupid primate Brick was afraid of what the monkey might do to the Rowdyruffs if he found out they were plotting to run away with some help from the Powerpuff Girls.
"Yeah," he muttered, glancing back at his brothers, "Let's go."
Blossom's eyes twitched as she began to wake. She turned her head, readjusting herself in her personal pothole. She had tried to push herself off the ground, but her right arm hadn't moved. She propped herself up on her left elbow instead, and her back burned where Brick had rammed into her.
She looked up to see the boys walking up the ramp to Mojo's robot. What were they doing?
Brick and Butch entered the machine, but Boomer had been behind them and was now looking to Bubbles. He had streaks running down his cheeks; the only spots on his face not covered in dirt.
He saw Blossom looking up at him and his sulking quickly morphed into a wide open smile.
Blossom tried to push herself up with just her left arm, but there was something wrong with her knee, and she just fell back to the ground. She briefly considered floating up, but she didn't have the energy.
She glanced up to see Boomer panicking. He was holding his hands up and frantically shaking his head.
Blossom coughed a few times. What was he so worried about? She stopped trying to stand up and Boomer seemed to calm again before a voice from inside the robot called to him. Probably Mojo, or maybe Brick or Butch. Her head was spinning too much to make it out.
Whoever it was Boomer apparently needed to go, so he waved goodbye before following his brothers into the machine.
Blossom tried to turn to her sisters, but they were both still unconscious. She'd need to wake them up, but not just yet. She'd wait for her super healing to kick in a little so she could at least sit up properly.
And she had a lot of thinking to do anyway.
Butch stomped into the robot, abruptly planting himself on the floor in the corner. Brick and Boomer eventually joined him at a much slower and quieter pace.
Butch ripped at the bandages on his hand. His burns had been almost healed this morning, but now his hands were all bloody and he was having a hard time trying to distinguish his own from Buttercups. He was pretty sure it was his, 'cause his hand hurt like hell. How did those Powderpuffs heal so damn fast? They never had bruises or cuts or anything.
Butch stopped tearing at the wrapping and started playing with it absentmindedly. That stupid, stupid monkey. Why did he have to just come out of nowhere with his damn remote and all that stuff?
Brick hadn't been exaggerating before about Butch's worst nightmare. About all of their worst nightmare… nightmares? Their's nightmares? Well, whatever. It sucked. It was one thing when he wasn't fighting Buttercup and he was just going mental because she was in the room or something, at least he was still the one telling his arms what to do, but what just happened… that was even more messed up.
Butch hated it. He loathed it. It was his body, his to do with however he wanted, and every so often that monkey would just hijack him and take him for a spin. Mojo's robot and Him's puppet all in one. Have you ever felt like your arm was burning off? Have you ever looked down at that arm and realized it wasn't linked to your brain anymore and it was just doing whatever some psycho wanted? Have you ever felt that all over, all at once? Butch had.
Well not anymore. He wasn't going to let that happen, not ever again. Who were they to weasel their way into Butch's head and mess with him like that. Well it was only Him's DNA, so Butch couldn't be sure that Him was involved, but it drove him mad all the same. It was his body and nobody else's. If Mojo thought he could just tear him apart from the inside out and build the perfect robot under his skin, then he had another thing coming.
Butch's head jerked back as the robot stopped, banging against the metal wall behind him. He rubbed his head, wincing as he did.
"Alright, boys!" Mojo called. The boys watched with little interest as he fell in through a hole in the ceiling. He landed clumsily and came to rest on his stomach, his arms and legs sprawled out. He quickly stood up, brushing himself off. "Now! First off... where have you three been?" he whined.
This caught their attention. Brick raised his eyebrows in surprise; Mojo sounded just like an overprotective mother worried about her baby running off.
Butch shrugged. "We just did what you told us to do. We went off to find the Powerpuff Girls."
Mojo threw his arms up in the air. "Yes, but why didn't you come home last night, as to say what is the reason you did not return to my laboratory after said day had ended?"
Brick glanced over to his brothers who stared back at him with an equal amount of concern. After a moment, the same look of depression came back to grace Brick's features as he turned to Mojo, but before he could speak Mojo continued his questions. "And what happened to you! You look awful! Butch, what happened to your arm and why is Boomer covered in dirt! You guys are all covered in bruises! And Brick, why do you have a Lucky Captain Rabbit King bandage on your face?"
Butch and Boomer turned back to Brick with looks of amusement as Brick's eyebrows curved down in confusion. He reached up and pulled off the bandage, turning it around in his hand to see a picture of a huge pink, mustached bunny with a giant purple hat, blushing slightly.
Well, it's not like he'd ever gotten a chance to see it before.
Then he glanced over at Butch and Boomer to see the Mojo was right. Butch's arm hadn't quite finished healing yet from the day before, but it shouldn't be much longer till he could remove the wrapping. And both of them were pretty beat up...
Brick smiled slyly, "Well...we got in a fight with the Powerpuff Girls, and..."
Mojo's eyes lit up, a smile forming on his face and he clapped his hands together in anticipation. "Yes? Yes?"
Brick's grin widened as he pretended to hang his head in defeat, hiding his laughter. "We lost."
"WHAT!"
Brick regretted not being able to see Mojo's expression, but from all the sound effects he imagined it was priceless. He glanced sideways to see his brothers beaming back at him.
Butch brought his good hand up and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, a huge grin on his face. "Yep, they beat us good!"
Boomer laughed too. "Yeah, we didn't wake up till this morning. Guess we were out cold all night."
"THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!" Mojo shrieked, stomping up and down the robot's hollow, waving his hands frantically. "How could the Powerpuff Girls have defeated you! You are my creation, as to say you are better than them! You are the ultimate super-powered beings in all of Townsville! Your strength is far superior to that of the Powerpuff Girls! It should have been a cinch, a walk in the park! A breeze! A snap! A CAKE WALK!"
Brick, Boomer, and Butch each smiled wryly to one another as Mojo continued his rant. Brick glanced down at the bandage again, quickly shoving it into his pocket. Hopefully Mojo would remain preoccupied long enough to forget about asking where it came from.
"No! I cannot have this! I, Mojo Jojo, shale improve you! I shall make you stronger, faster, and even greater than you are now! So that you can finally defeat the Powerpuff Girls!"
Both Butch and Boomer ceased laughing. "A-and how are you going to do that?" Boomer muttered.
Mojo gestured with his hands for the boys to get up. "Come! I will show you!"
Come! I will show you! Come! I will show you! Come! I will show you! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Butch trailed behind Boomer, who trailed behind Brick, who trailed behind Mojo. Hurray for trailing! Trailing, trailing, trailing! Whoop-de-freak'en-do!
He was not exactly happy to be "home", to say the least.
"Are you sure about this?" Boomer whispered, not wanting Mojo to hear. Butch looked up eagerly too, thinking the same question with a few extra choice words to add of his own.
Brick just shrugged, speaking in a hushed tone that anybody without super hearing couldn't even hope to pick up on, "I don't know... let's just see what he wants. And don't let on about anything, got it?"
Butch nodded, lifting themselves into the air after them as Mojo stepped up the volcano's staircase, babbling jibber-gabber. Okay, while flying was for sissies, Butch did admit that it came in handy every now and again.
Butch briefly considered pushing Mojo off the volcano, but he reconsidered when he realized Mojo would probably be able to electrocute him first.
Mojo's mumbling continued as he opened the door and they continued to follow him inside. Butch made sure to analyze every hallway they went down once he started to realize there were lots of turns and they were going deeper into the kook's lab than usual. If they needed to bolt, he didn't want to be the one stuck in a monkey maze. That was Boomer's job. Then again, there was always the busting out through the ceiling method, which he personally enjoyed.
Eventually he followed his brother's into this new room they'd never been in before; not that they'd gotten a full tour before or anything. It had a bunch of funky looking junk; blasters, robots... a giant fire hydrant?
Mojo walked over to one of the nearest control panels, motioning for the Rowdyruffs to enter, "This way boys. Just stand right here," he explained, gesturing in front of him.
Butch started blankly at the giant "x" on the floor directly beneath Mojo's super atomic laser thingy, "You have got to be kidding me."
Mojo just looked back at them in surprise. "What?"
"Just how dumb do you think we are!" Brick exclaimed.
"Would you prefer I zap you without the laser?" Mojo questioned, holding up one of his countless shock button copies.
Brick glared back at the monkey defiantly before stepping to the front of the laser. What was he doing?
"Brick?" Boomer muttered.
Brick turned to Mojo once in place, "Well?"
Mojo glanced back at Butch and Boomer, using the remote to point at them, then where Brick stood. "You too."
Butch glowered at the stupid, stupid monkey before stomping off to join Brick with Boomer on his heels.
"Is it gonna hurt?" Boomer asked.
Mojo played around at the switches and dials behind the device as he answered. "It shouldn't."
So yes, yes it would hurt.
Butch watched as the lights surrounding the laser began to glow in rings around the tip, starting father back and nearing the center as an electric hum filled the room.
And then Mojo started up the laser and these were the first words that ran through Butch's head:
Mother $%*!& Son of a #&*%! S%* S#*$ S*! F*% S#*$ I'M GONNA KILL THAT FREAKING MONKEY! CR#! CR&! CR*!
In no particular order.
Then it stopped.
It felt like his brain had been deep fried and he was dripping oil out his ears. He fell to his knees, swaying. He could taste puke in the back of his throat and quickly covered his mouth.
"Well?" Mojo called.
"YOU DO REALIZE THAT HURT!" Butch shouted.
"But do you feel any different?" Mojo pressed. Stupid, stupid, son of a…
"I can't feel anything," Brick moaned as he rolled over onto his side.
"Well," Mojo shrugged, "I guess we'll just have to try again."
All three boys' head shot up at once, "WHAT!"
"Buttercup, we can't just leave them," Blossom argued for the umpteenth time.
"Of course we can!"
"We told them we'd help-"
"So we lied! Like that's never happened before."
"They need us Buttercup!"
"I don't' give a damn if they need me or not! Let them hang out at Mojo's all they want! You said you saw them leave, you saw for yourself! I told you we couldn't trust them! I told you it was all just a hoax, but no you wouldn't listen to me!"
They were having a private Powerpuff meeting, which seemed to become an even more common occurrence as of recently. They were sitting on their twin beds that they had pushed together to form one large bed a long time ago. And once again, Blossom just couldn't accept that she had messed up.
"Buttercup, I know it looked bad, but that wasn't their-"
"They attacked us Blossom! I don't care who they are, if they punch me I'm punching them back!"
"Buttercup, they came to us for help! It's our job to help them!"
"They're criminals!" she snarled, "What's wrong with you! Yesterday you said we were going to bring them here and just act like jerks and they'd crack and leave. Well that didn't happen, but now that they're finally out of our hair you wanna bring them back!"
"They're not out of our hair Buttercup! If we leave them with Mojo there's no telling what he could do-"
"I don't care what he does to them!"
"What he could do with them! He could send them after us at any time! They're just as strong as us and as you've seen they can easily take us down."
"Then we'll just beat the crud out of them the next time we see them!"
"Buttercup, we're helping them."
"No way! They were plotting to kill us all along! I'm not going to help you bring them back here!"
"Then explain to me why we're still alive."
Buttercup just stared back at Blossom before huffing out a humorless laugh, "Your going soft. I can't believe it."
"I trust them Buttercup."
"I thought you were supposed to be the smart one!"
"I'm your leader, which means you have to follow my orders!"
"I aint gotta do nothing!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't! We'll vote like always."
"Fine," Blossom nodded. "I vote we help them."
"Fine," Buttercup hissed, "I vote we don't."
Up until now Buttercup had practically forgotten Bubbles was in the room too, hugging her Octi doll and staring out the window. She hadn't said a word.
"Bubbles?" Blossom turned back to her, "Do you vote for helping the boys, or not?"
Buttercup folded her arms together. Bubbles was definitely going to vote help; she always did. Why did she even bring up voting?
But then Bubbles shook her head, "Not. Not help."
"Hah! I win!" Buttercup shouted, pointing at Blossom who was still shocked. "Let those guys figure things out for themselves."
So yeah, that was how Butch, Brick, and Boomer spent the rest of their day; various injections, probes, shocks, zaps, lasers, and such. And yes, Butch did puke. Three times actually. That was at least one more than Brick and he'd lost count with Boomer. How did that work anyway? Shouldn't his stomach have been empty by then, 'cause it sure felt like it was.
Butch watched Brick fall to his knees after the latest zapping. For some reason there were some experiments that Mojo only gave Brick and not his brothers, and it looked like he was reaching his limits. Boomer had been knocked out from the experiment before that. What was the last one anyway? Another needle maybe? Butch couldn't even remember anymore.
He shook his head and staggered to his feet, just barely recovering from the last electrocution, "That's it! I've had enough of this!"
"What are you talking about?" Mojo asked in confusion, hopping down from behind his last firing device.
"WAKE UP, YA STUPID MONKEY!" he yelled. "Boomer isn't even awake anymore!"
He marched up to Butch, glaring at him at eye level since Butch was too exhausted to stand up straight. "Do you want to get shocked again?" he threatened, waving that damn remote in front of his face.
"Go ahead!" Butch offered, spreading his arms out, "It's better than another one of your steroid lasers! Would you like me to push the button for you?" He felt like crap from all the junk that monkey had put them through. So he electrocuted him? Big deal. Like he hadn't done that about 6 times already.
Mojo's eyes squinted together as his lower lip began to jut out into a pout, "Fine! We shall be done for today."
Mojo marched back to the machine he had been working at last, shutting down the power strip and hopping off the platform and out the door, "Come! I shall escort you to your capsules."
"Butch," Brick practically choked, "Could you give me a hand with Boomer?"
"Sure," Butch walked up to Brick, almost stumbling again, and stood on the opposite side of Boomer, slinging his arm around his shoulder so that Brick and Butch supported most of his weight.
"Boomer?" Brick asked again, still very much exhausted. He shook his shoulder lightly, "Come on, Boomer... time to wake up."
"Yeah, we're going to bed. Don't want to sleep through that," Butch joked as Boomer's eyes began to twitch and he slapped his face lightly a few times.
"Well, let's go follow Mojo," Brick muttered. "There's nothing else we can do like this."
Butch nodded solemnly. He was shaking just trying to hold Boomer up; there was no way they'd make it out of Mojo's mad house without him noticing. In the state they were in, that monkey might've even been able to stop them by himself.
Boomer began to walk slightly on the way down the hall, glancing up at Butch. "It's... okay Butch. I'll be fine with just Brick," he mumbled, his voice scratchy. Butch looked at him skeptically for a second, then to Brick who looked like he was about to keel over.
"Nah, I got ya," Butch smiled. What, did he really look too worn out to take half of Boomer's weight? That was just pathetic…
Brick and Butch passed Mojo, who was standing next to the control panel, and helped Boomer over to his capsule before walking into their own. Butch sneered to himself; they were acting like whipped dogs.
Mojo closed the glass lids with the control panel before exiting without a word. As soon as he left Brick slumped against the wall of his capsule and fell to the floor. Butch did the same
"Hey Brick?" Butch asked. He wanted to talk about what the new plan would be, what they would do about Mojo tomorrow.
"Just go to sleep, Butch," he muttered back. "We'll figure out something tomorrow."
Butch folded his arms together and tried to get into a comfortable position. Those dang capsules were so small. He missed sleeping on the floor at the Powerpuffs' house.
Bubbles stumbled forward, unsure of her surroundings when all she could see in every direction was fog. She turned around again, but was only greeted by the same haze as before.
But then she fell to her knees after being struck in the center of her back, going tense from the surprise. She quickly stood with the aid of her power of flight, whirling around to get a better view of her attacker.
He stood proudly before her, chuckling lightly. His hands radiated with sapphire flares, similar to the blue flames that had replaced his eyes. He was grinning widely as he glared down at her, his face filled with pleasure.
Bubbles' lip trembled and she thought she might scream. She instantly shot off in the opposite direction. She had to get away. She had to.
"B-B-Bubbles?"
Bubbles' eyes widened in shock and she spun around in a desperate attempt to locate her opponent, and failing miserably. She was sure that had been Boomer.
She turned again, and he was instantly there. She skidded to a clumsy halt and fell on her back as her feet slipped out from under her. She stared wide eyed at Boomer as he approached, completely petrified.
But then she noticed his smirk was gone. His eyes were dimming and continued to do so until they were as calm as anyone else's.
Bubbles smiled at this, but then her smile faded as he continued to approach and she began to notice more and more details about his appearance. His face was stained with blood, mostly on his right cheek and lip with a large purple bruise under his eye. His arms dangled limply in front of him as he swayed with each step. He'd been hanging his head, but when he lifted his eyes to hers he was as white as a sheet.
"Bub-bles…" he mumbled, his eyes rolling back into his head, "I'm sorry."
And with that he collapsed in front of her.
"Boomer!"
Bubbles jolted up in her bed, dripping sweat. She clung to her blanket as she trembled, her eyes shooting back and forth. She was in her room, home with her sisters. She gasped a few more times before sliding the covers off her legs and rapping her arms around her knees, not ready to go back to sleep.
She was sure that had been Boomer dreaming again, just like last night. Everything had been the same. It had to have been.
It was all her fault. Why had she voted no?
Bubbles rocked back and forth ever so slightly, staring out the window. Boomer… she just didn't know what to think. He helped her with the dinosaur attack and all, but ever since then… well, it just seemed like the only times she'd spent with him he wasn't feeling his best, to say the least. He'd nearly gone after her again after the dinosaur attack, and then her dreams…
She hugged her legs tighter when she noticed her shivering. Was she really afraid of him now? Of Boomer?
If they really had shared dreams again, what did that mean was happening to Boomer? Did that mean he was hurt?
Bubbles bit her lip; her sisters may not have decided if they thought the boys were good or not yet, but she had. She knew Boomer was good. She'd just been too busy acting like a baby to realize she needed to get over her fears and help him.
She was a Powerpuff, a hero. Scared or not, that should have been reason enough.
She started to nudge Blossom awake; she'd changed her vote.
Brick awoke from his dream, startled. His breathing had sped up slightly, but he just didn't have the energy for a more appropriate reaction. His heart smoldered as though it might burn a hole though his shirt and he slowly lifted his hand with the little strength he still possessed, dropping it on his chest and gripping his sweater. He stared at the glass door in front of him with half interest, his eye just barely open. Despite how drained he felt, it didn't seem as though he would be falling asleep again anytime soon.
He bit the inside of his lip lightly as he let his mind sink back into the hazy clouds that were turning his brain to mush, drowning himself in the stress that had built up over the course of the last few days.
He shut his eyes; letting his mind wander. What the Powerpuffs must think of him and his brothers... but he just shut his eyes tighter. The girls obviously weren't going to help them, so it shouldn't matter anymore what the girls' impression of them was. They blew it, and now they were back where they started, caged in capsules in Mojo's lab with a few additional scars, mental and physical, and a lot less vigor; muzzled and beaten like dogs.
Thinking about the girls only caused his pain to swell. He knew he shouldn't, but he would miss them, and there was nothing anyone could do about that.
Somehow, Brick managed to pick up on a soft sound from outside his capsule. He opened his eyes slightly, glancing up to see a blur of pink behind the glass door in front of him and his heart stopped. His eyes moved up higher to see a certain redheaded Powerpuff tapping his cage lightly while her other hand was pressed against the lid. The rhythm of her knocking ceased when he met her eyes. Her face lighting up but Brick could only stare back, stunned, his jaw falling open slightly. She looked away for a moment, turning away while her hand remained on the glass. Then the lid began to rise and slide away.
Brick's eyes widened is surprise, "...Blossom? What are you- oof!"
Blossom fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck, knocking the wind out of him momentarily, "I'm sorry Brick. This is all my fault."
Genuinely shocked, he didn't answer right away. He smirked after a moment. "You're sorry? …wait, you're not allowed to be sorry."
Blossom quickly released her grip and looked back at him, wide eyed and concerned. She didn't speak for a moment, just staring. It was beginning to make him uncomfortable. "Blossom?"
"I can't hear it," she muttered, grabbing his hand that was still clinging to his shirt. He released his grip so she could pull it away, turning his wrist over. "Your watch!"
Brick pulled his arm back slowly, moving his wrist into his line of sight. The lights on the watch face were gone, the dials off. It must have short-circuited when Mojo was doing his experiments. He just lowered his arm limply back to the ground, his humorless grin returning. "Guess you're lucky I'm worn out."
Blossom quickly bounced to her feet and took a few steps back, worry evident in her expression. Brick looked up at her with cloudy eyes. "No handicaps, remember? And it really doesn't matter at this point. I can't feel anything anyway..."
She seemed to calm slightly at his statement, her head tilting slightly. "Can't feel any...what happened?"
Brick was about to answer, but then he heard a light patting on his left. Blossom turned to the direction the sound was coming from. "Careful, Bubbles. Brick's watch is broken, so Boomer's might be too."
Brick squinted, attempting to use it x-ray vision to see Bubbles on the other side of the capsule wall, but all he saw was a flicker as her silhouette came into view before the container's side reappeared. He turned back to Blossom, "You...you might have more trouble with Boomer. He fainted near the end..."
Blossom turned her attention back to Brick, confusion in her eyes. "End? End of what?"
Brick pressed against the floor with his hands as he attempted to reposition himself, but his arms suddenly started to throb. He groaned and fell back to his spot on the ground. "Mojo...uh, he tested out some new experiments on us..."
"Humph, experiments..."
Brick shut his eyes for a moment as Blossom turned to Butch's cage. He didn't want to make an effort to use his x-ray vision again when he knew it wouldn't work; all it would give him was a headache.
"More like torture devices, if you ask me..." Butch put in.
Brick glanced up at Blossom to see her mouth open slightly as though she was about to ask him to clarify, but Buttercup flew in just then, speaking before her, "You guys can tell us all about it once we're back home."
Brick's eyebrows furrowed. "You're gonna take us back?"
Both Blossom and Buttercup turned to him. He watched as a grin appeared on his counterpart's face. "What? You think we're gonna pass up the opportunity to foil Mojo's newest plan?" she teased.
"Yeah, this is our chance to get rid of our toughest enemy yet!" Buttercup joked. He still couldn't see Bubbles, but he heard her soft laughter on the other side of the container. Brick smiled up at them, overjoyed that they'd come to help him and his brothers.
Blossom leaned over and held out her hand. "So, you coming or what?"
Brick's smile faded as he stared at Blossom's hand, unsure if he'd be able to stand. Her expression changed as well, surprised and confused that he hadn't stood up yet, "Brick?"
He struggled for a moment, giving up when he was unable to rise. "...yeah. I don't think I can get up..."
Blossom straightened up and folded her arms together, her lower lip jutting out slightly into a pout as she thought. "Why? Did you break something?"
"No. I... I just don't have any energy..." he mumbled.
She smiled at that, "Okay." She reached down and grabbed both of Brick's arms, pulling him up into the air, just a few inches off the ground. Then she slung his arms over her shoulders. "Hold on."
"Uh...okay." He did as he was told, grabbing onto his shirt sleeves so his arms wrapped securely around her neck. Then she reached down and grabbed his legs, one in each hand, like a little kid getting a piggy-back ride. He blushed slightly with embarrassment; it felt very degrading to need to be carried.
She turned back to her sisters. "Get Butch and Boomer!" she said urgently, "Mojo could show up at anytime!"
Buttercup nodded and stepped over to Butch, who protested the entire time with muffled threats of "Don't you dare!" and "What do you think you're doing?". Bubbles came into view after a moment, cradling a still sleeping Boomer like a baby, one arm behind his shoulders and another under his knees. Buttercup came into view after her, Butch slung over her shoulder. Brick couldn't see Butch's face, but he assumed he was peeved. He pressed his lips together; there were more humiliating ways to be carried.
Blossom nodded when she saw that her sisters were ready. "Alright, let's go, girls!"
Buttercup readjusted her grip on Butch and the three, or now six, of them shot out the window. She still wasn't too happy about this, but Blossom was right about one thing at least; now they wouldn't have to worry about Mojo reeking havoc with them all the time. But she was still planning on keeping a close eye on the Rowdyruffs.
"Blossom, maybe we should stop for a minute. Brick doesn't look so good..."
Buttercup looked up to see Bubbles eyeing Brick who was looking a little green.
"Brick?" Blossom slowed slightly.
"Just for a minute?" he asked. Buttercup rolled her eyes. Great, now they had to stop.
"Sure," Blossom said before landing on a nearby street. She set Brick down quickly, "Brick? What's wrong? You look a little pale..."
He slumped against the building, "Just...dizzy." Buttercup wasn't sure about this.
"Why don't you guys head home? I'll catch up," Blossom offered, floating over to them and leaving Brick back by the wall.
Buttercup's voice was barely a whisper. "But what if he pulls something?"
Blossom smiled and shook her head, "Then I can deal with it."
"Are you sure?"
Blossom nodded, "Yeah, it's fine. We'll be back before you know it."
Normally there was no way Buttercup would leave Blossom with someone like Brick, but if she really thought everything was okay then she'd be fine. She was the leader after all. And on the plus side, if Brick did pull something while they were gone Buttercup would be eligible for gloating rights and "I told you so"s later. Besides, Buttercup really just wanted to dump Butch off somewhere; she was tired of carrying him.
So her and Bubbles took off without Blossom. Maybe everything would be okay…
"H-hey, Blossom..."
Blossom glanced back over her shoulder and Brick started speaking again, "Thanks."
"It was nothing," she replied meekly. "Mojo wouldn't have taken you back if I'd trusted you enough to let you stay with the Professor."
Brick's eyebrows creased. He really wasn't looking too great just then; pale, weak, banged up. For whatever reason he'd decided to remove the bandage that had been on his cheek, and his simple cut that should've healed instantaneously had tripled in size.
"Wait, you trust me now?" he asked in confusion.
Blossom glanced sideways at the ground. "I should have trusted you before..."
"Why?" he blurted out, surprising her momentarily. "You were afraid to trust me when it was just a dream. What would make you want to trust me after we really did attacked you?"
Blossom's shoulders slumped and she smiled slightly. "That wasn't your fault… Mojo-"
"If I remember correctly, Mojo wasn't the one trying to beat you to a pulp," but then he shrugged, "Not that I really remember much of it."
Blossom could almost feel her head tilt ever so slightly, "You don't remember?"
He shook his head, "After you guys stole his remote, no. I thought I just passed out or something, which is new..."
"But then again, wasn't that the first time he used the black button?"
Brick nodded, "Yeah, must've just been a side effect or some-"
Before he could finish, Brick grabbed his stomach and clasped a hand over his mouth, shutting his eyes tightly.
"Brick?" Blossom asked, rushing over to him, "Brick, what's wrong?"
He didn't answer; he just shook his head and his cheeks puffed out a little. He looked like he was going to be sick. But then he swallowed, shivered a little, and let himself fall back against the wall behind him.
Blossom squatted down in front of him, "Brick, exactly what did Mojo do to you?"
He opened his mouth ever so slightly. "Needles, lasers, uh… an x ray or something. More needles. I don't know how many times he zapped us with something." He was slurring his words a little.
"I think it would be best if I tried to figure out what's wrong with you before we start flying again, which means I'm going to have to check for some other symptoms, if that alright with you?"
He responded with an empty smirk and opened his eyes halfway, "I really look that bad, huh?"
She nodded.
He shut his eyes again, his smile fading, "Then go ahead."
So Blossom began her examination. Nausea could be a symptom of a number of things, the most likely being fatigue, but she had no knowledge of what exactly Mojo had done to them so she couldn't be sure. Vomiting was also related to head injuries such as concussions, but then again it was also related to most everything. She hoped Brick hadn't hit his head or anything; it would've been bad to have moved him at all if he really did have a concussion.
"Are you still dizzy at all?" Blossom asked as she grabbed one of his hands and felt for a pulse.
"It's nothing," he mumbled.
"Brick, I am trying to diagnose exactly what's wrong with you and I can't do that if you don't tell me what you're feeling," she said sternly. "Now, do you feel dizzy?"
"…A little," he said. "Not as bad as when we were flying."
"Thank you," Blossom started taking his pulse, calculating the beats per minute. It was slower than it should be.
"Did you vomit at all after or during the experiments?" she asked, pressing her hand to his forehead.
"What are you, my mom?"
"Just answer."
"…Twice. Both during the latter half."
"Good," Blossom said, pushing his cheek down to check his eye.
"Puking is good?" he asked sarcastically as she switched to his other eye. They brightened infinitesimally, which, for once, she took as a good sign. At least that was normal for him.
"Telling me is good. Puking not so much."
His eyes were dilated, but it was dark so that was to be expected. And he felt a little warm, but that could've easily been a side effect from the experiments rather than a sign of sickness, the sickness being the side effect was what she was looking for. She wasn't really sure what to do since half of her tests could possibly be giving her inaccurate results and she didn't know what to go off of anymore. And all of this was starting to give her a headache.
Yet she continued anyway, "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"I'm dying, not blind."
"Brick."
"Two. Two fingers."
"Okay," she said, lowering her hand, "Do you feel overheated?" Maybe it was just heat exhaustion; that covered a few similar signs, and it would explain the slight rise in body temperature.
"Not really."
Okay, maybe not.
"Dehydrated? Tired?"
"A little thirsty, and beyond tired."
"And you have no energy?"
"None."
Maybe it was just fatigue. "Does anything hurt?"
"Head and stomach."
"A lot or a little," she asked. "Be honest."
"Head hurts a lot, stomach not as much," he answered.
"Did you hit your head at all?"
He just stared at her with a look of disinterest, "No…"
Blossom sighed, "Well, you could be suffering from heat exhaustion, fatigue, or stress. You-"
"Stress sounds right to me," he interrupted.
Blossom continued anyway, "You could have a migraine or a minor concussion. Or you body could just be trying to heal itself from the experiments and Mojo just messed up your immune system."
Brick raised an eyebrow, "Is that all?"
"Okay, maybe not that last one, but something's wrong. With your super healing you should've started the healing process a while ago, which would've relieved you of some of these symptoms."
"So you think he gave me brain damage?"
Blossom's eyebrows furrowed, "I think what?"
"You said something about a concussion."
"It's just a possibility, but I really doubt it since you didn't hit your head or anything. All of those were just possibilities. There's also the chance that all of these symptoms are only results of Mojo's experiments and aren't linked with any other serious side effects."
Brick sighed, holding his forehead. "Head still hurts?" Blossom asked.
"What I wouldn't give for a bottle of pain killers right now," he groaned.
"I doubt that would help you very much. That medicine's only meant for people with average immune systems."
He dropped his hand away from his face and his eyebrows knitted together. He seemed to be studying her, confused about something…
And it was weirding her out, "Is everything okay?"
He didn't answer at first, still staring at her. "Could you list all of that stuff again? The stuff that could be wrong with me?"
"Um, sure?" Blossom raised an eyebrow. He was staring intently at her and it made her feel uncomfortable. "Any particular reason?"
"I have an idea," he said, raising his fist to his mouth with his thumb supporting his cheek, "I just want to see if it works. It probably won't though."
"What is it?"
He smirked, "You'll see."
Blossom rolled her eyes, "Okay, well heat exhaustion would've been a possible explanation because it is very common for some people to be more susceptible to high temperatures than others, though how susceptible super humans are to it I'm not completely sure, but I thought Mojo's lasers might've caused an internal rise in temperature, but you said you weren't overheated. And before that I jumped to the conclusion that you might've had a concussion, which would be very bad, but you don't appear to…"
She hadn't looked away while she explained her theories again, eager to figure out what Brick's big idea was, but she found herself subconsciously come to a pause. She'd checked his eyes before and they'd been perfectly fine, but now they were so bright it almost hurt her eyes to look at him.
"Um, Brick? Are you sure you're okay?"
His eyebrows furrowed, "When did I say I was okay? I'm dying of some concussion or whatever it is."
"No, not that. I mean, well… your eyes are getting pretty bright."
The crease between his eyes deepened, "They are?"
Blossom raised an eyebrow, "What, you didn't notice?"
"I did a little, but how bad is it?"
"Worse than normal. How could you not notice?"
"It just doesn't hurt as much," he moved one of his hands in front of his face, probably judging the light on his hand. "I didn't know they were that bright."
"Well it looks like it hurts a lot. What were you trying to do?"
He dropped his hand and his eyes started to dim. "I thought if I could get Him's DNA to kick in, maybe it would get my blood pumping again."
"And you thought that would start up your super healing and help you get some energy back?" He nodded.
Blossom reached for his wrist and felt for his pulse. It was faster, just a little more than normal.
Blossom raised an eyebrow, "So I'm your walking, talking Advil now?"
He smirked, "Then you should come with a warning label: may cause glowing in the eyes."
"So how're you feeling then?"
"Kinda the same. My headaches gone and moving is a little easier, but that's about it. So better I guess."
"So you ready to go then?"
"Sure," he said just before Blossom tossed him onto her back again.
"So, are we even now?" she asked.
"Even?"
"You carried me home after the dinosaur fight, I'm carrying you home from Mojo's."
He chuckled, "Yeah, I guess we're even then."
"Alright," she said, taking off into the sky. Time to go home. Her sisters must be furious with her for taking so long.
