Recap: She was in some sort of lab. Gigantic tubes with gel-like substances imprisoning dark figures she couldn't decipher were all around her. Blossom had the uneasy feeling that the next one would be her.
All of a sudden, a man dressed in a white lab coat and black pants and shoes stepped out from behind one of the tubes. Blossom observed that the approaching stranger was tall and had brown hair. His chin gave the slightest traces of a beard.
"Hello, Blossom." He strolled near her and she gave him one of her most hateful squints. He chuckled at her angry expression and started to speak again. "I am Dr. Ned Saragossa," he said, "and I am about to explain who, or what you are, how Brick is particularly connected to you, and that Miss Sarah Bellum has a rather big part in all of this."

Chapter 9:

Blossom maintained her cold stare, but she could not deny to herself the fact that she was interested in what Dr. Saragossa had to say. Brick? Connected to her? And Ms. Bellum having a part at all seemed rather unbelievable. She was almost never noticed…

Before Blossom could disappear into her thoughts, the sound of the leg of a stool scraping against the tiled floor echoed in the room and the man seated himself upon it in front of the redhead. His knees were far apart and his hands clutched the side of the seat between his thighs, leaning forward to look at the captured girl with a somewhat amused expression.

"For starters," he began, "you are not the daughter of Professor John Utonium."

What? Blossom could not believe what she was hearing. She would have gawked if it wasn't for the silver tape that stuck her two pink lips together.

Saragossa chuckled, seeing her wide-eyed expression. "Shall we continue? Anyway, you are actually a creation. You have never been born, just created. Only Ms. Bellum is aware of this fact. She is my first creation, second you, and lastly, Brick. All of you had been almost entirely useless to me. Sara ran off with you as you were a baby, having fallen in 'love' with Mr. Utonium. Humph. I had connections with him too, over-the-table connections to be exact. He knows nothing of your true identities, and your adoption was a sneaky under the table plan thought up of by your mother. Yes, mother."

Blossom was given a few seconds to process these facts. Ms. Bellum, her mother? Ms. Bellum and she hardly got the chance to interact throughout the years!

And yet Blossom always wanted to have a mother. The sisters sometimes conversed the subject among themselves, but they never really knew anything. And Blossom, adopted? Her mother was Ms. Bellum, a woman who never really showed any love towards her, and her father wasn't the one who truly gave her any love. And so who was her father? This bearded man staring at her with an amused, somehow wicked smile?

And… the thought of herself not being born, but created. She wasn't a human. She was… a creation.

He continued. "Mr. Utonium never knew Ms. Bellum was part of it. She became a seemingly shallow-minded secretary for him and sometimes took care of his children. She cared for you, but despised his real daughters. The girls who do not share your blood. Well, obviously… since they share the blood of the woman Mr. Utonium loves…"

Blossom felt like crying at this point, but did not want to seem pathetic in front of this man she by now began to hate. Pale, cheerful Bubbles, someone who was not good under the sun but loved flowers and animals and rainbows; feisty, brave-hearted Buttercup, who loved to do daring things and say what is on her mind… these were the girls who were with her throughout life. They were not a true family. And the woman they always talked about, their mother, was not someone they shared.

"Brick was already created around the time, but before I could have Sara aware of his existence she was already off with you… he was born with the body of a child around seven years. He was an unstable creation and while I sent him including others to look for you he was suddenly lost…" Saragossa closed his eyes for some seconds and opened them again. "Years later of tracking the three of you down, I found out a few details of your new lives. Brick got himself in an orphanage, and like you, was adopted by a couple who already had a pair of children of their own… humph, seems the boy really did find happiness… it was very troublesome."

Blossom squeezed her eyes and slowly opened them again, this time her gaze fixed on her knees, absorbing this information. That would mean Brick was her sibling… and consequently what happened to his happy family?

"So… I sent out assassin spies to kill this family. I reminded them not to hurt Brick only once. After all, Brick had abilities that exceeded a normal human's. He ran off instead of getting captured, and was taken in by a different organization… they had high security, but I began to suspect the fact that they were always on renovation. Tsk. I found out it was an assassination agency, and I happened to know the boss of the whole thing… I believe he knew about you, not as dimwitted as he seems." Saragossa growled before going on. "And so he sent Brick… to assasinate you."

What?


Her flats sloshing in the wet ground, Ms. Keane sneaked over the grounds of the building. A hard look was on her face as she got nearer and nearer to the entrance.

There is just no way I am letting Brick in there alone, she thought as she backed up against a wall. He has been like for far too long, and now that I can see it's getting more personal, he needs help. Keane looked guardedly around, scanning with her big eyes any sign of a camera. She spotted one, but was relaxed at the reassurance that the camera had broken down in the rain. Who knew high-security areas like this had cameras that broke down in the rain?

Keane walked in at the entrance, pulling her wet raincoat over her arm. Brick might have easily sneaked in, but Ms. Keane had to try another approach. As she used to work at an assassination agency, she knew that the building's disguise would heartily accept customers—before taking their property and killing them, of course.

"Hello gentlemen!" she called to the uniformed men standing dutifully at a counter. "Your sign was blurred by the rain. If I might be able to know of the sort of business led here I might be able to have a proposal confirmed. How about it?"

The two glanced briefly at each other. "All well, ma'am," one answered. "But preparations still have to be organized and our boss will need to know of the existence of this proposal. How about staying for the night?"

When she agreed, the second uniformed man pulled out a record notebook and collected her bank number and contact details. Subsequently, a third man was called, and after hushed dialogue was whispered into his ear, the man welcomed Ms. Keane and led her up the stairs.


Brick knew where she was. With his desire so strong, he has never been surer. He raced up the wall, leaving a tall trail of smoke behind him, blatantly mocking gravity and leaving the body of a guard below him in his wake.

There was just something about her that turned him into some kind of tracker, as if she were part of him.

And an important part she was.

Bangs, dripping wet, frantically slapping his cheeks, Brick clasped a firm hold of the rail at the top of the steel wall. He crouched like a frog at the top of that fairly narrow, rounded handrail and gave stern looks to them men that now surrounded him.

"Come with us," said one man, his hands in an obvious position to grab him. "We know something that will make you happy."

But the redheaded boy only offered him a swift kick to the face, and prepared himself as those around him formed into a circle.

Duck, duck… goose.


Sensing the need for no further conversation, the girls stayed quiet and gave each other a mutual glance before turning back to the screen. Buttercup's mouth dropped open as the laws of physics were betrayed. "Whoa."

"Father!" cried Bubbles moments later as the tracker the professor planted on Brick closed in with a gang of guards. "How is watching this helping? Brick is being crushed out there—"

But with a mighty swoop and evidently cutting off the blonde girl, the screen soared above the men who looked dumbly up at him, only to have their faces crushed as he practically danced on top of their heads, knocking each one down.

"We are waiting for the right time," said Mr. Utonium, taking their gapes as an opportunity to speak.

"Thank you very much, dear," Ms. Keane gave a genuine-looking smile to the uniformed man when they stopped outside a varnished cherry wood door. He opened it, but she refused to be let inside. I suppose the floor will turn over and out as soon as I step onto it, she thought to herself as she explained how she wanted to look around for a bit.

"You certainly are very lucky to be living in such a beautiful building such as this," said Ms. Keane, thinking bitterly of how she used to sit at a shabby table with stained cement walls and rats in every corner.

She walked away a bit and as soon as they had vanished from each other, she ran down the first staircase that came into view. Casually greeting a few guards who had never seen her before with long sentences such as, "Inspector with a business proposal coming through!" that almost completely explained why she was there, Ms. Keane was able to peacefully find her way around. But soon, she found herself in a deserted place away from all the cherry wood doors, chandeliers, and glamour.

All she had to do was go to a few doors, avoid a few people, hide in the rights places and do the right things that usually opened the security of an agency like this—and the one she worked in. Passwords, appearances… it would seem that this former lowly secretary was underestimated. Still, she had a long way to go besides just entering this gray place with steel walls and plenty of dark areas.

The building had a whole different section that would quite wow the corporation she used to work in. It was much bigger than the grand hotel she was in earlier.

And as she looked up into the great ceiling, she saw several banisters that reached even farther than the eye could see.

And many were swarming with pacing guards.

Ducking into a shadow with her head carefully looking about her, she was able to make her way up the staircase.

And up.

And up.

It wasn't long before Keane spotted guards on the ground. The number of bodies seemed to heighten as she climbed up faster—and then she had finally arrived.

"Brick!"

"W-what?" Blood out of the nose of the man Brick had just knocked out flew into the air and down again as the body fell. Brick had whirled around and seen the brunette running toward him, skipping over bodies.

At first she seemed like a golden nugget in an array of mud as she grabbed a hug out of him. But it wasn't long before an angry look seared across his face and he pushed her away. "You shouldn't be here," he growled. "Leave me alone!"

"No, I will not," she argued. "You underestimate me, Brick, but I am capable. I was persistent enough to disobey you and follow you into the danger, and I care about you! Besides, if you still believe it's dangerous for me, how do you think I got here?!"

He was unable to answer. How she was able to find him was indeed unimaginable.

But as they stared at each other in seriousness and perhaps in affection, they were trapped.


He finally finished. Blossom's pupils had shrunk so small that they were almost the size of two apple seeds. Smiling, the doctor leaned in forward and ripped out the duct tape. She winced and he leaned back again. "So… any questions?"

"I-I don't believe you!" she cried in a shrill voice that echoed in the lab. "B-Brick would never kill my father—or any of us!"

"Heh." Saragossa pulled his chair closer to Blossom's. "Gotten pretty cozy with Brick, haven't you?"

The girl flushed a bright shade of red. Seeing as he and his minions were spying on the Utonium family, they must have seen how close they had gotten—and as she remembered the kiss, Blossom blushed deeper. She could feel her neck grow red and hot. She started to feel very embarrassed in this state. "He was sent to protect me," she finally was able to let out.

Saragossa turned his head to the ceiling, leaning back comfortably in his chair. He then turned back to Blossom, a mischievous grin set on his face.

"One look, a little peek, and perhaps a kiss… you could be pursuing your own death."

Sbam.

Light showed in the dark room before closing. A group of men carried Keane and Brick inside. "Sir, we were able to find No. 32 prowling around outside. This woman was with him." He gestured toward Keane, who mmphing wrathfully.

"Ah… yet another example of what I just said. It's really very better to mind your own business," he said to Blossom, then to the men, he said, "Very good. I'm glad you used the specially invented securers. And thank you, as well, for bringing in Ms. Kate Keane."

"Sir." They ignored the fact they did not know her name in the first place and saluted.

"Brick!" Blossom cried, forgetting all she had listened to in the delight of seeing him.

"Quite a reunion eh?" Saragossa smirked. "Men, conduct a chair for No. 32 next to No. 31."

One of the men gave another salute and marched dutifully over to a control panel somewhere in the corner. A chair identical to Blossom's rose up from the ground beside her, and, faithful to orders, the men hauled Brick up, who moved about furiously.


Mr. Utonium jumped up from his chair. He whirled around to face the girls, who were watching all this as if they were witnessing an action movie.

"Girls," he said, "it's about time we act."

A/N: That was an action-y chapter. Hope it was satisfactory!