I grinned as Buttercup left the mart. It was plain obvious from her reddened cheeks that she had been completely embarrassed by what I had just said. To be honest, she was driving me crazy. With those creamy legs of hers, her hour-glass body and her plump lips, all she had to do was ask and I would be ready to throw her onto the bed and rip her clothes off.

That's right. Butch the Rowdyruff was totally lusting after his Powerpuff counterpart.

Brick would totally kill me if he weren't too much 'in love' with his beloved Morbucks.

I clicked my tongue as I sat in silence. Why did I give Buttercup my number in the first place? I doubt she would call me but well, there still was that slim chance she would. I picked up the condom she had flicked at me and I smirked. Seeing as I was the only one alone, I slipped the condom into my pocket. Buttercup would totally love doing me with a stolen condom. I chuckled at the thought.

Yeah… Like she would even call me…

…

Guess what? She did.

I had closed down the shop and was walking home when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. In fact, I was standing right opposite the building. Initially, I didn't think it was her. Maybe Brick had to tell me something or Boomer finally decided to call his beloved brothers. Despite how it may sound, the latter seemed more possible.

"Hello?"

"Just to be clear, I am not calling because I want to have sex with you. Now that's out of the way, sup."

"Buttercup?" I stopped walking and my mouth hung open. Some rather posh car drove past me. I wondered for a moment if some rich dude had lost his way and accidentally turned into the street. I didn't give it much thought though.

Man, I didn't expect Buttercup to call that soon.

"I couldn't sleep and I figured that you're the only one who's still awake," she said.

Yeah right. I bet she was thinking about me and decided that she just had to call me or my head would plague her mind. I sniggered at the thought and I heard Buttercup curse.

"Alright, BC, sure, whatever you say," I laughed. I frowned at the sign hanging outside the lift, saying that it was on maintenance. I'd have to take the stairs.

"What are you up to?" she asked softly.

"Climbing the stairs. The elevator in my apartment is busted," I sighed as I bounded up four stories easily. It didn't affect me one bit. I was used to working out a lot before we came back to Townsville. Exercising didn't really bother me at all.

"Tough without powers huh?" she chuckled. "If only you could fly up there…"

"What would you know?" I grumbled as I pushed the door of the stairwell open and entered the corridor.

"Well, there was once Mojo stole our powers," Buttercup said and started going into the tale of some sleepover the girls had back when they were in kindergarten. Halfway through the story, however, she lost me as my attention was stolen by something else.

The door to our apartment was open.

I walked closer and looked around. The knob had been completely destroyed. I squinted my eyes and picked up a small cylindrical metal piece. Was that a bullet? Panic welled up inside of me. Why was there a bullet at my home? Was the doorknob shot? Who the heck would want to break into the house of someone living in this part of town? It's obvious that we didn't have enough money. I continued standing outside, partly afraid to enter the place if there was an armed person inside.

Fuck! Brick!

"BUTCH!" I heard Buttercup scream into the phone and I blinked, snapping out of my worried trance and turning my attention to her. "Hey, you there?'

Right! Why should I be afraid? I had a Powerpuff on the phone. If something happened, she would fly to my aid… Right?

"I'm here…" I murmured.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

It was on the tip of my tongue to lie to her but I knew better. I might as well take advantage of the slight friendliness Buttercup had towards me. "Actually, no. Someone shot my doorknob off and left the door open. I'm going in to check. Just stay on the phone."

"Hey hey, that sounds bad. Wait, I'm coming," she said.

"No, it's okay. Just hold on," I said. I pulled the phone away from my ear and entered the apartment. There seemed to be no one inside. I walked around, checking every single room. It was completely empty. I sighed in relief and placed the phone back to my ear.

"All clear. There's no one here," I said, smiling slightly as I threw myself on the sofa.

"Oh. You're alone in there? Sure?" Was it me or did she sound a little concerned?

"I'm alone, don't worry…" I immediately sat up, realizing that it was not okay that I was alone. I dropped the phone on the couch and sprang up, running to Boomer's room. The bed was unmade and when I touched it, it was not cold. He must have been there a while ago. I looked about the room. His jacket and shoes were still there.

But where the hell was he?

"Brick!" I yelled at the top of my voice, running about the house for a moment. It was no use. He obviously wasn't there. I returned to the couch and picked up my phone.

"Hey, BC…"

"Stay the fuck there. I'm coming," she said.

As I waited for her, I looked around Boomer's room. Brick had been sleeping there since we had no money to fix his door. He couldn't have left on his own accord. Why would he leave the place barefooted? I tried my luck at calling his phone but the vibration from the drawer beside me told me that he had left his phone there.

Maybe he really did leave… But I doubted it. After all, there was the shot door to take into consideration.

When Buttercup flew into the room, I was on all fours, searching the floor for any clues. Just as she stepped in, I found something strange. It looked like a medical syringe to me and it was almost empty. Also, on the floor when I found it, there was also a small puddle of green liquid. It must be some kind of drug.

"What's this?" I asked Buttercup, passing it to her.

Buttercup looked at it and frowned. "I dunno… I tried checking around town on my way here. I didn't seen anyone wandering around either. Maybe Brick ran away."

"I seriously hope he ran away instead of…" I trailed off, not wanting to really voice out the worst case scenario. But seriously, who'd want anything to do with Brick? Nobody knew his background as a Rowdyruff and I doubt he made any enemies during this one month. The only people I know who hated Brick to no end were the Powerpuff but why in the world would they need a gun to shoot the door?

"Butch, come on," Buttercup said. "We're going to my house."

I raised my eyebrow. "Why?"

"The Professor isn't around but Bloss is. I think she'd be able to study the liquid and tell us what it is."

Buttercup grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the window, smashing the glass to bits. I opened my mouth in protest but she ignored me. She pulled me along as she flew all the way home and for a moment, I imagined I was flying on my own again. It felt so good. By the time we landed, I had an ironic big smile on my face. I followed Buttercup and she climbed upstairs and threw open the door to a room. She flicked the lights on and walked in. I peeked in.

The room was completely pink. It had pink walls, a pink rug, a pink dressing table, a pink closet with red handles and a bed with pink sheets. Under the duvet, a redhead was snuggled, fast asleep. Buttercup jumped onto her.

"Blossom, wake up! There's an emergency!" Buttercup exclaimed as she shook her older sister.

"What?" Blossom droned as she tried to push the green puff away.

"Someone's been kidnapped!" Buttercup cried out.

Blossom immediately sat up with wide eyes. "Who?!"

"Brick."

Blossom blinked a few times, first in disbelief and then in annoyance, and she threw her head back on the pillow, pulling her covers up. "Call me when there's a real emergency."

"Hey!" I unintentionally blurted out at her lack of concern. But seriously, why was I surprised? Nobody hated Brick more than Blossom and vice-versa.

Blossom opened her eyes and she glared past Buttercup and at me. "Why are you here?" she snapped, still lying down.

"I brought him here," Buttercup replied. "Come on. His door got shot and his brother is missing. There's no way it's safe for him to be there."

Blossom sat up again and mover herself to lean on the backrest of her bed. She rubbed her head tiredly. "So Brick got kidnapped? Who the hell wants him anyway? HIM? Mojo? The Gangreen Gang?"

I winced at Blossom's sarcasm. Buttercup flew over to me and took the syringe out of my hands. She tossed it at Blossom, who caught it with ease. "We were hoping you'd take a look at the liquid since the Professor isn't here," Buttercup said.

Blossom narrowed her eyes at me, completely ignoring her sister. "What's in it for me if I help your brother?" she asked.

"I don't know… What do you want?" I sighed in exasperation. I never realized how hard dealing with Blossom was and I wondered how Brick managed fighting with her every time we met. He must have had the patience of a saint… Or maybe he just punched her whenever she got annoying…

"It's okay. I'll get something from him," she said after a long pause. She flew off her bed and pushed past me.

Blossom led the way to the Professor's lab with Buttercup and me following behind her silently. Although it seemed weird as the girls were my mortal enemies, I found myself trusting them completely. Deciding that it would be better to shut the hell up in Blossom's presence as she would not hesitate to eyebeam me at all. Ironically, I felt safer around the violent and reckless Buttercup.

I mean, hey, she did kind of show some concern for me, unlike someone...

Blossom meddled with some of the stuff in the lab and the syringe as Buttercup and I simply stood behind her, waiting and watching. I had no idea what she was doing. It all looked so foreign to me. Like seriously, what the hell is Chemistry, even?

"Hmm... The chemical concentration in this liquid highly resembles that of a sleeping pill. It must be some sleep inducing drug," she murmured thoughtfully.

"So whoever the kidnapper is, he got Brick asleep so he could get him out of the house? Why?" Buttercup asked.

"Well, he's Brick. The kidnapper obviously knew what he was like. Powers or not, he would definitely put up a fight. Perhaps he or she might even think that he he still has his powers," Blossom said. She sighed and crossed her arms. "Well, that's all I can do. I'm going back to sleep."

"Wait no!" I cried out immediately. "You have to help me!"

Come on, man. I mean, we're civilians now. I hadn't done anything bad in a long time too... Except maybe steal a condom or something... But Brick had been a law-abiding citizen for over ten years now. Wasn't it the job of the Powerpuffs in the first place to protect citizens?

"There's no loss in helping them," Buttercup murmured. "Don't you kind of pity him? I mean, look at him! He has no one."

Wait... Was that what it was all about all this while? Pity?

"He's a Rowdyruff..." Blossom pointed out weakly. Perhaps she realized that her argument was somewhat invalid. After all, so what if we were Rowdyruffs? I mean, we didn't harm anyone ever since we got back to Townsville. Rather, we were the one taking the harm!

"Come on, Bloss. Think about Brick owing you something. You can get him to do anything after this!" Buttercup pointed out.

Blossom sighed again and let her hands drop to her side. "Okay, okay. Just this once. Don't expect me to come helping you the next time something happens!" She huffed and turned away, focusing back on all those apparatus she had been using. She started keeping them and Buttercup and I watched in silence again.

"Do you have any idea who would want to kidnap Brick?" Buttercup asked, turning to me and breaking the long awkward silence.

"I don't think anyone knows that we returned. No one recognizes us even," I said, recalling how no one seemed to bat an eye from fear anymore. Back when we were kids, people were terrified of us.

"How about a villain? Anyone might recognize you," Buttercup pointed out. "I'm guessing it's HIM."

HIM did steal our powers...

"HIM wouldn't need a drug. It seems more like Mojo to me since he is the only one capable of inventing such a drug," Blossom replied, correcting her sister. "The Gangreen Gang has split up and I don't think they even know of the existence of such drugs, much less create them. Sedusa will not use a drug. She'd seduce him. Femme Fatale wouldn't even want to associate herself with the Rowdyruff Boys. Did I miss anyone out?"

"Princess Morbucks?" Buttercup wondered.

"Nah, she has no reason to kidnap him. I mean, he's her boyfriend anyway," I replied.

"So Mojo?" Buttercup asked.

"Mojo," Blossom agreed. "How about we pay a dormant volcano a visit now?"

Buttercup and I nodded and the three of us left the house. Thankfully, the girls were considerate enough to go there on foot. We walked over to the park in silence and headed to Mojo's observatory. We climbed the volcano quickly and knocked the front door. There was no answer.

Well, it was 3am. Mojo was most probably asleep.

Buttercup raised her foot and gave a swift kick to the door, knocking it down completely. The two girls hovered in and I followed behind them on foot. Mojo's lair was dark but it looked nothing like how I had remembered it to be. There existed not a single trace of technology in it, with the exception of normal household appliances. I immediately started doubting our earlier conclusion as we walked over to his bed.

Mojo looked old, like damn fucking 'I'm-on-my-deathbed' kind of old. His mouth was slightly open as he snored, showing his half-decayed teeth, with some missing even.

"MOJO!" Buttercup screamed at the top of her lungs as she shook the monkey violently. The poor old monkey sat up with a shrill cry and stumbled out of bed. He stared at the three of us in confusion until recognition flickered through his eyes. If there was something that was still ever-present in his eyes since back then was the intelligence, now seemingly morphing into wisdom as well.

"Blossom, Buttercup," he greeted with a slight nod of his head. He then turned to me. "And you must be Butch."

Wow, he recognized me!

"Yeah... Sup," I greeted calmly.

"So you are back in town... How are your brothers?" he asked me.

Huh? How are my brothers? Wait a minute. He didn't even know that we were back in town so how in the world did he even kidnap Brick?

"Mojo, do you recognize this?" Blossom asked as she passed him a bottle of liquid. It took me a moment to recognize it as the drug that we had found in the syringe.

Mojo took it and sniffed. "Ah, an old invention. It was a sleeping medicine which I used when I had insomnia."

Buttercup smirked and she raised her fist. However, Blossom stepped in front of her, stopping Buttercup from attacking the old monkey. "Mojo, we believe that Brick was kidnapped and we found this syringe in his room. We suspect that the kidnapper had used it on him."

Mojo blinked. "Brick is kidnapped? Brick? The leader of the Rowdyruff boys?" he wondered, displaying his confusion without any form of concealment.

"Yes, Brick," I said.

"Do you happen to know who else, except for you, has access to this drug?" Blossom asked.

"Well, firstly, I do not have access to it, at least not anymore. Secondly, I sold it off to many people in my most recent yard sale. It was years ago. I can't recall who bought what," he said.

"Do you remember who even came for the sale?" Buttercup groaned.

"Young and old, good and evil, rich and poor. There were a lot of people," he said, shaking his head. "But what I do know is that whoever kidnapped Brick is probably well aware of what he or she is up to. It might not be a mere case of holding a grudge or hating him because even these people know better than to underestimate the Rowdyruffs."

"But we lost our powers," I blurted out. Mojo looked at me, blinking in disbelief, and I found it an obligation to explain, considering that he was my original creator. As such, I ended up recounting the tale of us losing our powers to him. Mojo sat on his bed as he rubbed his chin.

"That person might actually know that he has no powers," Mojo said. "Using the drug is one thing but with Chemical X, Brick should be able to overcome it easily. Anyone knows that the six of you are much much stronger than the average human. I firmly believe that the kidnapper knows of your predicament."

"But only the six of us know of our predicament! I know it's not these two and it doesn't make sense for Boomer and Bubbles to kidnap him either. Heck, it doesn't make sense for any one of us to kidnap him using a fucking drug!" I cried out.

"Did Brick tell anyone else about having lost his powers?" Blossom wondered.

"No. Why would he?" I grumbled.

Blossom frowned. "Boomer told Bubbles that you lost your powers for no particular reason at all either, except for maybe whatever they had between them... What if Brick told his own Bubbles?"

"Why would Brick tell Bubbles?"

Blossom looked at me like I was an idiot. Buttercup started sniggering beside me. "What I meant was," Blossom sighed, "what if Brick told his girlfriend, Princess?"

Okay, I really felt like an idiot then.

"Why would Princess kidnap Brick?" Buttercup snapped. "They're in love, aren't they?!"

"No, Brick detests her," I corrected.

"Maybe Princess wants him to love her as much as she loves him," Buttercup suggested.

Blossom sighed once again. "My point it, idiots, she might have blabbered it on to one of her many minions and the message may have been passed around. Someone from the past may have heard it and gone after him."

The four of us stared at each other, deep in thought, but for some reason, my mind kept on wandering over to Princess. I had overheard her conversations with Brick before and it had occurred to me that Princess was well aware of his lack of affection towards her. I remembered her mentioning that Brick was 'missing out on an experience' if he continued to choose not to devote himself to her. There was also another thing that had been bothering me and it was her possessiveness. Yes, yes, I know it's bad to eavesdrop on people's conversation but hey, I was worried for my older brother! I remember her saying that she would not let anyone (including me, by the way) get within a five metre radius of him as he was 'strictly hers'.

Could Princess had kidnapped him because she wants him all to herself?

Nah. She was too in love with him to do such a thing. I mean, kidnapping is bad. It can cause permanent damage to the victim!

In the end, even with Mojo's and Blossom's brains, we were unable to conclude who he's kidnappers were. As much as I hated it, Blossom was right when she said that we should get some rest. After all, kidnappers usually demanded for ransoms and all. We were yet to hear from the kidnapped. We decided to continue the search another day.

As for me, Buttercup suggested that I lived with the girls for the moment since the door to my apartment was broken and the kidnapper could possibly try to come after me. Of course, Blossom disagreed. In the end, Buttercup offered her room floor to me.

Well, it could be worse.

I felt this was a little too dialogue-based? I don't know... Did you guys find it okay? Anyway, I want to thank all my readers and also, just a heads up: I've got this like... Major exam coming up so my updates might not be as frequent. I need to step up my time management and focus on the more important shit... Although this kinda feels more important to me... Heh heh... But, just a short notice in case I disappear on you guys. I hope you guys won't mind. :) I promise more good stuff awaits you, dear readers, after this Brick kidnap arc. I've got it all planned.

P.S. I hope everyone likes the blooming Greens. Red fans (if there are any) please remain patient. There will be Reds. I mean like, damn I ship Reds more than I ship every other couple combined. They are most probably my favourite childhood pair, man. Well, it's going to be fun writing them. Look forward guys!