Chapter 10: Red Candy

[Townsville Pier, Townsville: 5.45pm]

After her encounter with Boomer a few minutes ago, Buttercup's mood is so foul that she decided that she needs to let off some steam physically. She flies towards an unassuming building near the docks of Townsville and lands on the pavement in front of the building. She walks up towards the building and stops in front of a solid metal door. She knocks on the door three times before a slit on the metal door opens up, revealing two gray eyes looking at her.

"Oh, it's you Buttercup. Been a while since you came around." The gruff voice answered her.

"Well, I need to check up on all those green ones, Pops. Even little girls fight better than them." The voice behind the slit guffawed as he heard the teenager's reply. The sound of the door unlocking clickers before the door opened up to reveal a barrel-chested middle-aged man with a square jaw looked at her while wearing a boxing headgear, a white t-shirt and black gi pants.

"So Buttercup, how's life?"

"Bad if I must say so myself Pops. Any way I could let off some steam?"

"Sure thing, anything for my toughest fighter. Come on in." The man beckons her to come in, and as she entered in, the sound of people punching and kicking the the punching bag echoed inside, while the grunts and shouts of people sparring could be heard within. Buttercup's eyes are watching the other people within this establishment lifting weights and instructors teaching people how to throw punches and kicks in perfect form. Suddenly, one of the people noticed Buttercup and cried out her name. The rest of the people within the establishment turned their attention towards the teenager and soon enough several others are already greeting the young Powerpuff Girl.

"Yo Buttercup!"

"Heya girl, what's up?"

"Hey girlfriend, wanna spar?"

Buttercup smiled. It is just like Pop's Fighting Gym to be this friendly to her. Ever since she found out about this place when she was nine, she had more or less come here on a regular basis to learn how to be a better fighter. So far her mixed martial arts training within this gym had given her the edge she needs when it comes to fighting right, and among her sisters she is perhaps the most efficient fighter.

"Nah, sorry guys. I need to spend some time in the 'Freezer'." Immediately everyone stopped and the murmuring started.

"The 'Freezer' huh? Your mood's really that bad huh?" Pops asked the teenage girl. She nods her head and gives him her best smile.

"Yeah, life's bad that way."

"Well, we did make the 'Freezer' primarily for you. Is it because you are trying to stop the 'Red Candy'? Heard it is spreading like wildfire around the hood." Pops mentioned to the raven-haired girl. Buttercup's interest in the topic is now apparent in her face.

"Red Candy? What's that Pops?"

"Wait, you mean you don't know? It has been the rage among the kids in the hood. The drug make people become mad and bad." One of the regulars in the gym said out loud.

"And as red as your sister's bow." Pops adds on. Buttercup looks at the rest of them and realizes that this is not something she could just joke off like she usually do in this gym.

"Sounds really bad. I'll keep an eye on it. No crook will escape my watch." Buttercup reassures the others. Speaking about that, her superhuman sense of smell have been picking up a very weird odor in the room. Not the smell of sweat, nor the smell of body odor. Not the smell of protein shakes nor body-building supplements. A smell that is sickly sweet, and unnaturally enticing.

"What's wrong Buttercup?" Pops asked the frowning Powerpuff Girl.

"I smelled something weird."

"A gas leak?" Pops asked the Powerpuff Girl, but she shakes her head.

"It coming from the lockers." Buttercup answered as she walks towards the lockers. The other people within the gym have also stopped their activity when they noticed the crimefighter's change of behavior and soon everyone is following the green-eyed girl. She is now sniffing around, and she could pick up on the slowly strengthening smell of uneasiness. She blamed her sense of smell and taste on the countless hours of cooking she did, and it seems that it is paying off in the most bizarre way possible. After a while she stopped in front of one of the lockers and the others stopped as well as they watched.

"Someone didn't wash their clothes or something Buttercup?" Buttercup ignored the middlle-aged man's question. This smell is unnaturally sweet and pleasant, but Buttercup knows that nothing in this world would smell that sweet. Something otherworldly, something wrong. Buttercup frowns immediately as she realized that the smell is a danger to everyone in the room.

"It is in this locker. Pops, do you have the keys for this locker?" Buttercup asked. The middle-aged man walks up, taking out a bunch of keys and fiddling to try and find the right key for the locker. After a while the locker was opened, and Buttercup opened the door of the locker. To their surprise, they noticed nothing that appeared out of the ordinary. A duffel bag, towels, pair of shoes, some supplements. Just a normal assortment of gym-goer stuff. However, Buttercup turned her attention to one of the supplements and takes it from the rack. As the onlookers watched, she opened the supplement and poured out several bright red orbs from it. She looked at it and showed it to the crowd. She closes the cap of the supplement and passes it to Pops, who takes a look at it.

"That sure doesn't look like cod liver oil supplements, Buttercup."

"That looks like red candy, Buttercup. That drug we told you about."

"I see." Buttercup takes a good look at one of the weird things that piques her superhuman sense of smell. Now that she is truly exposed to it, she could not stomach the unnatural smell of the object, as it reeks of something familiar and yet something alien at the same time. She entertained the thought of trying to taste it to ascertain its properties, but she realized that if it reeks of foulness, she is better off not taking any of it inside of her. It was then that a cry could be heard, and her attention turned towards the crowd. One of the gym-goer is now trying to escape from the sea of people, and she immediately give chase.

"STOP THAT GUY!" Buttercup shouted, and soon enough the other gym-goers are trying to stop the individual. Buttercup is confident that the person could not possibly escape a bunch of martial artist and would allow her to apprehend the owner of the drugs. However to her surprise, some of them are thrown into some of the equipment of the gym, while others are pushed away with such force that they landed on the ground with a resounding crack. As Buttercup finally gets a good view of the culprit, she takes in the unnatural sight of the culprit of these injuries.

The figure is a bald man whose body is slowly growing larger with every moment, and his slowly reddening hue is punctuated by the significant popping of his arteries and veins across the surface of his skin. As the figure looks back at her with rapidly whitening eyes and frothing mouth, Buttercup knew that the man has gone past the point of being punched with a lot of restrain. She would have to go all in with this figure. The figure tears one of the panels of the mixed martial arts cage and throws a panel at Buttercup. Realizing that there are other bystanders behind her, she decided to take it head on. She managed to strike the cage panel aside and the panel smashes with such force that it cuts several punching bags into two and breaks through the wall. It was then that the figure started throwing some of the other gym-goers towards her."Oh shi-" Buttercup cried out before she was forced to try and grab them without breaking their bodies. Her fifteen years of crimefighting have honed her people-catching skills to a preternatural level and she managed to grab them gently and lands them around her in a swift motion.

"Thanks Buttercup, I thought I was a goner." A brown-haired man thanked the tomboy crimefighter. Throwing innocent people like that and hurting them is something she would not stand for. She decided that this person deserved the full Buttercup Special.

"Well, you did it now buttwipe." Buttercup responded to the hulking brute and throws a bright lime-green crescent-shaped wave of energy with a quick inward clothsline hook with her arm and it hits its mark. The figure was thrown across the room and breaks through the wall. Buttercup chased after the figure by flying out of the hole she had just made, but was immediately met with a flying grand piano. She braced herself for the piano and it slammed onto her with the full unbridled weight of an object of such size. Before she could even compose herself, the figure jumped at her and slams its fists like clubs on the Powerpuff Girl. As each pounding of the hulk's slab-list fists slammed her face, she knew that she would need to get out from the 'pressure'. Luckily for her,the brute did not pin her down on the ground.

"Up yours!" She performs a backflip, kicking her opponent harshly at his chin, causing the hulk's head to flick back violently. Buttercup strings another kick immediately after her first kick towards the head, before landing back on her feet. Seeing that the figure is still stumbling from the blows of her kicks, she decides to cross slash her arms, causing a large vortex of coruscating lime-green energy to form and sucking in everything within the short vicinity of the spinning maelstrom. The hulking brute was sucked in, and was immediately hit by the countless spinning revolutions of the energy vortex along with the various objects that was sucked into the vortex as he spins around. The vortex suddenly collapsed upon itself, causing an unbridled explosion which propelled the brute out into a nearby car, destroying the car.

"MY CAR!" A poor gentleman in a business suit screamed at he saw the damage to his car. Buttercup rolled her eyes and looked around to see if there were any poor bystanders hurt.

"Are you guys alright!" Buttercup cried. The onlookers of the fight from inside and outside the gym nod their head. All except the poor gentleman with the wrecked car.

Buttercup's attention is still at the wrecked car. She clenches her fist as she prepares herself for the worst. The hulking red brute emerges from the wreck of the car and charges at her like a rampaging bull. Buttercup charges the rampaging brute and leaps towards the figure. As the figure tries to swat her out of the way, she sidesteps and grabs her opponent by the head and slams him to the ground. Her arms and hands emanates an electrical field and shocks her opponent in the head and she tosses him back towards the wrecked car, further obliterating it.

"NOT MY CAR AGAIN!" The poor gentleman in the business suit cried out again, before Buttercup decided to make his day even worse by throwing several energy crescent bolts at the car multiple times. Unable to further take the damage to his car, the poor gentleman fainted immediately before he was dragged by some of the other onlookers. The explosions engulfed the car in flames, and Buttercup decided to give it another eyebeam just to make sure. However, from the flaming wreck, the figure emerges even more enraged than before. As the flames engulfed his body, Buttercup realized that she would need to end this quick before this person could hurt anyone else other than her.

"Time to end this." Buttercup dashes towards the flaming brute and disappears from sight, catching the brutish hulk by surprise. As the brute look around for the Powerpuff Girl, the onlooker saw the green-eyed superheroine suddenly appears from behind the brute and slamming a vertical massive swirling vortex of lime-green energy in a manner that the brute appears to be sliced in half by it, before the vortex collapses causing another imploding explosion. As her opponent slumps to the ground, Buttercup combs her hair. As she looks upon the hulking figure, she knows that this should be enough to bring the brute down. The coloration of the brute is now turning back to its original hue, while the muscles slowly returned to its normal size. The exaggerated veins and arteries are now receding back into his skin and it appears that the trouble is all over. The onlookers cheered as Buttercup defeated the figure. Pops and the other gym-goers rushes towards the teenager.

"Holy hell, where the heck did you learn all of that?!" A brown-haired freckled man asked Buttercup.

"I learned these moves from an brush-haired US Air Force Major at Patterson Air Force base, with some improvements of my own."

"What are you going to do with this guy? And what about this?" Pops asked Buttercup, showing her the supplement box where the drugs are kept. It was then that her phone rings, and she recognizes the ringtone for what it is. She picks up the call and answers.

"Yeah, Bloss?"

"Need you to come over to the District Attorney's office. It seems that there's a new drug on the streets turning people into-"

"Big red hulking figures with creepy veins and arteries popping and super strength?"

"How'd you-"

"I just bagged myself one of those, and also have the drug with me. I'll bring the guy over with the drugs."

[Townsville District Attorney's office, Townsville: 6.00pm]

"Are you with Bubbles?" Blossom asked her sister. She listened intently as Butch sits on one of the chairs in 's office. This is actually the first time he visit her office, amd honestly he find it just as plain as the decorations at her home. Simple whites walls and flooring and some contrasting black furniture. As he looks at Blossom,he wondered what on earth are they talking about.

"Right, just meet me here alright Buttercup? See you." Blossom ended her call.

Both Butch and Blossom are now the only people inside the district attorney's office room, as Ms. Morningstar had already moved on to interrogate the thugs that were using the drug. It seems that the outbreak of crime had already started a few days ago with reports of people committing said crimes to try and get their fix of 'Red Candy', but there were no substantial evidence that they were superpower-related until Blossom and Butch came in with their 'catch'. Now the law enforcement agency of Townsville have spring into action, with initiating and directing further investigations on the new drug on the streets of Townsville.

"Looks like will be very interested with what Buttercup's going to bring in. The drugs and the suspect and are on the way." Butch claps at hearing Blossom's update.

"Well, bravo. If I still remembered her fighting style, that person would be a real wreck by about now." Butch said dreamily as he rubs his jaw. Butch have always respected the ruthlessness of Buttercup's fighting style, and honestly till today, she is perhaps his best enemy to fight against. Blossom could see how he shudders with excitement and finds his eagerness for combat quite disturbing. Fortunately for her, she is not fighting against him. Yet.

"Right, and now to call Bubbles." Blossom picks her phone up and was about to dial her number when her phone rings. She picks up the call and realizes her bubbly sister's voice is a little less bubbly than usual. She sounded a little fatigued, but still alive and kicking enough that Blossom could hear her loud and clear.

"Bubbles, what's wrong?" Butch noticed the pink-eyed lady's concerned voice, and decided that perhaps it is time for him to listen in on the sisters' conversation with his hearing. It is harmless as long as he keeps it to himself.

"Well, Bloss we just got out from a situation at Cafe Latte. Right now we are kinda reporting the incident at the downtown police station."

"What kind of situation? Also, who's we?" Blossom asked quizzically.

"Robbery turned hostage situaton. Brick and I. Brick managed to resolve the whole robbery hostage scene peacefully, but in his own way. Brick is the only one who lost anything of value, so we are making the report to keep an eye out for the robbers. And I was so close to making him less edgy too." Bubbles' pouty voice informed Blossom. Butch's eyebrow raises in surprise; Brick hanging out with Bubbles in a cafe? Gold. Just pure gold.

"Well, if he is with you just bring him along to the district attorney's office. Butch's with me right now."

"Butch? You guys started dating? The district attorney's office is a weird place to have a date. Unless...you are already meeting his parent? That's really fast Blossom!" Bubbles exclaimed, causing Butch to laugh out loud. Blossom glares at the green Rowdyruff Boy, realizing that he is eavesdropping at their conversation. She turned on the loudspeaker option for her phone and continue on conversing with her sister, knowing well that there is no point to keep it away from Butch. It was then that an onyx pixie-haired lady with gray eyes entered into the room.

"Sorry, but that interrogation took a while. What did I miss?" Lilith asked the occupants of the room.

" Buttercup managed to get some of the pills and she's bringing them over." Butch answered, and gasped.

"Also Bubbles and Brick stopped a robbery of some kind. Bubbles, maybe you-." Before she could inform Bubbles, Butch starts to speak to Bubbles.

"Yo, Bubs. Put your phone on loudspeaker. Let me talk to my bro." Butch could hear some fiddling on Bubbles's side before he picks up on his brother's breathing.

"Brick, your brother is on the phone." Bubbles informs the red-eyed Rowdyruff Boy.

"Alright bro, talk to me. What's up?" Butch asked his brother.

"They are heavily armed, armed with six Type 56s with GP-25s, along with some Glock-17s. They are also packing some Claymore mines as well. Moves like Spetsgruppa "A" and judging by how quickly they reacted to our situation, they are well trained enough. Fortunately enough, I managed to crack through the 'green' one of the group. I think this guy will be easy to trace, we need to find a person by the name of 'Ringo'. He sounds American enough, but the others I think would be a little difficult. They tried to hide their accent, but I picked up a Kazakh accent among the robbers." Brick explains.

"Claymore huh? That is some heavy stuff." Butch scratches his head. Bubbles and Blossom are not really sure what is going on between the brothers as a lot of their jargon are not something they are too familiar with. The district attorney is now frowning at the development of the situation.

"But them robbing a cafe with such efficiency and moves is really odd. I mean the Powerpuff Girls is a consideration, but why rob a little cafe? Why not a bank?"

"Anyone ate red candies?" Butch asked the question that has been bugging his mind. The other occupants of the room looked at each other, and turned their attention back to the boy with the hairband.

"No, but I heard the Ringo guy talking about it. What about the red candy?" Brick asked, and based on the way he words it Butch knew that his brother wants to know what is going on with his side.

"Well I've beaten up three thugs as they tried to mug a lady. They are inexperienced thugs but that drug... it is nasty Brick. That 'red candy' that they ate, really changes the way they move and fight. Their blows hurt quite a lot and they are surprisingly tough. If they were normal, they would already have their brain matter splattered everywhere."

Suddenly a knocking sound on the window, snaps Butch from his conversation. Butch turns around and notice that a short-haired toned teenage girl with bright green highlights in a white t-shirt and green trousers is floating outside with a passenger in tow, and a box of something in her arm. The district attorney walks towards the window and opens the window to let the teenage girl in. True to his expectations, the man that she carried in got the markings of the Buttercup Special. But he also notices that the toughest fighter of the Powerpuff Girls is also a little roughed up. Buttercup lightly tosses the item in her arm towards Blossom, and Blossom catches the item with ease while she drops the man on the floor.

"Buttercup, who is that?" Ms. Morningstar pointed at the individual that is now lying down on the floor.

"A person at the martial arts gym I frequent. I found the 'candy' in his locker and he tried to fight his way out. I think he took a few of the 'Red Candy' and we went into a brawl. He's tough enough that he could even take on my special "hurricanes". When he is under the drug, he gave me a little bit of a workout. Not bad for a human-sized opponent." Buttercup explained as she lied down on the sofa. Seeing that this mysterious person is another suspect, Lilith moves towards her office phone and called for some assistance to detain the new suspect. Within half a minute, a knocking sound on the door signals the district attorney to open the door to her office. Two police officers enter the room and take the unconscious man away and closes the door as they exit. Only once they exit did Blossom speaks out her mind.

"If these normal people can rough up both Butch and Buttercup, I shudder to think what would happen if someone with superpowers takes them." The room went silent at Blossom's comment. As Blossom opens the box of supplement up and pours out the content, a tiny bright blood-red orb drops on her palms, no larger than a centimeter across. Buttercup winced as her nose smelled the unnatural smell of the drug. Butch and Blossom also noticed the unnatural smell, and covered their nose.

"What's wrong?" Bubbles and Brick asked, noticing the silence in the room.

"We have the 'candy' with us. And man it stinks." Blossom said in a nasal tone.

"I don't smell anything." Ms. Morningstar, the only normal human in the room have a rather perplexed expression regarding the superhumans' reaction to the pill. As she moves towards the pink-eyed teenager, she noticed that for some reason the round little orbs in Blossom's palms are surprisingly adorable.

"Maybe, just maybe, normal humans can't smell it." Blossom suggested.

"May I have a look at it Blossom?" Lilith asked. Blossom nods, relieved that the disgustingly sweet thing is off her palm. She takes the orb with her fingers . As the Powerpuff Girls and the Rowdyruff Boys went on with their discussion, she went to her chair and sit down while never taking her eyes off the mysterious little orb. Despite knowing that it is a drug, she could not help but to be mesmerized by it. With each passing second, the irresistible temptation to put the orb in her mouth gets stronger and stronger. The bright red orb slowly becomes larger and larger in her mind. Somehow, it feels heavier and heavier in her arm, and she just wants to let go of the orb somewhere. She looked at the bin, but realized that it is evidence. She looked around and wondered where she could throw it or dispose of it.

Anywhere would be fine my dear. May I suggest your mouth?, her mind suggested. Realizing that it is after all a consumable, she complied.

"Alright, see you in 's office in three minutes." Blossom cuts the call, and turns towards . Her eyes opened wide as she realized that that is about to put the 'red candy' into her mouth. As tossed the red orb into her mouth, Blossom realized that she could not reach in time. With seconds to lose, she fires her eyebeam at the candy, vaporizing it and the rest of the beam marked the wall with a scorched mark. Butch and Buttercup was taken aback by Blossom's sudden action. Buttercup was about to chastise Blossom for her eyebeam, but Butch immediately jumped on Blossom. As Blossom was pinned between the legs of the muscled teenager, she looked up to see a very enraged pair of jadeite eyes looking at her.

"WHAT THE HELL?! ARE YOU CRAZY!" Butch shouted.

"Stop Butch! She is not at fault! Get off her this instant!" shouted at Butch. The boy turns his head towards his adoptive parent and saw that there are some sweat running down her relieved expressions. Not expecting the reaction, Butch gets off the copper-haired Powerpuff Girl but continued to glare at the red-ribboned teenager.

"Are you alright Ms. Morningstar? You almost ate the candy!"

"Yes, if it were not for you, I would have swallowed it. Something is wrong with that drug. It just compelled me to take it in...utterly soul-shattering." said in disbelief.

"Hi girls, what did I miss?" Everyone's attention turns towards the window and floating outside are two teenagers, one a blonde blue-eyed girl with two pigtails wearing a white dress with brown boots while the other a male red-eyed teenager with a long thin fiery orange ponytail wrapped in red kerchief at the base with a red cap on his head clad in a maroon turtleneck and black trousers. Blossom sighed, and it appears that it is time to call the professor to come over as well.

This is going to be a long night, Blossom said to herself.