Heightened Tensions- Chapter Ten

The girls stood in front of a towering white structure, surrounded by the glowing, rotating lights of the squad cars. From inside, they could hear the cries of the civilians in their panic, and all around them, the armed officers were tense and waiting. The three of them stood in a line, staring into the hazed double doors of the city bank, none of their faces betraying any sort of fear. They were used to this.

Mojo was inside, doing what he did best; robbing the bank. Lord only knew why he still robbed the same bank time and again, and one had to wonder why the managers hadn't decided to amp up their security. Then again, the citizens of Townsville had never been the sharpest tools in the shed.

One of the officers, poised behind his car's door in a crouch, gun trained on the glass doors of the bank, turned to look at the girls. His face was awash with mortal terror, the same dread that graced everyone's face when Mojo made an appearance. Blossom mused that in their sheer naivety, Townsville had no idea what real evil was. They had never experienced it like she had.

She nodded to the officer, who was obviously motioning for them to go inside and deal with Mojo, just by the nature of his suggestive glance. She motioned with her head to Buttercup and Bubbles, who both looked wholeheartedly uninterested.

After Blossom had answered the call, her and Buttercup had ran from the biology room to find Bubbles, who had stuffed herself in the girl's bathroom on the second floor. Needless to say she hadn't been too pleased to see them, thinking they were just there to bug her.

"For the love of God!! Leave me alone!"

Blossom shook her head, momentarily aggravated by her sister's increased sense of confrontation.

"No. Mojo… we gotta go."

And she hadn't needed to say another word, because Bubbles's face suddenly changed into one of utter rage. Blossom had been stunned momentarily by the sheer look of murder that had suddenly flared up in her eyes… thinking she'd never seen it in her blue-eyed sister before. But, after a few moments, and after they'd all set off together, Blossom had realized it had just been her aggravation showing through. Nothing more.

And they had left the school, taking off in a blind mix of running and leaping through the skyline of Townsville to their destination. They still weren't quite used to their lack of flying ability, something that was taking quite some time to get over now that they actually had to use their skills again.

They had been around twelve years old and living in their former residence at the time. Like normal, they'd become accustomed to floating and zipping around the house, using their various powers in any way that they could be. However, in the city, they'd been completely forbidden by the professor to show any trace of super-human abilities, and while they grumbled about it for a while, they knew it was for the best. Especially after they found out what exactly they were hiding from.

Then all at once things started to fall apart. One Saturday afternoon Buttercup had been chasing Bubbles around the house, the two of them darting and swooping throughout the rooms in a very enthusiastic game of tag. Suddenly Bubbles had crashed to a halt on the floor, complaining of a sudden burst of weakness that had surprised her enough into screaming. The professor and Blossom had been in the room instantly to see what was wrong, and they'd found Bubbles lying on the ground, Buttercup hovering over her with concern.

After they'd learned what had happened they'd attributed it to nothing more than perhaps stress. After all, the three of them had just started showing the budding signs of leaving their adolescence. The professor merely assured them their fluctuated hormones would cause surges and dips in their powers, and that as soon as they were finished growing into young women it would all return to normal.

But it hadn't. Soon, all three of them were complaining of feeling woozy in the air, and after a while it became too much trouble to even bother floating at all. So they'd stopped entirely, with some degree of resistance and tears. It was Buttercup who had finally reached the discovery that their gift of flight had fizzled out entirely, after falling from the air entirely during one last painful try.

That had been a day of bizarre, painful emotion. It was definitely something that had been difficult for them to cope with, because flying had become an important part of their lives from day one. It was almost like having a limb amputated; losing a part of yourself that was so connected, that nothing would ever replace it.

But after a while they'd gotten used to it, and had learned that their muscle power and jumping ability had increased to compensate for it. They'd learned to live with it, but every once in a while, all three of them still felt the pains of loss, knowing that their abilities would never be the same.

They had managed to arrive at the bank in record time, and without needing to fly. Their speed and knack for jumping over the buildings more than made up for that handicap.

The three of them walked up to the doors, and Blossom threw them open forcefully. They entered, and instantly were met with the chaos. Mojo had all the civilians backed up against the far wall, and he was waving a ray gun through the air wildly.

Some of the hostages cried out with joy when they saw the girls, causing Mojo to turn his attention to his backside. He grinned wickedly at them, turning his body around to face them. His gaze fell on Bubbles, and his eyes narrowed most maliciously.

"Hello Powerpuff Bubbles… I trust you've been doing well… nothing particularly stressful in your life?" his voice was so smooth and icy, as he flashed Bubbles a toothy simian grin. She suddenly flared up in rage.

"GO TO HELL MOJO!"

Mojo looked completely taken aback, his face awash with gentle surprise as he took on step backwards, overpowered by her outburst. Blossom turned to Bubbles suddenly, surprised by both her sudden use of profanity, and by the fact that she had no idea what Mojo was alluding to. It almost seemed as if Mojo had meant something, but judging by Buttercup's bland expression, she wasn't too sure either.

Mojo laughed, a bellowing cackle that they'd heard at least a thousand times before. Yet this time, it seemed even more full of malice and self-satisfaction than usual.

"Enough crap, why are you even bothering with these kinds of places anyway?" Blossom questioned angrily, feeling her patience already beginning to drain from her. This bank-robbing business had gotten so horribly trite it was almost annoying.

"Enough talking! I have you now in the open! No longer in a place where you are sheltered and closed off!" Mojo bellowed, waving the ray gun wildly through the air. Blossom's gaze shifted to the group of people who were still huddled together behind the deranged simian. She had to get them out, before Mojo did anything stupid.

"Buttercup, take care of the hostages… when we attack…" she whispered, leaning herself over to speak in her sister's ear. Buttercup nodded stiffly in understanding. And before Mojo could begin another rant, Blossom gave Bubbles a split second glance, motioning to Mojo. The communication between them was clear. This had become such routine for them, words were almost unneeded.

"Hey Mojo!" Bubbles cried, drawing his attention towards her.

"What!?" He barked, lowering the ray gun to his side.

"Wanna' know what stress really feels like, you slobbering piece of shi-" and as she was finishing her sentence she kicked off from the ground, launching herself into Mojo's path with the accuracy of a homing missile. He didn't have time to react, but instead went rigid as Bubbles streaked towards him, a blur of glowing blue.

At the same time Blossom moved, attempting to circle around Mojo from behind to apprehend him. She shifted her attention just long enough to see Buttercup grabbing the hostages, and turned back to Mojo, who was currently attempting to fight Bubbles off with multiple blasts from his ray gun.

She had him firmly by his throat, her arm wrapped around his neck, and her drastic increase in height giving her an advantage. Blossom moved in from behind, intending to deliver a knock out blow, but something happened very suddenly that threw the whole plan into an uproar.

There was a sudden deafening roar of crumbling stone as one of the massive marble pillars suddenly collapsed. Bubbles shrieked, getting caught off guard as it fell just mere feet away from her body. In that moment, while Bubbles's guard had been down, Mojo took it upon himself to take a very generous mouthful from her shifted arm.

Blossom cowered back as Bubbles screamed painfully, and in her weakness Mojo managed to get the upper hand. He grabbed Bubbles firmly around the waist and twisted her around, throwing her through the air right into Blossom. She didn't have time to move as Bubbles's body came hurtling towards her, finally smashing them both onto the ground in a spray of broken marble tile.

"No! He's getting away!" Blossom cried, still trying to untangle her body on the floor. She spun her gaze around, searching for Buttercup, and finally found her, just standing two feet from the dusty base of the crumbled pillar, her eyes wide with shock as if she'd just done something stupid.

"BUTTERCUP!"

But it was too late. Mojo was gone. They'd let him get away.

Thankfully, nobody had been hurt, but that was the least of Blossom's troubles. They'd let Mojo get away, and it was very clearly Buttercup's fault.

"Why did you just stand there?! Are you that stupid?!" She said angrily, pacing back and forth in front of her two sisters. They were both leaning against the hood of a police car, Bubbles massaging her swollen forearm and Buttercup staring back at Blossom with an air of defiance.

Blossom rubbed her head where she hit the ground, and glared into Buttercup's hard green stare. She ignored the commotion around her, the squad of news vehicles, the lingering hostages trying get in last words of gratitude to their heroes, curious bystanders, and the remaining police who were hanging around to take the report.

Buttercup didn't say anything, but her stare stayed firm. And at this moment, Blossom confirmed her own suspicions that her sister was sick, both mentally and physically. Something had to be done, because it was affecting their performance. Why had Buttercup frozen up like that? She'd acted as if she'd caused the pillar to fall herself… the way her eyes had been so wide and her body so rigid…

"You seriously need help…. L-look at you! You're a mess!"

Bubbles raised her eyes to Blossom, her face a look of agreement, but she didn't say anything. Buttercup's breathing had increased noticeably, and Blossom could tell by the frequent rising and falling of her shoulders that she was about to burst.

"You froze up! Why did you freeze like that?! You never do that!! What happened!?"

Buttercup suddenly leapt up and met Blossom in the face, her sunken eyes level with her sister's heated gaze.

"That's none of your goddamned business… we can't all be perfect like you…" she breathed, and in a whirl of black hair Buttercup spun around and stomped off, a pouty trek in the opposite direction down the street..

"I'm not perfect!! Where are you going?!" Blossom cried, and she started off to follow Buttercup, but felt a very sudden tugging at her arm. She turned, and met Bubbles's watery gaze.

"Um… maybe… I better do it… You might just make things worse at this point…"

And Blossom figured she was right. She nodded in agreement, and relaxed her arm to signal to Bubbles that she could let go. Bubbles let her sister's arm fall, and she shook her head casually.

"What do you suppose really happened? It's almost like what happened with that water jar… she did… something… but doesn't seem to realize it at all…"

Blossom looked down at the pavement and kicked at a pebble, watching it bounce across the pavement and come to a rest at the wheel of a squad car. She shrugged, and let out a huge sigh.

"I don't know… but we need to figure out what's wrong with her. Her powers are going out of control. Something's going on that she obviously is having trouble keeping stable…"

Bubbles didn't respond, but her attention was suddenly diverted to the city skyline. Blossom looked at her sister quizzically, studying Bubbles's very wide-eyed stare as she watched something up in the skyscrapers. Blossom peered upwards, hoping to figure out what Bubbles was seeing… but she saw absolutely nothing.

"Bubbles?" Blossom asked quietly, waving her hand in front of her sister's face. Bubbles didn't even blink.

"Now I understand what Mojo meant… he wanted us out in the open… that's why he didn't take any money…" Bubbles said tonelessly, her gaze still tracking something in the sky. Blossom watched her incredulously, not sure of what to make out of her sister's suddenly spacey attitude.

"Um… what?"

Blossom did finally realize that Bubbles was right about one thing… Mojo hadn't taken any money at all. She'd been too pissed off over Buttercup to realize it.

Then, what had he been doing there?

"He wanted us out in the city so I- err- we could be found-"

"You're starting to scare me-"

"Never mind, I have to find Buttercup. She can't be alone."

And Bubbles turned and ran in the direction Buttercup had gone, her face still turned up to the sky, leaving Blossom all alone and bewildered.