Chapter 21

Several days after fighting Sedusa, Butch and Buttercup were once again wandering through the dimly lit, musty-smelling hall. They didn't find any other clues, besides the occasional camera, and they definitely did not see any sign of Sedusa. They barely talked, much to Butch's surprise. Buttercup actually seemed rather edgy and aloof with him lately, and Butch couldn't quite figure out why. He tried to talk to her, relentlessly asking her random questions and making small talk. But Buttercup continue to act strangely with him, answering all his questions short and sweet, and hardly contributing to any conversation.

Buttercup felt that she had every reason in the world to avoid Butch, especially with these new thoughts and images haunting her… images she tried hastily to block away with her internal barricades. It was difficult to repress her feelings, though, given the situation: the two of them, holed up in this claustrophic little cave…alone. Stop it! Buttercup commanded herself. There are no feelings! I'm just freaking out, that's all. I mean, It's almost the end of the thirty days, right? I'm panicking, right? Yeah, Buttercup reassured herself. Yeah, I'm just being stupid.

"So do you, um, wanna break?" Butch offered, stopping and pulling out his pack of cigarettes. He shook them at her. Buttercup glanced at his shoulder, obviously trying to avoid eye contact.

"No, I'm good," she replied, continuing to trot along. Butch frowned a little, and tucked the pack in his pocket.

"What's wrong?" Butch demanded. Buttercup shrugged, not looking at him.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"Bull."

"No, really! I'm fine."

Butch sighed and rubbed his temples. He was – shockingly – worried about her behavior, and he just couldn't understand or… help? Butch chuckled to himself, wondering why he would even want to help. Buttercup was a big girl, and she could help herself. Maybe this was simply her way of dealing with things – time was catching up to them. Butch didn't want to think of how much time was left, no matter how much it chased him. Five days, Butch reminded himself on accident. Five days left… He then thought about things he wished he could do, since he had no idea what would happen after those five days. He wished he could sleep in a normal bed, not on a dirty cave floor. He wished he could down some delicious food instead of the processed crap they had to eat. He wished he could go out downtown; out at the bars and clubs just before midnight, maybe even find a bit of action with a nice, hot girl— Butch blinked away any further thoughts.

"Hey, Buttercup?" he called. Buttercup shook her head, and Butch took that as an indication of her attention.

"Do you… do you know how many days we have left?"

Buttercup stopped and folded her arms. She turned around and looked at Butch's left ear.

"No. And I don't know if I want to know." Buttercup scrunched her eyes together and turned away.

"So then what's up with you?"

Buttercup stomped her foot and turned back around. She finally made eye contact with Butch, her eyes small and murderous.

"I'm sick of you asking stupid questions!" she yelled. She lashed out at him, stepping close to him and swinging her fist. Butch leaned back, dodging her. "There's nothing wrong with me! I'm just sick of being in here, heading off to God-knows-where, eating shitty food, finding pieces to a puzzle we don't even know how to solve, and being with you."

"Me?" Butch said, stunned. "What'd I do?"

"Well, yeah. I told you we weren't friends!" Buttercup reminded him.

"I never said we were either," Butch said, shuffling his feet.

"Yeah, well, everything is just pissing me the fuck off, and I just… I just want to be by myself. I don't even know what's going to happen to me in, what, a week?"

"Five days."

"Five days?" Buttercup screamed. "We have five days left?!"

"Yeah…" Butch kicked at a tiny pebble and watched it bounce away – now he was the one avoiding eye contact. Buttercup made a noise and she knelt down to the ground. She held her face in her hands, her body shuddering tremendously. Butch looked at her, feeling rather helpless. Buttercup stood back up, her eyes slightly red. Butch waited for her next move. She looked at him, giving him a treacherous look that he could not decipher. Her face seemed to be a mixture of sadness, fear, and insistence, like she was begging him to do something, but not saying what.

"What…. What do you want me to do?" Butch asked quietly. Buttercup closed her eyes and turned away, stumbling away on the uneven footing. She whispered, her voice floating back behind her.

"Leave me alone."

Butch exhaled, feeling somehow dejected. He let her walk some distance ahead before following her. They continued for another hour or so, not saying one thing to one another. Butch watched Buttercup, mostly because he felt the need to, but he soon noticed the walls getting taller and more spread out. The cave seemed to be widening the further they trekked, and Butch hoped Buttercup noticed, too. After a while, he could barely see the ceiling, and the blue torches seemed closer, making for the size of the darkness. It seemed impossible not notice anymore, and Butch addressed Buttercup again.

"Hey, um, you do notice the world getting bigger, right?" he shouted. Buttercup, far ahead, stopped.

"Yeah, I do," she called back. Then, she leapt up, and rocketed away. Butch instinctively jumped up and followed her, aligning himself with her light green streak.

"Hey, what are you doing?" he called. Buttercup did not respond, her body a small blip in the shadows. Then she stopped, her streak suddenly disappearing. Butch skidded along the ground to a halt behind her. He was about to repeat his question, and then… he saw it.

Before them lay a small lake, with an enormous waterfall pouring from the far end away from them. Streams trickled out from the water, flowing into cracks and crevices in the walls. Droplets from the falls misted the air, dampening the duo's faces. The torchlights reflected into the rippling water, scattering into a thousand tiny blue lights.

"Wow…" Butch mumbled. Buttercup laughed a little, marveled at the fresh, beautiful sight. It was such a change, compared the usual rocky décor.

"Thirsty?" Butch asked her. Buttercup looked towards him, her eyes resting on his forearm.

"Yeah, actually."

With that, Buttercup hovered over to the bank and knelt down. She cupped her hands and lowered them into the water.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…"

Sedusa's cold voice made Buttercup jump, and she fell forward into the water. She caught herself, just before her face dunked beneath the surface… but not before the water start to fizz. Buttercup hopped back, and watched the little bubbles grow and grow to a steady boil. She looked up at the ceiling.

"Is that you again, you ugly hag?" she called. Butch grabbed Buttercup's arm and pulled her away from the lake. He pointed.

"Look…"

Water churned and swirled in many spots all over the lake. Then, long mechanical limbs erupted from the lake. They reached out and out, doubling – tripling – several limbs sprouting out together. Each leg, bending at two distinct sockets, sank back in the water, lifting out larger units of machinery. Butch and Buttercup watched, mesmerized, as a dozen great machines popped from the water, each with gigantic bodies, and eight mechanical limbs, four on each side. At the center of each body, were small spherical devices brandishing sharp, spiky pinchers.

"Spiders…" Buttercup whispered.

"Say hello to my little friends…" Sedusa's voice rang from above.

Butch looked at Buttercup and grinned.

"Ready to fight?"

Buttercup's eyebrows flickered, and she smiled. She balled up her fists, sending a wonderful, familiar sensation into her body. Every single thought in her mind was forced deep into her system, and all her anger and aggression was brought forth in one great adrenaline rush. Oh, she was more than ready.

"Let's do this."

Butch and Buttercup zoomed off in different directions, and dove straight at the spiders. Butch slammed his entire body into one of them, grabbing at all the limbs and ripping them clean off the machine. Buttercup landed a well-practiced roundhouse kick, smashing away two or three spiders at once. The spiders frantically swiped back, swinging their limbs to and fro.

"AGH!"

One spider smacked Butch in the back, throwing him across the room. He crumbled against the wall, smoke bursting around him. He fell to the ground, but immediately leapt back up, and hurtled back into the fight. He stopped in the air, surrounded by five or six of the spiders. He chuckled dangerously, and he summoned power from his fists, electric green swirling around him. He raised his arms grandly and crashed them together, creating a tremendous explosion, destroying all the spiders at once. He laughed, and went after some across the room.

Buttercup tackled one of the spiders, and blasted away every one of its limbs but one. She snatched the limb, lifted it above her head, and twirled it around like a mace. She smacked the makeshift spider-mace at two nearby spiders, crushing their inner workings, and whacking their useless bodies away. Buttercup twirled the limb again and hurled the whole thing away. It collided into the wall with such force that it burst into a billion metal pieces and punched the wall with a perfect round dent.

Buttercup hovered in the air and watched Butch take out the last spider. He whammed it into the lake, the legs snapping from the sockets and its body rolling beneath the surface. He tossed the legs into the water and zipped over to Buttercup. He smiled wildly. Buttercup beamed at him, and looked back up at the ceiling.

"That was nothing!" she laughed.

"Did you think that was it?"

The two turned around, back to back and braced themselves for another wave. They watched the water below churn again, emerging spiders whirring to life, their limbs splashing out.

"We can take care of this," Butch laughed.

"That's not all…"

The team saw the ground and the walls shake, the walls crumbling in on themselves. Butch glanced at Buttercup, catching her fearsome, bloodthirsty gaze.

"You think we can take 'em all?"

"Are you kidding?" Buttercup's eyes met with his. She sneered. "I'm still a Powerpuff Girl."

Butch and Buttercup watched as the final number of spiders rounded up to almost fifty. Buttercup counted them fast, promptly devising the best plan of attack. Butch took Buttercup's lead, and the two shot forward to clean up the mess.

Spiders swarmed onto Butch, dozens of limbs grabbing at his face, his torso, and his legs. He punched and kicked them, annihilating some with several eye beams. He bolted forward, and shot through some body units, pushing out all their wires and gears. He rebounded against the wall, shooting back through another pack of them. Across the room, Buttercup spun in mid-air, faster and faster, creating an immense tornado, whizzing together water, dirt, and rock. She sucked in numerous spiders, holding them tight in her strong spinning grip. After a quick breath, she stopped. The centripetal force blasted them around the room, hitting them against the walls, the water, and each other.

Buttercup cried triumphantly, though too soon – one spider snuck up and snapped its pincers around her thigh, cutting deep into her flesh. She howled with pain, then jammed her elbow into its head, disconnecting it and the pincers from the main unit. The pincers released themselves. Buttercup wiped away some blood carelessly, and she went over to the closest group of spiders, swinging her legs in a perfect bicycle-kick.

Another spider grabbed at both her legs and clung for dear life. Buttercup jumped up and twirled around, forcing the spider away with one mighty spin. A nearby spider grabbed at her middle, and two others swarmed up and grabbed her limbs. Buttercup thrashed around in the air, tugging herself away from the machines. She broke free for a split second, then a few more spiders dove in for the attack. Each spider seized one of her limbs, one had her torso, and one was wrapping itself around her neck.

"NO!" Buttercup choked.

Butch reeled around in the air, and spotted Buttercup trapped amongst six or seven different spiders. Butch gasped, and lurched over to her. He pummeled the spider at her throat and shot off countless eye beams, rapidly firing at the other ones. After a few painful moments, all the spiders released her, and Buttercup plunged to the ground below. Butch dove down, snatched her up, and sped up out of harm's way. Buttercup's face was almost purple, and she coughed, gasped for air. Butch held her up, one arm around her waist, the other holding her head straight.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'm—" Buttercup wheezed. "—fine."

"Are you sure?"

Buttercup's eyes shot open and she pushed Butch away. She wiped some blood and sweat off her face and leered.

"Yes. Let's… let's finish these fuckers."

Butch nodded, and the two whooshed off to fight the last few spiders. Buttercup delivered one hard blow to all the giant spiders in her vicinity, while Butch knocked the last ten out with a powerful lightning bolt from his hands. Buttercup turned around and scanned the room.

"Is that it?" she yelled. Butch jumped up from a pile of obliterated spider and looked around the room, too. Besides for a few flitting legs, there didn't seem to be any more trouble.

"I'd say so."

"Aren't you lucky…"

Buttercup and Butch floated down to a clearing on the ground and collapsed, both entirely exhausted and beat. Butch lay on the ground huffing and puffing, and he looked over at Buttercup. She crawled over to the lake and scooped water up with her hands. She splashed her face again and again, pausing once or twice to drink from her palms. She stood up and wiped her face off with her arm.

"Nice… fighting…" Butch complimented through shaky breaths. "I think… I'm out… of shape, though…"

Buttercup glimpsed at him, her mouth hung slightly as she tried to catch her breath as well. She staggered over to Butch and held out her hand. He grabbed it and she helped him up.

"Thanks…" he said with a smile.

The two stood there for a second, just trying to breathe and relax. When they were finally able to function properly, Butch rolled his head around, cracking all the kinks in his neck. Buttercup combed her fingers through her hair, pulling out pieces of metal and rock. The two looked at the horrendous mess scattered about the place. Buttercup snorted, and sent off a single laser beam. She scanned it around the room, evaporating every piece of junk out of sight, bringing the room back to its original environment. Butch smiled again.

"Well, that was fun, right?"

Buttercup stared at him a moment… then she slapped him. He stepped back and held his cheek, fire burning beneath his skin.

"What was that for?!" he cried.

"Why did you help me?! I was doing just fine without you!" Buttercup groaned. Butch stared at her, totally shocked.

"What?"

"Why did you have to be all courageous and save me from the spiders?" Buttercup demanded, her voice almost hysterical. "I was fine, Butch! I could've saved myself."

"…Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I am! You don't need to act like a fucking hero…"

Butch finally had had enough. He stepped over and grabbed her, spinning her around on the spot. He brought her face close to his.

"What – is – your – problem?!"

Butch shoved her away. She swayed backward, slipping on a large piece of metal.

"I don't know what's going on," Butch started, his voice loud and livid. "But you have been nothing but a ridiculous, overemotional, raging bitch ever since this mission started. I know I'm no prize myself, but I've acted phenomenally compared to your bullshit."

Buttercup stared at him, her eyes wide, and her jaw clenched. She stood there, her feet rooted to the spot.

"First you want to go back, then you want to keep going. Then you act like we're all buddy-buddy, then you attack me and act like you hate me. One minute, you beg to be left alone, and the next you're… you're swishing your hips and practically flirting with me! And then you gave me this look like you were… some… lost dog, or something, looking for a home. Now, you fucking ingrate, you're yelling at me for helping you out when you needed it the most! What the hell?"

Butch glared fiercely at her with his great big eyes, his arms animatedly waving with every accusation. Buttercup stood her ground, taking in all of his words.

"How about… when you're actually ready to, I don't know, work with me, come find me, okay? In the mean time, I'm on my own."

Butch pushed her aside and stomped off. Buttercup watched him, not sure what do or say. He was right – she had been acting outrageously the whole time. She could argue that he acted the same way, but… he didn't. He always reacted to whatever she did to him. She slammed him against the wall first, and he retaliated. She smashed a boulder on his head before he attacked her. Okay, he did say a few nasty things, but it was nothing compared to what she did to him. That sinking feeling, like the one way back when she broke his heart years ago, came flushing back through her veins. The guilt - the sickening, heart-squeezing guilt – made her nauseas. Her throat tightened, swallowing back the searing acid. Why does he care anyway? Buttercup asked herself. What does it matter how I treat him? He's shouldn't care. He doesn't care. He never did…

Wait…

Buttercup recalled that moment weeks ago, when she and Butch talked about how she was with people. She said that she wasn't nice to her enemies. He added, "Or the people who fall in love with you." What did that have anything to do with anything? It seemed so out of the blue to bring it up… did that mean he was thinking about it? Did that mean… he was thinking about her? Was he thinking about her? He wasn't saying..,

Oh, Christ.

"Butch!"

Buttercup didn't even wait for him to respond; she jumped up in the air, sped over to him, grabbed his face with both hands—

And kissed him.

Butch kicked his leg back to stop himself from falling. His eyes were wide, frightened, and his arms were up in the air, ready to attack. He stood there utterly flabbergasted, as Buttercup kissed him so tenderly on the lips. Her body still floated in the air, one leg straight out, the other bent loosely. Butch wasn't sure if he should just take it or throw her off. Maybe she really was nuts. Then… he relaxed. He closed his eyes, and cautiously wrapped his arms around her waist.

After a few seconds, Buttercup broke away, and her feet gently landed on the ground. Her arms hung around Butch's neck, his clinging to her hips. They stared at each other, more shocked than ever. Buttercup blinked a few times, almost unsure if that just happened. Butch licked his lips, feeling the ghostly remnants of the kiss. Then he made a strange face… and grinned.

"That's it?" Butch asked, one eyebrow raised.

Buttercup blinked again. She narrowed her eyes, and a small smile played on her lips.

"What? That doesn't say 'thank you' enough?"

"Not. At. All."

Butch watched her, his expression mischievous. Buttercup snorted, and she kissed him again, harder. He kissed her right back, just as hard, just as passionate, holding her tight in his arms. It lasted a little longer than the first before Buttercup broke away again. She stared at him, her eyes bright but challenging, waiting for his judgment. Butch smirked at her.

"Oh, no. Still not good enough."

"Oh, really now?"

Buttercup grabbed his shoulders and she pushed him forward, ramming him against the wall. She kissed him again, harder, faster, longer than before. She moved away from his lips and trailed down his cheek, and along his jaw to his ear.

"Is this a good enough reason to slam you into a wall?" she whispered.

"Uh – yeah."

The kissed some more, no blaze hotter than the passion between them at that moment. Buttercup ran her fingers through his hair, as Butch slid his hands down her sides and to her skirt. They broke away for air, both totally breathless. Buttercup rested her forehead on his, and she closed her eyes. They breathed together, inhaling and exhaling as one. Buttercup smiled – she was at peace for the first time in weeks.

Butch rested one hand on her face and gently pulled her in for another go. They kissed again, sweetly. Buttercup's hand glided down his chest and lingered on his belt. She unbuckled it. Butch broke away and glared at her.

"This? Now?" he asked with a laugh. Buttercup chuckled and nodded.

"There's cameras…" Butch said, glancing up at the ceiling. Buttercup rolled her eyes. She grabbed both ends of his belt and roughly pulled his pelvis against hers.

"Let em' watch."