A/N: I was kind of lazy with the a/n last chapter. Anyway, this is sort of an explanation chapter. :-)

-Butch-

Butch sat in the corner of his cell with his arms resting on his knees. He refused to call this prison his room, although to the unknowing eye, it looked like a really nice bedroom. It was decorated to look exactly like his old room, except they added a TV and all the latest video games. As great as the temptation was, Butch resolved to use nothing but the windows and doors, although being freshly sprayed with the cotton candy poison and being chained to the wall didn't really allow for much movement anyway. He wondered what the chains were made out of as he pulled on them again. Even with his full powers he couldn't break them.

Butch lifted his head when he heard the door open.

"This is the fourth time you've tried to escape." Black said to him as both he and Blue walked through the door. Butch hated the sight of them; they looked way too much like his brothers for his liking.

"Give up and we won't have to keep you chained up," Blue added.

"I need to go back to my brothers. Why are you two keeping me here?" Butch stood up as best he could with the chains, he didn't want to look defeated.

"You belong here. We've been training you since you were nine, all so you could join us. Your brothers don't care about you," Blue answered him. Black made a move to leave, apparently done with the conversation.

"What do you know? My brothers are out there searching for me right now!" Butch yelled before they could get through the door.

Black looked back and raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you think? Well why don't we visit them?"

"Huh?"

"Of course we'll have to spray you with some power drainer before we leave; we don't want an unnecessary fight."

Butch hadn't even notice Blue leave until he reappeared at the door with a huge duffel bag. "Okay, hop in."

Butch stared at the large black duffel bag. "In that?"

"Would you prefer I carry you like a princess?"

Butch sighed and reluctantly got in the bag, although he hated this way of travel the only bright side was that he would get to see his brothers. He had never gone a full day without them before. It surprised him how unnerved he was by it.

-School during Lunch-

Black, Blue, and Butch hid in the bushes outside the cafeteria window.

Blue looked all around them. "You'd think the security would be better. I mean two grown men fly into the middle of the school and no one even raises an alarm."

"And wouldn't it be a shame to be discovered because of your constant talking?" Black glared at Blue.

Blue completely ignored it.

"I don't even know why we're here. My brothers wouldn't have come to…"

"There they are. Hmm, this is a strange place to be looking for you," Blue interrupted Butch.

Butch stared at Boomer who was sitting next to Bubbles, then at Brick sitting at Princess' table. They were eating lunch and talking, as if nothing was out of place. "I don't get it. Aren't they worried?"

Butch watched as Brick intently listened to whatever conversation was happening at their table.

"That doesn't look like worry to me," Black said.

Butch switch his focus to Boomer only to see him lovingly cooling whatever liquid Bubbles was drinking.

"Looks like he's more concerned with his girlfriend," Blue added.

Butch couldn't help noticing his eyes were on Bubbles and not Boomer. Not wanting to see his brothers' lack of concern, Butch searched for another face and spotted Daniel and Buttercup sitting together and having an animated conversation.

"Isn't that your special lady friend?" Black asked.

"Didn't take her long to replace you," Blue added.

"She's nothing special to me," Butch said, but kept his eyes on her the whole time.

"It certainly seems like she feels the same way." Black knew how to push his buttons.

I can't believe Brick and Boomer just went on with their lives and what the hell does Daniel think he's doing? Butch thought as he clenched his fists.

"Whatever, let's just leave," Butch mumbled.

"Yeah, you're better off with us. Brick isn't ambitious enough and let's face it; Boomer was just holding you back," Black said as he opened the duffel bag.

"You need to be a part of a winning team, a team that knows what it wants and has the means to take it," Blue said, zipping the bag up to Butch's face and taking off.

As Butch flew like a pocket pooch in a lady's purse, he thought about what Black and Blue said. They were right. If Brick didn't even have the drive to search for him for more than a day and Boomer is too busy with Bubbles to care about him, why was he trying to go back? He barely knew Black and Blue, yet they spent the last six years getting him ready to live with them. Maybe this wasn't a bad thing.

-School-

Bubbles handed Boomer a paper towel from the bathroom.

"I'll go with you to the nurse."

"I'll be fine Bubbles." The punch didn't hurt, but it looked almost as bad as Boomer felt.

"I can't believe she hit you like that." Bubbles looked at Boomer's swelling lip. She couldn't understand what got into Buttercup. Sure she had always been on the violent side, but she had never actually hurt a friend before. Bubbles wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that Buttercup knew Boomer was a criminal.

"I deserved it. I should be looking for Butch right now."

Bubbles looked at Boomer. She couldn't imagine doing anything without Buttercup or Blossom. How could Boomer not be searching for Butch?

"Why aren't you? Did you and Brick really just give up?"

Suddenly the bell rang and the previously empty hallway was beginning to fill with students.

"Go to class. I'll explain later."

Bubbles watched with a worried expression as Boomer took off for class.

Bubbles ran into her English class and spotted Blossom right away. "Blossom!"

"Bubbles, if you're going to be late, at least enter class quietly," The teacher gave her a death glare as Bubbles made her way to her seat next to Blossom.

"Sorry," She whispered as she sat down.

Bubbles waited impatiently for class to end. Blossom noticed as Bubbles tapped her foot, then her pencil, then twirl her pigtails around her fingers. As soon as class was over Bubbles sprinted outside to wait for Blossom.

"Okay Bubbles, what is it that you want to tell me so…?"

"Buttercup punched Boomer!"

"What! Why?"

"Butch is missing and they aren't looking for him, but I'm sure they have their reasons."

"Brick never mentioned that to me. Buttercup shouldn't hit people, but Butch is missing? What happened, I'm so confused."

"I know. I'm going to talk to Boomer more about it."

"Is there a problem girls? The bell is going to ring soon; you shouldn't be loitering in the hallway." The English teacher pushed them towards their class as she walked by.

-Geography-

Boomer walked into the last class of the day, one that he usually shared with both his brothers.

Brick took one look at Boomer. "What the hell happened to your face?"

"Buttercup hit me." Boomer touched his lip. He didn't think it was that bad.

"She'll pay."

"I deserved it. She's just mad that we aren't looking for Butch."

"That's no excuse."

"No talking in class." The teacher said as she slammed down a book to get attention.

-History-

"That's weird, where's Buttercup?" Blossom asked Bubbles as they walked into class together. Buttercup's class was closer than theirs, so she was usually in her seat before them.

"She's probably hiding because she knows I'm mad," Bubbles said as she sat down.

Blossom laughed, knowing that Bubbles wasn't likely to do much. Bubbles glared at her.

Blossom looked around for her missing sister again. "Seriously, I can't believe she cut class."

-After Class-

"Brick, why aren't we searching for Butch?" Boomer walked with Brick after class instead of going to football practice.

Brick tried to ignore Boomer's question, choosing instead to focus on where he was going.

"I had to look for him all Sunday by myself."

Again Brick ignored Boomer, although he was getting increasingly frustrated.

"You always act so concerned for us and now that Butch is missing, it's like you don't even care."

That was it, how could Boomer think he didn't care? Brick stopped walking, causing Boomer to crash into him.

"And what do you suppose we do if we find him? Black and Blue barely broke a sweat fighting us. Without more information we can't beat them." Brick hated to admit it, but what Black said that night was true. They could have easily killed them. By going to get Butch, he would be putting them all in danger.

"Why don't we ask some of the guys in the gang for more information about them?" Boomer didn't see how getting some information about the leaders of the gang would be so hard.

"Have you not noticed the scar on your ankle?" Brick asked as he continued walking.

Boomer looked at his ankle, there was a faint white line running right through the black and blue snake tattoo. They didn't scar easily so it was a bit out of place on his skin.

"So what, I must have gotten it while we were fighting."

Brick showed Boomer his ankle. The exact same scar ran across his tattoo.

"We aren't in the gang anymore. I went to Chuck-E-Cheese's (aka the gang's hideout) yesterday while you were looking for Butch. They were about ready to kill me for coming back there. We aren't going to get any information out of them."

Boomer wasn't sure if he should be disappointed or happy about this, after all, he didn't want to be in this gang in the first place. "What about Mojo? Can't he tell us about them?"

Brick nearly fell over in laughter.

"You honestly think they tell him anything important? Besides, I haven't been able to contact him."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" It seemed hopeless to Boomer.

Brick opened the doors; Boomer hadn't realized they had been walking to the school's library.

"We research."

Brick caught the Librarian's eye; she held out a key to him and nodded towards a back door that he had never noticed was there before.

In the room was shelf upon shelf of old reference books and films, but what Brick was interested in were the newspapers piled high on the only desk in the room.

"What is all this?" Boomer asked as he watched Brick sit at the desk and scan through the first newspaper.

"It's all the local papers from the past twenty five years."

"Can't we find this on the internet?"

"Our local paper isn't online yet. Now stop talking and help me find something about them."

Brick started with the oldest papers so Boomer started looking through the most recent.

-Utonium House-

Blossom and Bubbles walked home together after school.

"Boomer didn't go to football practice," Bubbles told Blossom.

"Brick wasn't at basketball practice either," Blossom replied. "Well explanation or not, Buttercup is going to have to explain why she skipped class."

They arrived at their door and went in the house to see Buttercup sitting grumpily on couch. The professor was giving her a lecture.

"What were you doing anyway?" The professor asked Buttercup.

Buttercup looked up to see her sisters walk through the door. "Hey Bubbles, Blossom, join the party."

"Dad, what's going on?" Blossom asked.

"Oh girls, you're home. Buttercup's teacher called, apparently she played hooker on her last two classes."

Bubbles and Blossom tried to keep in their laughter. Buttercup didn't even try to hold it in; she was laughing so hard her stomach hurt.

"I don't think missing class is funny," the professor snapped at Buttercup.

"I think you mean played hooky, dad," Blossom corrected.

Pink rose in the professor's cheeks as he realized what he just said. "Yes, well, however you say it, she's grounded for a month this time."

Buttercup stood up. "A month? Geez, isn't that a bit drastic?"

"I think it's fair," Bubble commented.

Buttercup glared at her sister while Bubbles stuck her tongue out at her. Blossom just rolled her eyes at their immaturity. The professor continued his punishment; he wasn't getting interrupted by crime fighting this time.

"You'll only leave this house to go to school, and I signed you up to be an English tutor."

"I skipped a couple classes, I didn't kill the president. This is just cruel and unusual punishment."

The Professor ignored her, not wanting to let his softer side get the better of him. He turned to Blossom and Bubbles.

"On a brighter note. I found out what was in that medicine Boomer got for you girls."

"What is it?" Blossom asked.

"Chemical X," the professor answered.

"Huh? But, we're already made of chemical X." Bubbles thought chemical X was the problem, not the solution.

"It turns out a small dose of the chemical will postpone the negative effects. I don't know why I didn't discover this sooner."

"Postpone? So that means were still going to, you know…explode." Buttercup wondered.

"As long as you take a monthly dose, you all should be fine, but I fear the effects of this treatment."

"What effects?" Blossom knew the answer couldn't be that simple.

The professor sat down on the couch and looked at the floor. "It seems the chemical's inherently dark nature will slowly turn you all evil." He looked up at them, seeing the fear in the girl's eyes. "Of course, I have no way of knowing how strongly this will affect you all, if at all."

"So we're going to be evil?" Bubbles asked. She couldn't imagine being mean to anyone.

"No Bubbles, all this means is that I have a little more time to find a good stabilizer for chemical X." The professor smiled and pat Bubbles on her shoulder.

-Library-

After a few hours of carefully scanning every article, Boomer found something in a paper dated September 14th, only about a week ago. "Hey look at this." Boomer held up an article with the picture of a laughing guy in handcuffs. Brick took the paper from Boomer and began scanning the article. "It says they confirmed his involvement with Black and Blue."

Brick looked up from the paper. "This means he must have confessed to being in the gang." He folded the article and put the paper in his pocket. "Let's go."

"Where?" Boomer asked, getting up from the table.

"This guy may be the only one willing to talk to us."

-PIA-

Brick and Boomer walked into the aging old building.

"It smells like alcohol and old people in here."

"It's a mental hospital. What did you expect?"

Boomer looked around at the pastel paintings of trees and small waiting room. A number of people, dressed in what looked like hospital gowns roamed the area. One of these people walked up to Boomer and held out what looked like teeth in a jar.

"Want a biscuit son? They're baked fresh." He smiled a toothless grin at Boomer.

Boomer scrunched near Brick. "Um, no thanks."

After the man left Boomer whispered to Brick while holding his arm. "We're surrounded by crazy people."

Brick shrugged Boomer off. "Get a grip Boomer, we won't be here long."

Brick walked up to a man at the desk. "Excuse me, we're here to see Chris Paggo."

The guy looked up at Brick. "Are you family?"

"Yes, we're his cousins."

The guy sighed and pressed a button on his desk. "Two visitors for Chris Paggo."

After a few short minutes three buff security guards came out and escorted Brick and Boomer to room on the opposite side of the building. It seemed the further they walked the tighter security was until they finally reached another waiting area. Only this time it was empty, only a desk and a few chairs were in the room. The guards left the room.

Brick and Boomer sat down and waited. It wasn't long before the guards returned with a handcuffed Chris Paggo.

"You have one half hour," the tallest and buffest guard said before leaving the room with the rest of the guards.

Chris was a pale sickly looking guy, it didn't help that it looked like he hadn't eaten in months. He sat down in the nearest chair and stared at Brick and Boomer.

Brick didn't expect him to look so weak. He didn't even look like he could beat a five year old in a fight. How could this guy be a former member of Black and Blue's gang?

After about a minute of silence Chris spoke up. "I don't have any cousins. Who are you and why are you here?"

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews everyone!