Sorry for the wait guys (Again T.T) I still have a bad habbit or writing parts of the story that haven't happened yet, and I couldn't decide how I wanted this one to end for a while. And I've also been going back to old chapters more tryign to make the characters act more like themselves sense I didn't focus on that very much when I first started. Oh and speaking of when I first started, March 7th was "Can I Be You?"s 1 year anniversary ^^ I can't believe I've actually been working on the same story for so long. So anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter.

"I still say it's Boomer's fault," Buttercup muttered as they finally exited the shop after the ever so fun and exciting task of restacking the tower of soup cans. The remaining three followed behind her.

"You were the last one to move!" he protested just as the door slid shut behind them.

"I was not, you totally flinched and knocked into one of the legs."

"No I didn't!"

Brick just rolled his eyes as they continued to argue, both of them having chosen to stop walking just to yell at one another. There was something that had been bugging him before, when they were hiding behind the display, something he could no longer place. What was it…

"Well I know it wasn't me!" Buttercup shouted.

Brick stepped around the two as their argument continued, Boomer having just made one of his less impressive comebacks, and headed over to where Blossom was sitting on the bike rack. He leaned against the wall next to her, watching as Boomer and Buttercup bickered.

He found himself glancing at Blossom every so often, though her position never changed; one knee up, her cheek resting in her palm, staring with a blank expressing towards the other two. She asked him something after a moment, "How are you feeling?"

"Huh?" Brick muttered, surprised and confused, "Uh, yeah. I'm fine."

She glanced at him skeptically for a minute, analyzing his face, before facing forward again. Still so quiet…

Suddenly recalling the question he had been meaning to ask her earlier, he attempted to regain her attention, "So what was that about before? About a Beat Alls family reunion?"

She glanced up at him as he spoke, but stared off into space as she answered. "The Beat Alls were a group of 4 of our worse enemies. They didn't used to work together, but they united under the common want to get rid of us. You've met two of them before: Mojo and Princess?"

"And the other two?" he pressed.

"The third was Fuzzy, Fuzzy Lumpkinz? You've never met him, but you'd know him if you saw him."

"Please don't tell me that," he sighed with a smile, "The last time someone told me that I ended up beating them to a pulp."

Somehow that had earned him a smirk, "Well, he's a big pink furry, green-nosed, selfish, property-obsessed, banjo-playing hillbilly with antennas." She paused and watched as Brick nodded slowly, understanding why he wouldn't be able to fully picture this… "thing" without seeing it for himself.

She sighed, "And then there's Him."

Brick nodded; at least he'd seen a picture of Him before, so another description wouldn't be necessary.

There were more important things on his mind. "Are the Beat Alls still together?" he asked.

She shook her head, "No, we managed to break them up a few years ago. But before that they were unstoppable."

"Are they close or anything? Do they keep in touch?"

"Kinda, it depends who you're talking about. Mojo and Princess have teamed up before. And I heard Mojo, Him, and Fuzzy still have their three-way phone calls every so often to talk about their newest plans. I guess Mojo's still pretty close with all of them…" It wasn't until he turned away that she continued, seeming skeptical, "Why do you ask?"

Strangely, he felt the need to futz with something in his hands and chose to readjust him cap. "Well, we obviously don't want Mojo to see you guys helping us out, so could it become a problem that Princess was there that one time we came with to help stop the bank robbery?"

Brick watched as Blossom eyes widened throughout his explanation. She covered her mouth with her hand, resting her head back into her palm. She shook her head a few times, "I really shouldn't have brought you guys with…"

"Look, would ya just get over it?" he blurted out. "Is it going to be a problem or not?"

"It could be," Blossom answered finally, hopping off the bike rack. "I defiantly could be. Princess is worse than a big mouth. She could let it slip at anytime. For all we know, Mojo might've found out already. Oh, this is bad…" she started pacing around, still holding her chin. Brick didn't bother saying anything, he wasn't sure what he could say. Then she stopped after a moment, eyes widening, and she glanced up at him.

"What?"

She didn't answer, but she continued to stare and her eyebrows would scrunch together in a look of obvious worry. It was then that he noticed a red light glint off her eyes just before she looked away.

He groaned, "Blossom, I told you I'm fine. Now what're you thinking?"

She sighed, dropping her hand and looking away again. "W-Would you… no," she shook her head, "I can't ask you to do this."

"Try me," he pressed.

She folded her arms across her chest, still refusing to look at him. She seemed oddly nervous, shifting her weight from one foot to another, "Well… last night we went to Mojo's lab and broke you guys out. Mojo must have noticed that by now, and he might get suspicious… Of course this is assuming Princess hasn't mentioned anything to him yet, but…"

Brick's heart sank. He was no longer listening to Blossom's reasoning; he knew what direction she was heading in.

He gulped, "Y-You want us to go back to Mojo." As he summarized her idea he could practically feel the blood drain from his face. Mojo? Go back to the psychotic monkey that had electrocuted them, stuffed them in cells, and tried – and failed – to steroid-zap them? He hadn't even regained all of his powers from that last one.

"I told you I couldn't ask you," she muttered, shaking her head. "But I don't know what else to do. Mojo's bound to think something's up if you don't come back."

"B-Big deal, we didn't come back yesterday," Brick pointed out, eager to find some way to reason around Blossom's observation; Mojo would suspect something.

"That's true," Blossom allowed, "But he let you leave that time and he knew you would be gone. This time we broke you out, so not only would you need to come up with an excuse for leaving, but you'll also need to explain how you got out without our help."

Brick bit his lip and turned back to Boomer and Buttercup, who were now in the process of yelling 'oh yeah?'s and 'yeah's at each other. There had to be another option. Anything…

"I'm sorry Brick, but I think you have to," Blossom concluded.

Oh no. No. No. No.

"No way, me and my brother's are not going back there!" he snapped. Immediately after it was out he regretted it. He couldn't find it in himself to yell at Blossom before when she was like this; he couldn't even talk to her. There was just something about yelling at someone who barely says a word to you anymore that didn't seem right to him. And yelling at someone was not the right way to make them less afraid of you...

However, she surprised him by arguing back. "You have to!" she insisted, a defiant glare forming on her face. "If you don't it could ruin everything. I don't even know what you're going to tell Mojo when you get there, but he's going to want an explanation for how you got out!"

She was right; he knew she was, but he wasn't about to change his answer, "That's a great reason why we shouldn't go back! I don't know what to tell him!"

"Then figure it out!"

"Dammit…" He wasn't sure why it was – maybe because they were arguing and it got his blood pumping, maybe it was because he was angry – but for whatever reason this conversation was making him burn. He hadn't notice the pain at all before, but now it was at the point where it was much worse than what a usual conversation would trigger. He hadn't let himself get this so worked up since… well, since after his first simulator test with Blossom.

Brick turned away, biting his lip and keeping his eyes low.

"Well?"

Brick's eyes widened and he glanced back to see Blossom glaring at him with her arms folded together just as defiantly as ever, causing his eyebrows to furrow. She had been so timid a minute ago when his eyes were just barely glowing, and now she was acting as though she didn't notice at all. Why couldn't she care about this at the right times?

"We never asked for your help," he muttered, grinding his teeth.

"Yes, you did," she corrected him.

"Then let me specify," he said curtly. "We never asked you to break us out of Mojo's lab. You could've just left us there. Then maybe we wouldn't be having this problem!"

"You know you didn't want to be there!" she shouted back. "You don't even want to go back! And once he figures out you guys are missing, who do you think he's going to turn to! It's not like they're any other superheroes in this town!"

This was bad. He really was going crazy. Blossom's words were still screaming in his head long after she'd finished speaking. He could feel his fingers begin to flex, to form an energy beam, but he was already balling his hands into fists at that point. And his anger was just fanning the flames.

"So what if he does!" his eyes blazed. "So what if he finds out where we've been! What's the worst he can do to us! Make us go crazy? Make us kill you? What kind of threat is that to me?"

He needed to stop this; he was already mad and obviously Him's DNA was not only burning him alive, but also messing up his ability to think straight. Thinking over what he'd just barked out, he came to the conclusion that he was practically pmsing.

He groaned, returning his attention to Blossom because for one reason or another he felt he had one comment to make.

"My life would be a whole lot easier to live if you weren't here."

He knew he was pushing it; he had no idea how she would respond to that.

But this latest remark didn't seem to faze her at all. She stood her ground as calmly as ever, and in an even voice made one last remark that abruptly ended the conversation.

"If I weren't around, Mojo wouldn't have given you a life to live."

And with that Brick turned and stomped off back towards Boomer and Buttercup, praying that their diss fest was over and they could finally leave. But it was then that Brick noticed a small group hanging out by the far corner of the store. They seemed like your typical gang, one leaning up against the wall, another spraying it with graffiti. One of them looked like they had a can of soda. Whoever they were, they gave off a prominent aura of dropouts, coming in various shapes and sizes, from as big as a blimp to as small as a mouse. The five of them were all very different, but they all shared one common trait: they all had green skin.

The one that had been leaning against the wall pushed up into a standing position, flicked a toothpick from his mouth, and motioned for the other's to join him. Brick guessed he was in charge.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as they approached Buttercup and Boomer. Buttercup didn't seem to notice them at first, her back to them, while Boomer seemed somewhat confused. Buttercup detected the change in his mood and stopped arguing as the leader of the gang rested a hand on her shoulder.

What's with that? Brick wondered, continuing to watch. It was then that the largest of the group stepped around Buttercup and came face to face with Boomer. Well, more like stomach to face, that is until he lifted Boomer up to his face by his shirt collar, dangling him an extra two or three feet of the ground.

"Hey!" Brick shouted, rushing over to his brother as he squirmed, attempting to break free from the colossal creature's grip. Boomer must not have all of his powers back yet…

"What do you think you're doing! Put him down!" Brick yelled up to the… would it be wrong to call him a kid?

Whatever he was, he turned and stared down a Brick, though Brick wasn't really sure he could see much of anything through those bangs.

"Oh, sorry," he mumbled as he began to lowered Boomer.

"Hold it Billy."

The creature, Billy, stopped just as Boomer's feet almost touched the ground and raised him up again. Brick frowned and turned to the one who had ordered Billy otherwise.

The leader of the group, the one who had been standing next to Buttercup, stepped around Billy and over to him. "And who might yous' be, runt?" Brick hadn't made it a point to notice before, but this person was a good 6 inches taller than him.

"You tell 'Billy' to put my brother down!" He growled, pointing up at the beast of a boy.

The leader smirked, his black sunglasses seeming to gleam brighter, "Or what?"

"You'll have to answer to me."

Upon hearing his respond, the leader started laughing at him, "Hah! A little shrimp like you? What, yous' gonna step on my foot?"

"Step on your foot…" Brick muttered back. That was all it took. He was already energized enough from yelling at Blossom; he had more than enough power to blow this guy away. He flexed his fingers and once again, a sphere of red energy appeared in his palm.

This seemed to get the leader's attention; Brick could see the fear even from behind the black lenses of his glasses.

"Step on your foot?" he taunted back, a wicked grin appearing on his face. "I'll burn your whole leg off!"

The leader started backing away, palms out in surrender, "Heh heh, n-now now Shrimpy. Th-there's no need to be hasty or anything."

At that moment, Buttercup finally chose to respond and flew between the two, "Just who do you think you're messing with Brick?"

"Me!" he yelled, completely dumbfounded by her actions. "What are you doing? You think this is okay!" he gestured up to Boomer, who was still attempting to wiggle free from Billy's fist.

"These friends of yours Buttercup?" the leader asked, peering over her shoulder.

Brick and Buttercup both responded at the same time, "Hardly!"

This seemed to tick Buttercup off just that much more, causing her to glare back at Brick one last time before turning to the leader behind her again, "It's nothing Ace, they're just some nut jobs we had a run in with a few days ago. Hopefully if everything works out right they'll be gone in a day or two."

"So your names Ace then," Brick grumbled, catching his name. "So Ace, would you mind telling Billy over here to put down my brother already!"

"Yeah, yeah," the green leader huffed, "Hey Big Billy, yous' can drop off blonde."

Billy smiled. "Okay!" And with that Boomer was dropped ceremoniously onto the pavement. He groaned, rubbing his backside a few times.

"Alright," Brick said, striding away, "Let's get out of here!"

"Wait a second."

Brick stopped in his tracks and glared back toward the group of green-skinned gangsters to see that as well as Buttercup, Blossom was also talking with their leader. Great he moaned to himself, just great!

He considered leaving and heading home on his own, trying to remember the way, when something Blossom said grabbed his attention.

"Ace, could you deliver a message to Mojo for me?"

Brick turned back to them just in time to see that grunt smile, "Sure, anythings for a friend of Buttercup's"

Before as said anything else she turned to Brick and, once seeing that he was still waiting for them, glowered before giving Ace her message.

"Tell Mojo, from the Rowdyruff Boys," she paused, waving a hand at both Brick and Boomer, "Which would be these two plus one more that chose to remain home today, that they have gone out to spy on us and learn whatever they can about us, the Powerpuff Girls, so they don't lose against us ever again. And they will be gone indefinably."

Brick was so astonished by this his mouth opened slightly without him realizing. After all that, Blossom had come up with a way to avoid him and his brothers returning to Mojo.

However, this only seemed to confuse Ace further, "So wait a second, yous' help'en these guys out and they's spying on yous'?"

Buttercup rolled her eyes, "No Ace. It's fine. We've got them taken care of. Just tell Mojo that the Rowdyruff Boys say 'hi' and they're on an extended Powerpuff hunting trip." She smiled to Blossom, "Nice going Red, I forgot about what Mojo might think."

Blossom merely nodded to her sister, showing no emotion, before heading over to join Brick. He wanted to thank her somehow, but he just wasn't finding the right words.

"You sure you still don't want me around?" she asked rhetorically as she walked past him, heading in the general direction of her house. He sighed; he really messed up this time.

"What happened to you two?" Boomer asked as he approached with Buttercup behind him.

"Forget it," Blossom answered instantly without turning to face them. "Let's just go"

"Wow… congrats Brick," Buttercup muttered under her breath. "I don't know what you did, but you got Blossom talking again."

Brick didn't answer as he stepped around Buttercup and Boomer to watch as Blossom took to the skies.

"Um… Brick?" Boomer mumbled after no response.

Brick lifted off the ground without a word, flying slowly after Blossom, making sure to follow closely enough to not get lost but also not to catch up with her.

I got Blossom talking again, he thought to himself bitterly. Whoop-de-do for me.

Thanks for reading! Please review and vote for my poll if you'd like to read more! ^^