Chapter 110: Bittersweet

The City of Townsville.

Madison Mall.

A mall filled with shoppers ready for the Christmas holiday seasons. The looming threats in the city had not stopped the citizens from the festive mood. Indeed it is because of such trying times that moments of normalcy is need to keep the sanity of the masses. Among the crowd, a particular individual stood out. Clad in a black leather jacket and an uniquely camouflaged pants, the dark haired individual with the green hairband is sitting on the bench with a big bag of lollipops beside the teenager.

It is odd to see the Baron of Berserk in a shopping mall, and it is even odder to see him with candy. Let us observe and find out...

[Madison Mall, Downtown Townsville, 3.30pm]

"Tsk."

Butch is not in a good mood ever since the meeting at the diner, and he took a lollipop out of his bag of lollipops. Butch wondered if the lollipops he bought this time will be enough to quell his temper. Butch had picked up a bad habit of snacking on sweet items whenever he is not in a good mood, and his particular poison of choice are lollipops. His cravings is dependent on how bad his mood is, and this time he had bought a full bag of lollipops.

Butch sat on one of the mall benches with a bag of lollipops that he bought for himself, wondering that perhaps he had bought too much lollipops for himself. Butch looked at the lollipop that he pulled out and figured that a lime-green lollipop will be good enough to start his lollipop binge. Butch pulled the wrapper off the lollipop and was about to place the candy into his mouth when a voice interrupted him.

"That's a lot of lollipops. " The voice pointed out.

Butch turned around to face the source of the voice, ready to punch the living daylights out of the person adding up to his already bad temper. Butch's jade eyes soon met the hazel eyes of a brunette little girl and he was a little surprised that he recognized the little girl. This is the little girl whose mother he helped out the other day out of a particular whim, and the one that allegedly knew Buttercup. The dark-haired teenager then recalled that he did say that they should hang out one day, but at the time he only wanted to use the little girl to further blackmail his brother and-

"Can I have one?" The little girl asked.

Butch struggled to recall the little girl's name, but he will play along until she utters her own name or someone else does.

"Can't see a reason why not. " Butch placed his lollipop in his mouth before digging into his bag of lollipops. Butch pulled out a lollipop that appear to be strawberry-flavored and passed it to the little girl.

"Thank you." The little girl thanked the Rowdyruff Boy.

Butch clicked his tongue while sucking on his lollipop, annoyed that he now has a baggage tagging along with him in the form of a little girl. As the young man and the little girl picked and sucked on their lollipop, Butch went about sorting the next course of action that he will have to make...

Wait a sec...Where's the kid's parents?

Butch immediately turned his attention to the oblivious little brunette happily enjoying her lollipop. Butch immediately started looking around, but no one appear to be distraught that they lost their child. Butch felt a slight pull on his sleeve, and his jade-green eyes looked down to see the little girl innocently looking at him.

"What's wrong?" The little girl asked.

"Where's your mom and dad?" Butch replied with a question.

"Oh, I'm not with mommy or daddy today."The little answered.

Butch raised an eyebrow, nervous that he had placed himself in an untenable awkward situation. Butch watched the little girl with no certain amount of trepidation. Who the hell are the idiots that left her alone to run around? There is also the situation if someone else reported him with the kid. If someone reported him with the little girl, what will he be accused of doing?

A kidnapper?

A paedophile?

A human trafficker?

Butch clicked his tongue once more, and he wondered if he should have bolted off when he saw the little girl. If it were a few months ago, he can do it without breaking a sweat. But as much as he wanted to leave the little girl alone, a voice prevented him from doing just that.

Blossom will kill you for that.

Butch is also caught by surprise over the stern reprimand in his head and is very certain that he had been in the company of the red-haired Powerpuff Girl too much. Butch closed his eyes for a moment and took a very deep breath, annoyed that his new-found conscience nagged him by using Blossom as a deterrent. It is odd to think of those two having a friendship of sorts, but Butch is willing to accept it as much as how Blossom is something of a person that knew about his own insecurities.

"Ur... It is kinda boring to sit around. Let's take a walk, Annabelle." Butch finally remembered the little girl's name, and decided that it is better for him to keep his eye on her. Annabelle nodded cheerfully and Butch really struggle to believe that there is anything that is this naive in the world.

For all he know, she had just escaped from a few incompetent kidnappers or a few incompetent caretakers.

[Madison Mall, Downtown Townsville, 4.00pm]

"Annabelle!"

"Kiddo!"

A sand blonde young man with cobalt blue eyes and a young woman with sable hair and neon green highlights looking around and calling out in distress, a worried expression visible on their faces. Both of them had underestimated how easily a child can disappear from their sight, and both knew that in a city like Townsville, a child is as good a target for any nefarious deed. Not to mention that they will be in a whole lot of trouble if the McCarthy's found out that they lost Annabelle.

"Shit...how am I not able to hear her voice?" Boomer cursed, bewildered that his hypersenses are not picking up anything from the little girl.

"You're supposed to keep an eye on her!" Buttercup yelled at the Rowdyruff Boy, her lime green eyes tearing up from both anger and fear.

"Hey, we're supposed to keep an eye on her!" Boomer snapped back.

"Shit..." Buttercup cursed under her breath.

"Hey! Big Bro! Big Sis!" A voice called out to both of them, and both teenagers turned around to the voice that they recognized as Annabelle's.

"ANNABELLE!" Boomer and Buttercup yelled out at once.

Annabelle waved her hand, catching the attention of the two individuals. Their initial expressions of distressed turned into relief as they saw the little girl is not hurt in any way and is in good health. Indeed, both individuals are relieved that she is holding the hand of a good samaritan that somehow managed to lead her to them. However, the colors on their faces soon started escaping them when they realized that they knew the identity of the samaritan.

"Butch?" Boomer and Buttercup exclaimed at once.

"So...you two idiots are the ones that lost the kid." Butch mocked them in jest.

"Haha, real funny as-Ooff!" Boomer was about to curse, but Buttercup elbowed him in the stomach. It soon dawned on Boomer that Annabelle is supposed to be a secret that no one knew about.

However, Boomer had not the heart to tell Buttercup that Butch knew about the orphanage early on. Indeed, Butch had used the information to blackmail Boomer to help him with his scheme before*. Boomer watched as the two green-eyed teenagers stared at each other, with the male having a particularly smug look on his face while the female is particularly anxious. However the silence was broken by none other than the little brunette child.

"Big Sis, Big Bro Butch...you know each other?"

"Annabelle, you know him?" Buttercup is particularly surprised that Annabelle knew the dark-haired Rowdyruff Boy.

"He helped my mommy from bad guys and he gave me a lollipop. " The little girl suggested with a grin, and the three teenagers looked at each other.

"Big Bro Butch?" Boomer raised his eyebrow.

"You helped someone... That's new." Buttercup also raised her eyebrow, surprised that Butch had it in him for acts of altruism. Buttercup's lime green eyes and Boomer's cobalt blue eyes soon took notice of Butch's bag of lollipops. Butch braced himself for the next response, knowing well that it will be about the lollipops.

"That's a lot of lollipops." Buttercup observed.

"He eats lollipops when he's in a bad-Ouch! " Boomer was cut mid-sentence by a loud slap on his back by the charcoal-haired Rowdyruff Boy.

"Bite me."

"It's okay Butch, Buttercup eats potato chips when she's in a ba-OUCH!" Boomer is elbowed in the solar plexus by Buttercup before he could finish his sentence.

"Shut up!" Buttercups annoyance is accompanied by the bright flashes of red on her cheeks.

"Anyway...take the kid back. I will be-." Butch stopped when he felt a pull from his pants.

"I did something wrong?" A pair of hazel brown eyes looked up at Butch, and he felt surprisingly guilty for some reason. Butch kneeled down and stopped down the best he could to Annabelle's height.

"No...you did nothing wrong." Butch tried his best to assure the little girl.

"Really?" Annabelle asked the green-eyed boy.

"Really." Butch little girl responded by embracing him in her own little arms. Buttercup stared at Butch in silence, while Boomer's jaw dropping in surprise and his hands resting on each side of his cheeks.

"Who are you and what have you done to my brother?" Boomer said mocking distrust and disbelief. Butch rolled his eyes and expressed his annoyance at his brother, half-expecting Buttercup to say something annoying as well. Instead, the Powerpuff Girl raised an eyebrow. Butch then realized something in particular during his moment of mild irritation.

Guess something did change in me after all, Butch thought. The little girl looked at the other two teenagers, and asked a question.

"Can Big Bro Butch join us?"

A fair-skinned woman with fine elegant features sat down in a cafe with a cup of coffee in her hands, her remorseful sky-blue eyes gazing through her semi-rimless sunglasses upon the crowd moving in the shopping complex. The mahogany-haired woman with the cross-shaped scar on her cheek took a sip from her coffee, before she decided that she had stared into the horizon for long enough. The slender woman dressed in a dark blue turtleneck placed her cup of coffee on the table, before stretching her slender arms.

"Tough being the CEO." Fennec uttered under her breath.

Fennec, formerly known as Renée Delacroix, had heard the news that Professor Utonium is now in a critical situation due to the attack from an unknown party. Save for that one instance in Little Moscow, Him had not shown itself and essentially leaving Fennec in charge. However, Fennec's hold on the criminal confederation is not as strong as she would like.

Some of the Lunatics had seen Him's absence as a sign of weakness and seek to take control, while others had wondered if Him had abandoned them on a whim. It was fortunate that Him's disappearance coincided with the arrival of the Tonton Macoute and Red Dragons on the scene In particular, the two new factions had targeted the most vocal and most troublesome factions in the Lunatic organization, giving Fennec the convenient distraction she need. With that, she is allowed to focus precious time on her particular tasks.

One of those tasks is to ensure that cash will flow into the organization.

No matter how much offensive power an organization has, it is nothing if it can't maintain itself. And for something to maintain itself, it needs money. Protection rackets, arms trafficking and drug trafficking are the most crude manner of earning the group money, but Fennec had also used and supplemented the groups' earnings on a markedly more profitable and less detectable means of earning.

Cybercrimes.

Money laundering.

Identity theft.

Forgery.

Mortgage frauds.

Securities frauds.

It is much harder to trace, and it is less likely for law enforcement and anti-terrorist organizations to pinpoint the cashflow. Indeed, many of the money earned are used to purchase areas in Uptown Townsville to be used as fronts for the group without the people managing the facilities even knowing it. Fennec had even managed to use her proxies to get the mayor to absentmindedly invest in some of these businesses, and she will use it as leverage if anything happens.

Fennec looked around to see if any of her informants entered within her line of sight, and she hoped that none of them are tailed. As much as the brunette had planned for almost all contingencies, but people do make mistakes. However, something else caught her sky-blue eyes. A sight she never expected to see in the shopping mall.

A group of four are seen in a distance, walking together without a care in the world. A little girl with a pair of brown pigtails and hazel brown eyes is in between two teenagers, a male with a spiky sand blonde hair and dark blue eyes and a female with sable hair with neon green highlights and lime green eyes that matched her neon highlights. Right behind them is a tall teenager with charcoal hair held together by a dark green hairband and forest green eyes.

The unexpected presence is only slightly taken aback by Fennec's surprise at the chemistry between the sand-blonde boy and sable-haired girl. They mahogany-haired woman wondered how did a Rowdyruff Boy and an Powerpuff Girl such as Boomer and Buttercup can have such a friendly relationship with each other. Fennec observed that the tall Rowdyruff Boy known as Butch adjusted his hairband with a tinge of slight bemusement, and she can't help herself but to share the same expression herself.

Her informants will flee the mall if they even heard that a cop is within vicinity, and the presence of one Powerpuff Girl and two Rowdyruff Boy will have a much more compounded effect. For all she know, Fennec is the only criminal left in this mall. Unfortunately for her, Fennec did not bring anything resembling a piece of paper big enough to hide her face. The mahogany-haired woman decided to improvise decided to tie her braided hair into a bun and and rested her cheek on her palm, covering her distinct cross-shaped scar.

Walk away, Fennec thought as the group drew closer to the cafe. Her wish is politely refused by the fates as the group of four took a see right two tables away from the Lunatic, and Fennec tried her best to keep a stoic expression. A waiter soon came to the table where the group of four are sitting at and passed each one of them a menu to look at before excusing himself.

"Alright kiddo, what do you want to have?" The sand blonde teenager known as Boomer asked the little girl, her face buried in the menu.

"Hm..." The little girl voiced her indecision.

"I'll just take a Coke." The dark-haired male with the headband answered.

"Let's see if there's some snacks that we can share or something..." The teenager girl with the green highlights suggested.

They're gonna be here for a while, Fennec groaned in her mind while keeping an impassive expression.

The group of four chatted for a while as they decide what they want to have, and Fennec watched as her expression changed from a slight bemusement to slight interest. Fennec had not seen the Rowdyruff Boys in a situation in a particularly normal environment and she wondered what will the boys choose. After a few minutes, Butch raised an arm and the waiter came to their table to take their orders. Fennec watched as Butch had decided to get a chocolate mudcake, Boomer went for an apple pie, the little girl went for a strawberry shortcake and the Powerpuff Girl went for a lemon meringue.

Now what will they have for a drink?, Fennec asked herself.

"Americano." Butch informed the waiter.

"Mocha." Buttercup said with her husky voice.

"Hot chocolate." Both Boomer and the little girl answered at the same time.

How cute, Fennec's lips formed into a small smile. Boomer has always been the most childish among the three Rowdyruff Boys, and she is relieved that he still retained that child-like watched as the three teenagers communicated with each other and she smiled even more.

Once upon a time in a previous lifetime, Butch had told Fennec how Buttercup is a worthy enemy and how he had fought countless battles with her. Fennec felt that they are more like vitriolic friends than true opponents, and their interactions are interesting to see. She never expected to see two Butchs, let alone a female one. For Fennec, they are essentially gender-flipped versions of each other.

Boomer and Buttercup on the other hand...she did not expect such an interaction. As she watched Boomer and Buttercup talked to each other and interacted with the little child, she felt as if the three of them are a family.

Boomer appear to be the less serious one in the relationship, but at the same time he appear to be an emotional anchor that allowed the female Powerpuff to be more genuine with herself. Conversely, Buttercup's bluntness and honesty rein in Boomer's more foolhardy and arrogant behaviours, while her nurturing nature and softness allowed Boomer to be more altruistic and kind to others. It is surprising to see the usually immature Boomer to be more responsible and tempered, and something within Fennec's heart warmed up. However, the warm feeling is soon followed up by a plunging depressing emotion that curled her insides.

My boys are having a good life, Fennec said melancholically as she knew the irony of her situation; that her present role in plunging Townsville into a living battlefield is becoming the exact element that will be destroying the live she wanted for the Rowdyruff Boys.

Him had instructed Fennec to plant the seeds to harness the negative emotions for Him's own nefarious purposes. Fennec had an inkling of how the Red Candy is linked to the increasing violence, but yet Fennec never understood how it works. All she understood is that the eldritch machinery used by Him to create the drugs is becoming more potent with every escalation, and somehow the drug and the chaotic situation is drawing out all those that Him seek to neutralize from the shadows into the light.

The bait appears to be working for it made Townsville a point where all of Him's opponents converge. But judging by how everything is playing out, not everything is falling according to Him's plans.

Firstly, the Tonton Macoute is lashing out and causing casualties among the Lunatics and TOCTSeF forces without an end goal in sight.

Secondly, the arrival of the Red Dragons as a front for the Chinese Communist Party had introduced a political aspect into their battle plans.

Thirdly, the entrance of the two demons into the complex situation in Townsville revealed the nefarious great game being played by her demonic master.

These three destabilising forces had literally brought hell to Townsville, and Fennec was instructed to lay the newest bait in Townsville High; The word of 'Phantom's Blood. However, the word left Fennec questioning the significance of the word and the particular location chosen.

The choice of where the bait will be placed, Townsville High, would be an ideal location to create an impact on Townsville if it were not for the fact that six particular superhumans are studying in said high school. The cost of attacking the school is proportionate to the strength of its defenses, and Townsville High is perhaps one of the most heavily defended areas, precisely because of the presence of the six superhumans.

But Him will not be denied, and it is of such significance that Him itself had intervened in the incursion into Little Moscow to stop the battle. Him is adamant that the battle will only be waged in Townsville High.

"You have such a pretty face." A soft voice shattered Fennec's trance as surely as a brick thrown through a sheet of glass. The Lunatic looked down with a heavy sigh, allowing the strands that had bound her to her train of inner monologue to unravel, releasing them to flow back into the endless ocean of nothingness. Fennec looked down to see the little girl that interacted with Boomer and Buttercup to be staring at her with her hazel brown eyes.

"I am sorry!" A young boyish voice came into the picture, clearly apologetic to the interruption caused by the little girl.

"There's no need for that." Fennec said as the sand blonde Rowdyruff Boy registered in her view, forcing her natural accent not to creep into her tone.

"She's a little curious, that's all!" Boomer croaked. Fennec took a deep and slow breath, then nodded.

"A child's curiosity is a beautiful thing." Fennec mused, remembering how once upon a time she had seen Boomer's curiosity had time and time again showed her that the world can be seen in a different lense.

"Boomer, you idiot! You let her off your sights again while you're eating!" A husky female voice said angrily, and Fennec's attention slightly turned to the incoming presence of the dark-haired Powerpuff Girl.

"Hey, you're gorging yourself in that damn lemon meringue, so don't blame me for losing sight of Annabelle!" Boomer raised his voice in disapproval while reprimanding the handsome young woman.

"It's alright, really." Fennec assured them, yet at the same time she wished that the interaction did not happen in the first place.

"You boneheads done with bothering that lady over there?!" A deep tenor stopped the two bickering individuals. Fennec observed that both individuals are now having a hint of remorse in their bodily movement, with Boomer scratching his hair with a crooked smile while Buttercup looked down on the ground.

"Right... Sorry about that." The Powerpuff Girl apologised before gently holding the little girl's arm.

The two teenagers and the little child walked away from Fennec, and Fennec appreciated Butch's blunt and effective action. Fennec decided to reward the charcoal-haired Rowdyruff Boy by taking her leave, and leaving them alone in peace.

It is the least she can do before engulfing her boys into the storm she conjured up.

Butch's eyes are now on the woman that was interrupted by the trio, and he can sympathise with her peace and quiet being robbed. However, there is something very peculiar about the woman, and Butch is unable to put his mind into it. The features of the fair lady and her slender build bugged him so, and Butch felt that something is amiss. The woman took out a napkin from her pocket and covered her mouth, with hand holding the napkin partially covering part of her cheek. The woman turned away as she got up taking her coat with her other free arm. During a brief moment when the lady turned away, Butch's eyes caught something peculiar.

Hold on a sec-is that? , Butch wondered, but immediately shook off the though in an instant.

For a second, he thought that he saw a scar on the woman's cheek. But if Butch thought that the woman is who he think she is, Boomer would have recognized her. Boomer's senses would have picked up on any familiar scent or features and his memory would immediately alert him. Alas, Boomer did not react.

Nah, my mind is being a dumbass, Butch thought again. Butch reminded himself that he need to learn to let go of his regrets, and move on.

"Alright... Let's get back to it!" Butch is graced by his brother's presence once more, and followed shortly by the Powerpuff Girl taking a seat with Annabelle.

"Yeah...let's get back to it."Butch agreed, wondering why he felt a bittersweet feeling within himself..

*Footnote:This incident happened in the chapter 35 'The Dark Side Of The Moon'.