Captive

by BlueScarlet465

All my life, my world revolved around what they said. That I was too unstable; a monster. That I was a villain and couldn't have you. So I listened like a good little bad boy, but that only increased my hunger for you. So how did I remedy this? Simple, I just got rid of what was stopping me... "they" ... RATED M for Blood, Torture, Cursing, and maybe some limes (NOT A TRAGEDY)

19. Ch 19: Down The Rabbit Hole We Go

A/N: THE CHANCES OF ME BEING THE CREATOR OF THE POWERPUFF GIRLS ARE THE SAME CHANCES OF MOJO NOT SPEAKING IN RUN-ON SENTENCES

P.S. Good Evening Dearies. Happy Chapter Anniversary (where we celebrate the full year we've been waiting for an update)

Blue: You missed the anniversary by a week and a half

Scarlet: I am aware of that! No one asked you!

Anyway, it looks like a lot has happened since the last time we saw our superhuman crew. Bubbles had to fight against a manifestation of Boomer's disease, Dexter found out some news that was hard to swallow, Brick has been given an offer he can't refuse, and time has finally synced back into place. So will the RowdyRuff Boys finally have a chance to find Boomer? Will Boomer or the Professor find a cure to the antiserum? And will Dexter do anything stupid with this new found information? All questions will be told…in chapter 20, this is just a filler

Blue: You are just terrible

[WARNING: THIS CONTAINS ABUSE AND A LITTLE TALK OF VIOLENCE]

---

Captive

Chapter 19:

Down The Rabbit Hole We Go

[Blossom POV: Dec 26, 11:45am (Same Day)]

After being left on a shelf to wait for who-knows-how-long, my nerves only grew with every sound that resonated upstairs. Every bang, every thud, every muffled voice was a knife clawing at my sanity. And yet when the room was filled with silence, it let in room for thoughts roam in. Thoughts that spoke of ominous things, terrible possibilities, and horrible outcomes. This suspense was literally killing me. How long was this going to-

[CRASH]

"Ahhh!" Out of nowhere, I was scared out of my wits by something hitting the glass of the window inside the study. I peered in that direction to see what it was, and it was Boomer of all people "Way to scare somebody to death"

"Technically, you're already died" Boomer said while he strained to get up from the floor

"Where's Bubbles?" I inquired

"She's upstairs" Boomer made his way to the desk I was placed over and plopped down onto the chair really hard "Fighting a demon could be exhausting (which I'm sure you could relate to). So naturally, she is resting"

"That seems too good to be true" Sure I was praying that she would be fine with all the horrific noises I heard a few moments ago. But it was because of the commotion I heard that I wanted proof

"So does this" Boomer lifted his shirt and briefly showed me his chest. And to my surprise, his black markings were gone "But I'm not questioning it. However, if you still don't believe me, it doesn't concern me in the slightest. It doesn't matter to me if you don't sleep at night. As for me-" Boomer grabbed a random book and dramatically slammed it on the table "-I have more important things to do than to entertain your doubt" I was going to lecture him on how he had me worried sick for my sister's safety and how that my lack of trust for him only intensified because of the fact that he wants to be vague. However, the fact that he was still making preparations for other things concerned me so I wind up asking…

"Like what?"

"[Groan] It seems like everyone has forgotten what day it is. [Sigh] Long story short, time has completely overlapped and we are now back in the present day. So what do you think that means?" It took me a second to think about what he meant until I remembered about the asylum and the ransom

"Oh"

"Yes, oh. And since I can't afford to do another year long time-jump at the moment (for obvious reasons), I have to focus on the next phase of my plan before the storm comes"

"Plan? What plan? Last time I checked, your 'plan' was ruined" Boomer was literally falling apart at the seams as this ravenous monster inside of him was ready to consume everyone here. He actually had to knock himself out because things were getting out of control. And now he is saying that things were still going according to plan? Bull feces

"Oh dear cat, you should know my way of thinking by now. You honestly believe I only had one plan? A true mastermind always has a full alphabet of plans and numerous escapes, plenty of routes and many methods to have things bend their way"

I couldn't help but laugh (inwardly) at this guy. Boomer was seriously trying to play it off like he didn't just- '[Sigh] I'll let him go" I thought to myself "And see how far he digs himself in a hole'

"It didn't look that way an hour ago" I said out loud

"Hn, all because things appear to be out of my hands doesn't mean it is. Even a dog could think that its running away, until its reminded it can't by one tug of a leash"

"Sure" I said unconvinced "Well if everything is so under control, how far does your plan go? Did you think of how all of this is going to affect Bubbles when she figures out that you're going to 'take out' more people for the sake of you two being together? Did you think that if you do get away with this, and you're on the run, will she truly grow accustom to it? Did you even think of a better way of finding a cure? Or are you more focused on killing your brothers and nothing else. Because at this rate, even if you rid yourself of Butch and Brick, even if we find out what's causing this…change in you, how are we going to make this cure? We've already tried magic and failed, so what are you going to do now?"

What Boomer's problem was is that he wasn't looking at the big picture. He is so consumed with being with my sister that he's not thinking of the consequences until it rears its ugly head. Sure he was able to trick us in the asylum, but now he's falling short

…

"Aw, I never knew that you were so worried about me"

"What?" I was taken aback because I didn't think he would say something so outlandish "I am not"

"Admit it, I'm growing on you"

"I'm more concerned about my sister and you know it. And plus, I just want my body back so…"

"Wow, not surprising that Perfect Blossom can't handle a harmless tease" Boomer said still acting all smug while raising himself from his chair "Anyway, don't worry your pretty little head (or soul or whatever). It may not look like it, but I'm way ahead of you" After Boomer said that, a portal appeared in the broken down study

"If that's so, where are you running off to now, Mr. Twenty-Six Plans?"

"A little thing I like to call 'Plan D'" Was all he said until he walked through the portal, leaving me alone in silence again

'It's a shame that he thinks that he could pull the wool over my eyes. He may make it appear that he is fine, but he is obviously riding on luck. I saw the fear in his eyes when Bubbles came too close to him before he lost control. There is no way that he could have faked that. And even if he has a billion backup plans, what can he possible cook up in less than a couple or so hours?'

As I was deep in thought, I happened to glance at the book Boomer was browsing through before he left. It was a yearbook from our freshman year in high school? I examined the page that the book was left on. It was the section where it showed pictures of the clubs people attended. There was the marching band (I was so nervous back then), the cheerleaders (Bubbles first human pyramid), the chess team (how did they allow Mandark to influence them to also playing dungeons and dragons anyway), the Honor Society (Dexter made a lot of people jealous there, except me of course), and the Creative Writing team (It's a shame that Dee Dee tried so hard to hide her intelligence. She could have easily joined 'smarter' clubs that would have been more beneficial to her but she didn't because of…reasons) [1]…

After skimming the page over, I was drawing a blank. It was nice to reminisce and all, but why a yearbook of all things? How did he even get it? The RowdyRuff Boyz weren't even in our school during that time

'Boomer, what are you planning?'

[Brick POV: Dec 26th, 2:00pm]

"Ok, let's start for the beginning. How was your upbringing when you were first created?"

When I was told I was going to be experimented on, laying on a couch in the living room with this crackpot playing therapist wasn't what I had in mind. Even when he was 'playing doctor' by giving me a physical, it wasn't as awkward and annoying as this

"Brick?" The Professor said again trying to get my attention, but I interjected him by saying

"Before I even say a word, tell me why this pertains to me getting cured. Last time I've checked, this is a physical disease, not a mental issue" That's when my eyes furrowed with suspicion "Unless, you're trying to stall and waste my time"

"Oh heavens no. In fact, I need this information to better fill my notes. Like I said before, Mojo sent a lot of files and data about you, but its from a biological standpoint. And its all one-sided. If I'm going to better understand this virus and how it affects you, I need to know your perspective, not just his"

"Then why don't you just ask about the virus straight up, instead of dancing around useless territory?"

"Trust me, it will all make sense in the end" I laughed at his attempts to win me over. I wasn't one of his friends or associates. We were barely even allies at this point; only temporary partners. Hell, it's my life's purpose to kill one of his daughters and he thinks he's earned any level of trust from me?

"Ha, try again. You ain't convincing me with that bullshit answer"

"Okay, how about this. Eradicating the virus isn't going to be enough because it manipulates you based on what you feel. You should know a little thing or two about that… So if I'm going to fully cure you, I need to better understand your triggers. Is that a better explanation?"

'This thing is emotions-based?' I thought to myself 'Well that's annoying…And if that's the case, I guess he's proved his point (its not a great point, but its a point)' So with light deliberation, I decided to play along, but just a little. Don't need him knowing too much

"…Proceed"

"Okay" The Professor said readying his pen on his notepad "How was your upbringing with Mojo and HIM? How was it like to have them as parents? Did they treat you well?" Just hearing that set me off. I already stated how I feel about that primate, but he still chooses to…it's either he is forgetful or really dumb

"Well, first off, parent. Singular, not plural" I then took the chance to sit up and look directly into his eyes. And with all seriousness in my voice I said "And second, what did I tell you about associating me with that fleabag? Do I have to remind you again?"

"Sorry, my mistake" He said sounding calm, but he's probably shaking in his boots like a baby

"One more and I'll snap your neck in half" I then made myself comfortable on the sofa again and said "Anyway, HIM...I'm safe to assume that he favored me out of my brothers" Which he should, considering that Boomer is too incompetent and Butch is too laidback and has the attention of a goldfish "He did train me the most"

However, that also meant that he paid attention to me the most which at times could be a pain in the ass. I was always seen as Father's heir, thus a lot was expected of me. Which meant I had to be the best at everything, and make no mistakes

"Train?"

'Is he seriously asking this-'

"Hn, this explains why your daughters are so weak now" I said under my breath while pinching the bridge of my nose "Yes, train. Why do you think we were made?"

"Ok touché. Well could you shed some light on a few of your practices; just so I could get a better picture"

"Trying to steal some pointer, huh? Whatever. It's not like you could replicate it anyways"

"I wasn't-"

"It mostly consisted of muscle building, endurance, and magical training. For example, there would be days when you have to lift monstrous weights made of magnets on a metal floor and later you would have to read and practice spells, hexes, and curses. But then there are other days when you are randomly told 'Hey kids, we're going to drop you off on Jupiter for a week…" I heard my voice starting to sound a bit somber so I corrected myself and added "…for survival training'. Or you would wake up in an underwater cave alone and its up to you to swim miles and miles back to the surface. Then there was the shocking, being burnt with pokers, being exposed to various poisons, or going days without food or water…just to heighten our endurance to pain. Should I tell you more?"

"Hm" The Professor said trying not to sound uncomfortable, but failing "Sounds like your schedule was pretty busy. Now, were these 'practices' something that you looked forward to or did they motivate you to get stronger?" As much as I wanted to play it off as an ego boost that we went through rigorous training just best his kids, images of every time we did something displeasing, every moment Father just felt like issuing things upon us only filled my mouth with venom

'It was to make us stronger' I chanted in my mind 'It was to make us stronger. Remember that'

"They were necessary" I answered

"To defeat my daughters, I'm sure, but was that all you saw it as? Or was it for other means?" I could feel anger slowly rise in me the more he kept nitpicking at the same question

"If you're going to say that it was some sort of abuse or punishment, then you're forgetting that we're supposed to be evil. We're not meant to be coddled as if we're pathetic wimps like your daughters have been. So everything we were subjected to are circumstances considered as normal and is to be expected"

"…I was alluding to the experiments, but ok" I felt my body flush with embarrassment, as the Professor continued to write on his notepad. But I quickly composed myself as said

"Oh, yes, the experiments. I knew that. Well, Mojo would 'experiment' on us constantly; especially when we were teens. It was almost like we were the animals in cages, it was so irritating. But we had to because HIM instructed us to"

"Wow, that sounds rough. With all of your training and lab sessions, I hope that you had some time to yourself at least"

"Unless it involved our main goal, no. However, don't pity me on that. When you are as smart as me, you tend to find any loopholes to a problem" I could even make constructing a sandwich pertain to killing Blossom if I wanted to

"That would explain why you boys took up football and marching band. Alright. Next question: when was the first time you found out about the virus?"

'Oh now he wants to get to important stuff?' I thought feeling more done with this whole session with every passing second

"If I had to guess, a few weeks before we were enlisted to Townsville High. We were told by Father that once we put his plan into action, we would feel a 'mood change' but as long as we didn't succumb to it, it would pass once it was over"

To be honest, I thought he was crazy for even thinking that I would ever develop feelings for that pink goody-two-shoes. But now, I could see the reasons for the warning. Things have gotten so out of control…

"So you're telling me that he fully told you how the virus functions, it's triggers, and the ramifications?"

"Well, he tends to leave us in the dark on the details, but we did know that 'a kiss was the key to it all'" I said wave my hands mystically, but at the same time halfheartedly

"Hm, I see" The Professor then put his pad down and leaned a bit forward "Well, would you like for me to explain the virus to you?" I gestured with my hand to continue

~)()()()()()()()()(~

"Okay, that was a lot to take in" I can't believe that Father would hide something like that from us. We literally have a parasite inside of us and now we are at risk of it killing us? The way Father described it, it was supposed to be like a power-up, not something that could potentially be the end of us "So what you're saying is at this point, it's either consume or be consumed?"

"Well, I am hoping that we could find a third option once this session is over. I know that this feud between you and my daughters has been going on forever, but if this war has to continue, I would rather it be under your own merits. Not because something or someone is influencing you-"

'Exactly my thoughts'

"-Which brings me to my next question: I know it has been drilled by HIM to despise my daughters, but now that Mojo and HIM are gone from the picture, do you still hover that hatred?"

"Yes" I said plainly

"Would you care to expound as to why? And how you feel about Blossom in particular?"

"How do I feel? Where do I begin? Oh yes, I hate her with every fiber of my being. The way that she thinks that she is better than everybody else, smarter, 'wiser'. Even when she talks its the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. Her very existence is an insult and is a stain that needs to be removed. Even her smell is repulsive"

"Her smell? Oh, Mojo did say that you feed on negative emotions. So is it like food where emotions must have a scent where it sends messages to the brain telling you whether its safe to consume or to stay away from it? This explains a lot. So her positive disposition must translate to being off-putting in your brain, interesting" The Professor said while he enthusiastically wrote on his notepad "So smell, intelligence, outlook, anything else you dislike about her?" I found myself getting irritated again

"I don't think I could have spelled it out any clearer when I said that her very existence bothers me. Do I have to dumb it down a bit? Ev-ver-ry-thing do-es, o-kay-ee. She's ugly, a displeasure to be around, even her eyes lie to me"

"Her eyes? What do they say?"

All I could think about was the very first time that we met, how those eyes showed affection and desire. It was only until after the damage was done that I saw the rug pull from under me, and my life was over. It was that moment when I was resurrected that I told myself to look in her eyes and remember that they always lie

"It doesn't matter what they say when you could never trust them" I told him

"Ok, getting back to your hatred. You listed a lot of reasons to your opinion of Blossom, some more than others, but after listening to everything you said, is this really enough to kill her? I know you are bound to have other people lie to you, I'm sure, but what makes Blossom different from, lets say, a stranger on the street or even a family member?"

"You're talking to someone that was designed to destroy, so asking why is pointless. As for 'Why Blossom', she was fashioned to be my target. Sure the plan is to eliminate all of them, but in the end, the others are my brothers' responsibility. And just like Bubbles and Buttercup aren't any of my business, it is also understood that Blossom is mine to deal with and that is not a line to be crossed"

"Alright, it is understood that Blossom was assigned to you and that you were basically bred to terminate her, but all I'm hearing is 'This is HIM's plan and this is what he wants'. Sure you're giving me reasons why you should hate her, but once you get to the peak of your anger, it all plummets back down to 'the plan'… Look, I know I keep asking the same questions, but I really want you to think about this. Is this truly what you want, Brick? HIM is no longer pulling the strings so don't be afraid to give me an honest answer. I won't judge you even if the answer is something I wouldn't like. I just want to better understand this hatred of yours because you have been holding on to this for so long- I bet you haven't even thought of what you were going to do afterwards, have you?"

"You want a truthful answer. Okay" I felt a dark aura surround me as I lifted my head and stared at the wall "I hate your daughter so much that I personally want to ring her neck while I put her through tortures most unimaginable. I want to hear her flesh burn, I want to hear her bones break until there is nothing but the shallow screams of distress" At this point I turned my head so I was looking at him in his face "In short, I want Blossom's blood on my hands. So much that I want them to be stained with it's black pigment"

"And you truly mean that?"

"Absolutely"

Personally, I thought that he would be shitting his pants by now. After all, a normal person would be at least sweating bullets when my anger rises. But instead the Professor sounded disappointed as well as unfazed by the fact that he is literally talking to a person that wants to murder his children. I would at least think that he would show a little anger, bitterness, something form of resentment, but no. He is treating this as if I'm not-

'[Groan] This dude is weird' I thought, shrugging off the notion that he could possibly (dare I even think) care

"[Sigh] Okay. If that's the case, I'm glad we had this talk. It shed some light on a lot of things and I appreciate that. Now that this portion of the testing is over and done with, it is time for our next exercise" The Professor then got up and motioned me out of the living room "Follow me"

"[Groan] There's more? How many things do you have to test? Do you want my arm next? How about my eyeballs?" I said while I accompanied him to his lab

"No, that won't be necessary. But if it makes you feel any better, we'll be taking a break after this one"

"We better"

~)()()()()()()()()(~

After we took a bunch of twists and turns, we ended up by a door with a glass window pane next to it. Through it, you could see that behind the door was a huge white room with grid marks all over it

"Here, you'll need this" The Professor said as he gave me a weird helmet with goggles on it

"What's this?" I asked skeptically as I held the device

"Well this-" he said while pointing to the room "-is my hologram room [2]. My girls used to use this area a lot until they got in high school and had gotten stronger (then they kept breaking it faster than I could fix it). But when they moved out, I had time to adjust a few things and now it can almost have the equivalent strength of a bomb shelter, minus the glass"

"I didn't ask for its life story. I asked what does it do"

"It just projects realistic images and simulates realistic scenarios"

"So basically VR" I bluntly told him while I put on the helmet

"More or less but you could actually feel what you experience"

The Professor then strapped on me some kind of backpack. And on it were a bunch of wires that he stuck onto my arms, legs, temples, chest, stomach, shoulders, back, and hands

"Ok, I think that's all of it. You are ready to enter The Hologram Room" He said trying to sound dramatic which caused me to let out another groan and roll my eyes "Now don't worry. I'll be controlling everything from out here. And I'll be able to see if anything goes wrong"

"What do you mean if anything goes wrong?" I began to protect, but by the time I turned around, the door had already been shut "Whatever" It's not like he could do anything that can harm me anyway

"Hey Brick, can you hear me okay?" I heard the Professor's voice over an intercom located on the ceiling

"Yeah, yeah"

"Good, now before we start, I must tell you that you might feel a little dizzy to the sudden change. Also, if things get too much, the abort word is Pineapples"

"Alright, alright. Let's, get on with this"

"Okay" In an instant, all of the grid marks on the walls vanished and it looked like I was in a cloudy white void "Now to explain how this exercise works. Have you ever heard of an ink-blot test?"

"Yes"

"Good. So when I show you a scenario, I want you to respond to it truthfully"

"What does that even mean?"

"You'll see"

After the Professor said that, a red puff of smoke circled in front of me to reveal none other than Father. I was taken aback at first because I was under the impression that he was dead, but then I noticed the bits of matter and the small particles his body was made of (pixels). It was part of the test. This wasn't real…

"Brick, you made it faster than I thought" Father said while touching my shoulder

…But it sure felt like it was

"I see that you are improving on your magic skills. I expect nothing less from my favorite son" He sang into my ear

'For years, I had to put up with his 'moods' and yet you would think I would get use to being in his presence' I thought as he sat down on a red puff cloud and stroked my hair 'Just remember, everything is fine if his voice is high'

"Oh look. Seems like your brothers finally made it as well" With that, he whisked from my personal space and went off into the distance where I saw Butch and Boomer

'Oh wait, I remember this' I thought as the scenery started to jog my memory 'This was when-'

"Now that everyone is here, time to discuss some important matters" Father continued "I know I have trained you long and hard, but now is finally time"

"Really?" Butch asked with excitement "Yes"

"Yes, indeed. I believe that finally you are ready. Enough time has passed that no one will suspect a thing. And your skills has reached the perfect level to surpass the enemy"

"That sounds great, and I don't doubt that the town will probably be stupid enough to fall for whatever you have planned. However, I doubt that 'they' will be fooled" I heard my voice say without me even talking

'Yes, this has to be a memory' I confirmed in my mind as I observed 'But how would he get a hold of…[Groan] Father's plan is falling to shit anyway, so does it even matter anymore?'

"Yeah, and especially Buttercup. I bet she hates me ten times over and I haven't seen her in years. But what can I say. I'm just that impressionable" Butch said with a devilish smile

"I wouldn't be so doubtful just yet" Father said while opening a mirror portal next to him; showing where the Powerpuff Girls were currently. They just so happened to be arriving to the high school; meeting with some friends before the bell rang "Even though Blossom's wit has grown with her age, and Buttercup doesn't do well with letting go of grudges, Bubbles on the other hand-" Father zoomed in on the blue puff as she was laughing at a joke that wasn't even funny "-is still as naïve as ever. Perfect for manipulation" I watched the red demon cradle her image as if it was an innocent child and quickly tainted it black to illustrate his point "And that is where you come in" Father pointed at Boomer

"Boomer?" Butch said astonished that Father would even consider his younger brother for anything "He's more likely to blow himself up than to do whatever you have planned"

"I get one spell wrong one time" Boomer said under his breath

"This is true" Father said ignoring Boomer's comment "However, I strongly believe in you, Boomer" Father held Boomer's face close to make his cheeks puff out "I strongly believe that you will not fail me. Because if you do, IT WILL BE HELL TO PAY, okay" Boomer didn't respond as his face was shoved to the side. So Father continued on explaining his plan "Great, now where was I? Yes, Bubbles. She is in that phase in her life that she wants acceptance, joy, and romance, but doesn't have a soul to give it to. What is a girl to do when you are a superhero and boys are too afraid to date them or get intimidated by them in the first week? Well, since she has said that she has found you attractive once before, you will be our snake" Father then conjured another mirror image that had everyone as silhouettes "Act like you normally do (all gloomy and stuff). Even purposely ignore her if you must. That will get her attention. And once you do, get on her good side, have her believe you are friends, have her convinced that you've changed and aren't 'bad' anymore"

"Knowing her, she'll be so gullible, she'll do all that for him with him lifting a finger" My voiceover said

"True, true" Father chuckled a bit "And as that is happening, she is sure to talk to her sisters to try and convince them too; which will help you two in trying to win Blossom and Buttercup over" My joy turned into disgust immediately after I heard that. Just the thought of pretending to be interested in her…uck

"What's up with you? Afraid that you don't have the a-game to smooth talk a geeky bookworm?" Butch teased when he saw my subtle reaction

"No, it's like being told that you have to fuck an ugly flamingo. Hn, but that won't be a good analogy considering that you would fuck anything with two legs"

"Brick, Butch. Let's not get off track here" Father said trying to rally back our attention "What was I saying…Yes, Brick. I know this is going to be hard for you but remember, this is for the good of us. Just think, after all this, you will never have to deal with Blossom or her sisters ever again. Can you picture it, Brick" Father cradled my head as he whispered to me "World order, devastation, misery throughout, and everything that you could ask for, in a world without the PowerPuff Girls"

"Okay, if it will lead to that" I agreed

"Wait, what do you mean 'without them'?" Butch protested "We aren't even going to enslave them at least?"

"[Evil Chuckle] Butch, I love the way you think, but no. In this plan, there is no room for that. As much as I would love to make them suffer for the rest of their days, the plan that has gone into motion has something more…cruel involved"

"That being?" I asked

"You remember the cootie shot that I gave to you as kids, right? Well, lets just say there was something more to it than it curing you of the Girls' infectious cooties"

"Which is"

"Oh, Brick. I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. But I assure you, it will lead to the Puffs' demise" Father said with a huge wicked smile. But abruptly, his happy tone dropped, along with his smile and the atmosphere became thick. Almost to match the now sinister tone in his voice "However, I will warn you. If you kiss the girls before its time, there will be nothing that could save you from the wrath that I'll inflict on you" Even though this was a serious moment, my stomach gagging again overrided my fear, as the thought of kissing Blossom flashed in my mind once more

"Kiss? Are you trying to make me lose my lunch?"

"Come on, bruh. Now you're just being pitiful. You mean to tell me you can't put up with one kiss?" Butch asked

"Who are you call pitiful?" I snapped back

"Enough! You're making me lose my train of thought. Okay what was I saying?" Father rubbed his head to calm himself then continued by saying "Oh yes. Since it's close to summer vacation, you'll have about three months to prepare yourselves. I'll register you to their high school by autumn and you'll only have until the end of the school year to complete your assignment. Any time later than that and they'll spit off in their separate ways which will make this plan harder because they'll be apart"

"So go to high school, make them fall head over heels for us, and no kissing until signal. Anything else?" Butch said

"No that's it. You may go" We all turned to leave but Father added "Ah-ah-ah. Brick, you stay. The rest of you may leave" In an instant, my brothers vanished, but when I turned my body to face my creator, I was slapped so hard I fell onto the ground

[Abuse Warning]

"What was that for?" I saw his heels walk closer to me slowly

"For your poor example. You are the leader of the RowdyRuff Boys. Son of a demon. And your countenance gets shaken over a single girl" I felt a sharp pain in the side of my ribs as I was kick across the floor "Brick, I taught you better than that. I taught you better than to question me. I taught you better than to let your hatred turn into disgust and fear. Do I need to reteach you again, Brick?" I started to feel my body tense when I tried to lift myself from the floor, but couldn't. Then to make matters worse, I felt chains wrap around my wrist, forcing me to upwards on my knees "I think I need to teach you again" This had happened too many times, I knew it was useless to struggle in these chains. I was trapped until he saw fit "I'm only doing this because you're my favorite" As soon as he said that, I felt his claws slice at my back; opening up old wounds and forming new ones. But I didn't dare scream. It would not only show weakness, but it would only push him more "You have to be better" Slice "You have to be remolded again" Slice "Without flaw. Without fear" Slice "Only hate" That's when I expected him to blast me with the laser beam that comes out of his mouth, but it didn't happened. Instead, I heard…

[Abuse Over]

"Brick!" I was suddenly reminded that the Professor was present and that these were my memories. And as everything started to fade into a blur, I regained the feeling of my limbs and my senses "I thought I told you- Why didn't you say the code word?"

"I'm fine" It was so hard to talk, or even catch my breath… But I had to pull myself together. I couldn't look weak, especially in front of him "I'm fine. Like I said, this is normal. I'm used to it"

"Okay, I guess we could skip the questions part for this section. There is no question how you feel"

"No, ask the question. You know what assuming does, don't you?" I said while finding a wall to lean on

"Okay, how do you feel about this moment? About HIM?"

"How do I feel? Hate, not for Father but for someone else. All of this punishment, all of this pain, all linked to one person; which you could probably guess-"

"Blossom?" The Professor said not amused

"-This was all her fault. No matter what I did, whenever she would come up in my mind, it would show a form of weakness. Whether it was through disgust, jealous, even malice couldn't mask her influence. So this practice was nothing more than a cleansing. A refining process to make sure there was nothing left but hate. And these marks, are just reminders to never slip, to never stray, or fall victim to being consumed again. Speaking of that, thank you for reminding me of that, Professor"

There was an awkward pause before he responded with

"Thank you for your input. Ready for the next image?"

Once I said 'sure', the white gridded room gradually started to transform again. However, this time I was in a random apartment. It looked like a party was going on. And by the looks of it, it was failing

"Alright, you got us here, now where's the party?" I heard myself say

"Yeah, there is only one chick and-" Butch paused as he inspected the so-called buffet table "What kind of food is this? Where's the pizza? Where are the wings? Where is the booze? All we got is salad. And is this quiche? Lame" Butch walked down the table a bit more "And what do we have here? Chicken nugget? What are we five?" Despite saying that, he munched down on one and immediately spit it out. If you could see the disappointment, shock and anger on his face, it was actually comical to see how offended his taste buds were "This taste like beans and dirt! That's it. I'm out"

"No wait, we told many people that you were going to be here" Said our dorky host. But Butch ignored his plight and told me

"They are serving vegan chicken nuggets, Brick. Vegan chicken nuggets. How's a man suppose to get off of vegan chicken nuggets?"

"Calm your tits, Butch. This guy paid us a lot of money to be here, so if he says that more people will show-" Before I could even get my words out, I heard a screeching voice in the stairway. It was a familiar, annoying screeching voice that could send nightmares to even the bravest of men

"Come on, girls. I heard that my Bricksy-poo was here. Oh Brick~"

"Oh hell no!" I said walking towards the window "There is no way in hell that I'm dealing with that crazy bitch tonight" With that, me and Butch bailed that shit show and took to the skies

"Bro, next time we do 'commissions', we need to be specific on what we want and what we don't want, or I'm not showing up to another one of these again" Butch told me

"Agreed" It's just like Princess to crash a party and ruin everything

…

Once we got to the house (if you could call it that), we went our separate ways; Butch to the kitchen to see if there was any food left. And me, well I was about to go upstairs to my room until I noticed something odd. It was a voice coming from Mojo's lab. It was faint but still noticeable

'That's odd, the nurse isn't supposed to be here for another hour' I remember thinking

As I walked into the lab, I saw that it was empty. No one was there, but I still heard a sound…from under me? I pressed my ear to the floor and I could faintly here Mojo yelling

"Damn it all! Another dead end! Nothing is adding up! Nothing is making sense!"

'When sense we had a downstairs?' I thought to myself, but as my mind was drifting off, my eye caught something strange. There was a small light peeking from the tiniest gap between the floor and the wall. It only spanned about a few inches wide and a portion of it was being blocked by filing cabinets. Interesting

I walked to the back part of the lab and moved the cabinets aside and looked at the gap again. It was definitely a secret passage. And since my night was ruined by a shitty party, I thought that peering into Mojo's business might liven things up; especially when he hated when I did it

Using our special ability to manipulate aura (energy), I seeped it through the cracks of the door until it malfunctioned. Then I made my aura expand so it could pry a gap big enough for me to get through

"That was easy" I said as I made my way through the hole in the wall. It lead me through a narrow passage way which I was shocked to see that it didn't lead downstairs to where Mojo's voice was coming from, but it went above our living quarters to a small dark room

'Okay, I first figure out that we have a basement and now we have an attic too?'

As I looked around bewildered at the space I was in, I was drawn to the only source of light which was a wall of monitors. And on them was random footage of random people doing boring things in their boring lives; all throughout Townsville. One monitor had the Mayor's Office, another had the police station, main street corners, the park, a random lab corporation (marked: the Professor's Place Of Employment). There was even one that had a random cooking show called BA's Basics [3]. But what really caught my eye were two monitors that said 'Powerpuff's Residence' on the top left of the screen (but the screen itself was blank), and another monitor that read…

"Wow, isn't that the High School" I said out loud as I touch the screen to verify what I was seeing, but I was surprised to see the monitors react to my touch. So instead of showing different areas in the city, they were now different areas in the high school specifically. There was the principal's office, a couple of class rooms, the cafeteria, parts of the school grounds (like the sports' fields and entrances)…

"Oh, there's even one for the girl's gym locker room? Never pictured you of being a-" My laughter soon turned to displeasure when I noticed that it was also a blank screen (only with audio) "-Well shit. Of course the monkey is a prude"

That small disappointment was hard to move on from. Especially when I got myself geared up to see some titties. And it didn't help that all I was hearing was random facts about melons on that blasted cooking show. So out of anger, I pressed the only button on that specific screen (thinking it was the off button), but it switched to something else. It displayed a list of different saved timestamps; all pertaining to the location I selected

"Hm, interesting. I wonder what his last recording was?" I tapped on the footage and all the screens (except for the one with the display list) combined to show one single image that was marked a few months ago (a week before graduation). It was set in the eating area behind the school, during our lunch period. The Powerpuffs were siting at one table with a couple of their stupid friends, and Butch and I were sitting at another table with a couple of his 'football buddies'

"Wow, I can't believe it" Blossom said while she was eating a plate of Asian noodles "We only have one week left until our group is all split up" She didn't sound like she was happy about it, but she still said it with a smile

"Yeah, its amazing how fast time went" said a girl with long brown hair "One moment, we've just enter this school as freshmen, and now look at us"

"Yeah, we're old geezers" Buttercup joked

"Ha, says you" the brunette said back

"I don't know, Robin. You might be sporting some wrinkles on your face from studying for hours" A boy who was also a brunette said

"What?! Where?" Before Robin was able to pull out a pocket mirror, the boy stole a kiss on the cheek from her and said

"Oops, my mistake. It was just a piece of food"

"Mitch, you goof" Robin said blushing hard "You even got the pick-up line all mixed up"

"It doesn't matter, you dig it either way"

"Boring" I said as I attempted to fast-forward. And luckily I was able to by turning a dial on the desk in front of me "Phew, fortunate for me, these are labeled" So I skipped through the conversation until someone said

"So where are you guys planning on going after this?"

"Well, Bubbles and I are going to University" Blossom stated

"The one in Suburburg, right? I wish I could go there, but I need money first. So it's off to the 'work force' for me" Robin said "How about you Buttercup?"

"Well, one of us has to keep this town from falling into chaos. So I'm going to the Police Academy"

"Well, I guess I'll see you there" Mitch said while wrapping his arm around her shoulder

"Wait, you're going there too?" Buttercup said shocked by the news

"Sure am. I'm just selfless like that"

"You just want to come so you could have someone to annoy"

"That too, but someone has to keep this one safe" Mitch said while using his other arm to grab Robin

"Mitch, you're embarrassing me" Robin said blushing some more

"Again, you love me anyway"

"[Groan] If I'd known that you were going to be this sappy, I would have brought a stack of pancakes" Buttercup said also bothered by this lame conversation

"No matter, even without your 'cakes' I still have these cakes" Mitch empathized his point by giving Robin a little pinch on the butt. Which in turn made everyone looked dumbfounded at his lame comeback until Buttercup said

"Mitch, go home" That got everybody laughing but me ready to gag. But before I was about to fast-forward again, the camera panned and zoomed in on me and Butch.

"I can't believe it" One of Butch's friend said "That prom was a total letdown"

"You're telling me. The teachers were stricter than a 6th grade ballroom dance 'Hand-length apart! No changing the music! No canoodling!'. Who even says that anymore?"

"Apparently the queen of the Amish, herself"

"Yeah, fuck Ms. Strantino. It's no wonder she can't get a man" Butch agreed "I bet she was the one that ordered the catering too. I couldn't stand that froufrou shit. And yet they expect me to 'dance and socialize' while they starve me to death? And yet they want to call us the 'villains'"

"Well, I heard that after graduation, Craig is throwing his own party" I said to the guys

"Oh really"

"Yep, and since his parents will be away, there will be three floors of girls, pizza, beer, and debauchery. And since I've been to one of his parties before, I know this is going to be lit" I assured them

"Alright, count me in"

After that was said, the footage shut off and an option to either 'Return to Main Menu', 'Proceed to Next Linked Clip', or 'Watch Similarly Marked Clip' showed up. Of course, I choose "Proceed to Next Linked Clip" because I wasn't going to pain myself with another café conversation. And not to my surprise, it showed the party we went to a week later. And as promised, it was great. But what made me stop grinning was the realization that somehow Mojo got a camera in this dude's house. What made it even worse was that it kept relocating itself so it wasn't stationed in one area. So as it moved around undetected, I saw all the party-goers having a good time; even Butch was doing his usual thing (eating himself into a coma. Seriously his metabolism must work at an ungodly speed to keep up with him). Normally, he would have someone in a bedroom by now but after a specific incident (which he still refuses to tell me), he stuck to just eating. Well, that left more girls to me

'Speaking of which…wait a minute' My thought process was interrupted when I noticed the camera crawling between a specific doorframe 'No, no, no' My thoughts were instantly invaded by moans and my eyes were burned by a hideous sight

"Ah! What the fuck" Luckily for me, in my memory, I closed my eyes in horror, so thank God, I wouldn't have to resee this train wreck. And a train wreck it was because this particular night, Princess got me so drunk (which I'm still wondering how since I have a very high tolerance to alcohol) that she actually got me to have sex with her. She knew I wouldn't be caught dead under the sheets with her, so she had to lace my drink to get her way, the bitch.

However, Princess tricking me wasn't the worst of it. Neither was the crabs or the lies she told afterwards. Or the fact that she practically tried to stalk me every chance she got to 'get more'. No, this moment, this moment right here is the worst part of all of this

"Why isn't the camera turning away?" I said through my teeth "You have the nerve to censor a girls' locker room, but not this?" Unable to watch this anymore, I looked at the monitor with the menu settings to opt out of this nightmare, but what I saw only peaked the God-awful scale. It said 'Back to Main Menu' or 'Search for Similar Footage'. "Similar Footage?" Apprehension filled my soul as I slowly clicked on the second option and it showed me files upon files of basically sex tapes. I clicked a random one and lo' and behold it was another night of partying that led to me having sex with another girl. I then clicked on another file, and another, and another; all where the same

"I can't believe this. Not only was this monkey spying on the whole town, but he was spying on my sex life? No, nah-uh, this is stopping now" I had my hand on my right temple, ready to blast this monstrosity to hell until I heard something behind me

"Brick. What are you doing?" He didn't even sound stunned or furious, as if he was passing this footage off as normal "Whatever it is that you're doing, which I presume it is not good, in the sense of the word meaning 'not good for me' and not societies version of 'good' which is bad for us-"

"If you don't start making sense in two seconds, I'm going to blast you along with this trash!" I shouted

"I wouldn't if I were you"

"Is that a threat?"

"It is a warning"

"Oh ho, and what is the little monkey going to do if I don't" I challenged as my eyes started to glow

"Not me, HIM" My eyes stopped charging immediately and I sharply glared at the primate that I'm forced to called my creator too

"What about Father? He knows about this?"

"Knows about it? He's the reason I'm doing this. Do you think I get off watching my own son…doing that?" Mojo said pointing to the screen that was still playing by the way

"I am not your son. Let's get that straight. You may have created me once, but I was reborn by another person and that is the one I call Father now. You are just a washed up old throw rug that I'm forced to live with. And if it wasn't for Father still having use for you, I would have destroyed you a long ago"

"Ungrateful child" Mojo said under his breath

"What did you call me?"

"Ungrateful"

"No, child. How many times do I have to say it, old man. I'm not your-"

"Down boy [4]" As soon as he said that, I felt my whole body fall to the floor like it was magnetized or something "That is enough. You are growing in age, but less in respect and that is shameful"

"Like I would ever have respect for a has-been, wannabe villain like you"

"Down boy" Again I sank lower to the floor with barely any strength

"How are you doing this, bastard?"

"You think having the Powerpuffs constantly invade my house didn't provoke me to take precautions?"

"So only my basic powers are zapped" I said with a smile. Then I surprised him when I muster up some of my dark aura to grab his whole body "Good to know" I started to squeeze him like a pimple "Now call this stupid 'force thing' off before I crush you to death"

"I have been threatened, pummeled, and close to oblivion many times. Your attempts to intimidate me don't affect me in the slightest…and besides…" Suddenly I felt I sharp shock course through my body which caused my aura to disappear "…I took precautions for that too. Once I activate the AX flooring, it is programmed to shock its victim every minute until I say the word" Shock "Why do you look so flabbergasted, Brick. I've studied you boys for your entire lives. I know all of your strengths and weakness; one of them being that you specifically can't focus your magic under extreme pain" Shock "Now that you know the severity of your situation, are you going to be a good boy or are you going to continue to be defiant? Because if you listen to reason-"

"Fuck You!" I screamed out of frustration, pain and every ounce of hate I had for that lab monkey

"Ok you asked for it….sbskjfbksjbfk" After he chanted some kind of weird incantation, a puff of pink smoke suddenly filled the room and soon I was face to face with Father

"This better be important. I was in the middle of jazz-ercise and… Oh, what do we have here?" Father took a long look at the situation, looked like he understood it, and surprisingly lashed at Mojo "MOJO, WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT DISCIPLINING THE BOYS! I told you that was my job"

"Don't get your leg warmers in a knot. I didn't hurt him much. At least he's still conscious, unlike when I leave them in your claws"

"True. True. So what did Brick do to get 'grounded'? Did he call you an old throw rug one too many times?" Father said chuckling a bit

"No…I mean yes, but that doesn't affect me. I have been threatened, pummeled, teased-"

"Mojo, you have said this too many times before. Get to the point!" Father yelled "I swear, you are getting more senile by the day"

"He found out" Mojo said pointing to the screens

"Huh?"

"He was planning to destroy it, so naturally I had to stop him. It being that it was your wish for me to do this project, even though it was-"

"Alright, I got the just of it" Father hovered over and bent down next to me. He then lifted my head by my hair and said softly "Brick, I'm going to need you to not come into this room again, okay?"

"What? Why not?" Shock

"Oh good timing Mojo"

"It wasn't me it was the timing I set in the floor"

"Mojo, accept the compliment and shut up, will you" Father then turned back to me "Brick, the proper answer is 'Yes', not 'Why'. You know how I hate it when you ask me that. My word is law and there is no questioning it. I've said this before and you know how I hate to repeat myself. Because that would mean I would have to remind you of what I've said. And you know what happens when I have remind you of things, don't you Brick" I nodded my head "Good, now that we understand each other. You will not enter this room again because whatever Mojo does in this room is according to my plan. And what did I tell you about interfering with my plans?"

"To not to or you'll personally erase us from existence" I said in a monotone voice

"Oh good, you remembered. Such a smart boy" I felt Father pat me on the head "And because you're such a smart boy, you get to go on another trip tomorrow. Enjoy the heads up because the others won't be getting it"

With that, Father vanished, leaving me stuck with Mojo. And since I thought that the punishment was over, I thought Mojo would just let me go, but instead Mojo left me there as he went towards the monitors like I wasn't even there

"Things may look this way now, but I'm not your enemy, Brick. I don't get joy out of doing this and I don't take pleasure out of hurting you like HIM does. You are my boys and whether you acknowledge me or not, I am your creator and it is my job to steer you in the right direction"

"Look, I already promised Father I wouldn't ruin your precious space so let me go already and spare me the lecture"

"Fine. Good Boy" I suddenly felt the ability to move my limbs again and I managed to stand up. Not wanting to look at that useless monkey anymore, I started to make my way towards the exit, but I still wind up hearing

"Oh Brick. Hopefully you'll see one day that I'm only doing this for your benefit because as a creator, I have to protect you. Even if it is from yourself"

After that line was said, the whole scene got blurry again, but not fully

"And protect you I did-" Wait, I don't remember this part "-until the bitter end, even until my dying breath. I wish I could have told you sooner, but for once HIM was right. It would have shattered your world if I would have broke the news to you. It was best to solve the problem first than to have you worry. Which for all of these years, I thought I could do…But I guess I could even fool my own self sometimes, because all this time I couldn't see that this virus was bigger than what I could handle. And for that I am sorry. I have failed you as a creator, but maybe if I reach out, I'll have a chance to set things right" I then saw Mojo about to reach out his hand to me but before I had a chance to react (or not react), he disappeared and the room was back to displaying white grids

"What was that about? That wasn't a memory" I said at the window screen

"That is true. This wasn't a memory you had. However, those were Mojo's words written in an email he sent to me before he passed. He really did care about all of you boys, not just Boomer. That being said, are you ready for the next one?"

I didn't know what to think about this. I still detested Mojo with all of my being, yet I couldn't shake…

"Whatever" I wind up saying. And with that, the room shifted again, but this time everything was bigger. This must have been when we were little. It was cold, it was raining, and it was evening. The boys and I were flying around trying to find a place to crash. We would have just flown to the Mayor's place like we've been doing for a year and a half since we ditched Mojo and Father, but after the Mayor found us in the basement; lets just say they took extra precautions to keep us out. Now that that place has been taken from us, it was hard to find a good replacement were people were dumb enough to not notice three kids sneaking in and stealing their food. Eventually, we just settle for an abandoned building, but you also had the risk of it being torn down or it collapsing on you. But hey, it was better than jail or going back to that loser monkey. Rules are for chumps and we weren't going to have people tell us what to do

"This looks like a good spot" I said when I spotted a potential place to stay "The windows and doors are barricaded shut so we don't need to worry about intruders. And look. There is a chimney we could fly through"

"Finally, I feel like my arm was going to fall off if I flew any longer" Boomer complained

"Oh, stop being such a baby. A broken arm isn't going to kill you" Butch said punching him in the same arm he was complaining about. It looked like Boomer was going to scream in pain, but he knew better than to show weakness, especially to Butch. So it just came out as a muffled squeak "Oh, what was that? Did I hear something come from you?" Butch taunted while holding his fist near Boomer's arm like he was getting ready to hit him again

"Butch, you could pick at him when we get inside" I said as I hit Butch upside his head to jar him back to reality "Unless you like being poured on"

"Hff, fine"

Once we got inside, we were covered in soot, but at least it was dry and didn't smell like when we slept in the sewers that one time. So, after we did a quick shake to dry ourselves, we gave the building a once over for any signs of squatters or critters. And lucky for us, it was completely empty

"Alright, everything is clear" I said while stretching out my left arm "I think we've found ourselves our new home base"

"Yeah, until the city decides to tear this place down too" Boomer plopped himself on the floor in exhaustion and faced the wall

"Party pooper" For killing the vibe, Butch gave him a blow to the head "This place is great. It even has enough room to wrestle. How's about it Brick, you wanna go?"

"No way. Last time we did that, we tore a hole in the place we were staying in-" I found myself being interrupted by Boomer again while he still moped in the corner

"Then that short man with the top hat called the Powerpuff Girls and-" Hearing enough of his 'moping' I found something to throw at his head to silence him so I could finish talking "Hey!"

"-Anyway, we're not trashing this place, so no"

"Aw" Butch complained

"If you want to let loose, do it outside! Besides, it's late and I'm hungry"

"Yeah, me too" Butch agreed after his stomach growled on cue

"Well, even though it was Boomer's turn to find food, it doesn't look like he'll be able to carry much"

"I don't know why you send him out anyway. He never gets anything good"

"Which is why I'm going this time" I stretched some more before floating back to the chimney

"If that's the case, get some burgers or some kind of meat. I'm tired of eating candy"

"That's a surprise to hear from you" I laughed

"Well, when you eat the same thing for weeks, you get sick of it"

"Yeah I hear ya…Well, I'm heading out. And Butch, don't kill Boomer while I'm gone"

"I can't promise anything" I felt Butch's grin even without looking at him

~)()()()()()()()()(~

After raiding an isolated Burger Smash, I took my sack of food and was about to head back, but found myself taking the scenic route. Dealing with my blockhead brothers could really put some stress on you, so any time alone was good. However, as I flew past some buildings, I could see kids in their homes playing video games, watching tv, eating with their…families. I couldn't help but feel bitter. But what made me feel even more bitter was hearing something familiar to my left

"That can't be"

I flew toward the strange house that stood out from the others. Instead of having square windows, a triangle roof, and a muted coat paint in a variety of boring colors; it was white, had circle windows, and a flat roof. It looked like a lab, but when I took a peek inside, I found a terrible discovery

"This is the girls' house?"

I hid out of sight against the outside wall and listened

"Goodnight Girls"

"Goodnight Professor" The girls said in unison

After the lights went out, I found myself looking back at the window; staring at them as they slept soundly in their soft bed, in their warm house, without a care in the world

At this point, I remember gritting my teeth and staring for quite some time, but instead of being subjected to that, the room unexpectedly turned black and had a lone figure coated in white laying on a bed. It looked like she was frightened, but at the same time confused like she was not supposed to be here

Then out of nowhere, we both felt this huge thud. It was footsteps coming closer and closer but we couldn't see what it was due to the darkness surrounding us. The ground rumbled with each step and the figure braced herself as she stood on her knees, grabbed the headboard with one hand and put her right arm in front of her face

But we were both surprised when the darkness cracked like glass, revealing a place that could only exist in horror films. And before we could assess what was happening, a giant hand came from behind me and grabbed the girl. As the hand was drawing in, the ground was rising from under me. And when it stopped and I looked to my right, I noticed I was on top of someone's shoulder?! I wanted to have a better look at who I was on, but I couldn't move past this spot so all I could manage to see was a creature shrouded in blackish, red energy with hair covering the sides of his face. It's body looked like a human, but it also looked like a demon with a morph of other things like a chimera. Either way, being in his presence made me feel like I do when I'm with Father, but somehow worse

I could see the girl shaking because I guess she could feel the aura too. But I guess that shock was wiped from her mind when he started to walk. City buildings started to appear and he knocked them down with no remorse. You could hear the screaming, crying, and howls of pain with each step. I could see that the girl was trying to struggle out of his grasp, but she stopped when she saw a green and blue light closing in in the sky. She waved her hands (I thought it was to call them over, but after farther inspection, it was out of fear. She was warning them). This caused the beast to laugh. And with one wave of his hand, everything was turned to ruin like a nuclear bomb hit

For a second, everything was silent until it was broken by a familiar scream

"NOOO!"

'Was that Blossom? I almost forgot how she sounded like as a kid' I thought as I tried to fight off the grin that was forming on my face. Even though it was Blossom's calls of distress sending delicious chills down my spines, she was also still a kid in this form and since I'm 17 now… so yeah... gross [Insert FBI meme here]

I saw tears run down her face as her body reached out to the figures that were once her sister. But now they were a mangled pounds of flesh. The giant squatted down so she could get a better look and laughed once more as he stood up and stepped on their corpses

"Why are you doing this?!" She cried as she pounded the fist that was still holding her. But instead of answering, the monster opened his palm and started to slash at her with his claws

"It's because you have toys-" I heard coming from (not the monster, but from) the heavens it seemed "-You have food. Clothes. A warm bed. A person to take care of you" By this time, Blossom was barely standing and was on the verge of passing out "You have everything, and yet you deserve none of it!"

"What are you even talking about? You don't even know me?" The monster looked to be angered by her response and tightened his grip on her again. He brought his fist close to his face but she still kept talking "I don't know why you're mad at me, but they didn't deserve that! They-" Her voice broke when she saw the giant use his other hand and saw him levitate Bubbles and Buttercup's broken body. With one final effort, Blossom tried to struggle out of his grip, but she couldn't "DON'T! PLEASE-" And with one motion, he grabbed them in his empty fist. And when he opened his hand, they were nothing but stardust "AHHH!"

As a last taunt, the creature chuckled while blowing the dust everywhere. This caused the hellish landscape to turn back into the dark void we were in before. She was on the ground looking distraught as ripples of her tears shimmered on the ground. But before I could soak this pleasant sight in, I felt a hand on my shoulder and both Blossom and I heard

"I won't stop until I take everything you don't deserve" This shocked me, not because it was unexpected, but because it sounded so familiar

'Was that me?' I thought

Before I could analyze the scene any farther, the area changed in an instant and we were in the girls' bedroom. Blossom was still sleeping, but you could see it in her closed eyelids that she was still having a nightmare

"Funny" I heard the Professor say on the intercom "When Blossom told me about that dream, I thought nothing of it. It was a nightmare and nothing more. But then when I looked at the security cameras the next morning; it was no exaggeration to say I was shocked" I then looked out the window and saw myself peering through the window. I had a death glare with glowing red eyes, which I didn't realize at the time "It was a theory at first, but I think I'm safe to say now that you somehow manipulated her mind in her sleep. Even if it was on accident, that was still impressive and quite a scary thing to witness from a six year old child. Especially when this happened"

"What a pleasant sight"

"Huh?" I was brought back into first-person view and saw Father floating next to me

"A light mist is sprinkling and peaceful girls are dreaming…It makes me sick. It need more thunder and wind" And as if on command, the storm that just seemed to end, started up again in full force

"What are you doing here?" I asked not charmed by his presence and more pissed that I was getting rained on some more

"I just thought I would take a midnight stroll; clear my head so I could come up with some new plans… Well that was the idea, until I smelled something tasty" It's funny how I thought he was referring to my sack of food. But now that I've unlocked similar powers as my Father, I know now that he was revering to something else: my hatred "It must be nice being in a place where you could let your guard down and feel safe. A place where you don't have to worry about food and warmth. It's a shame that its squandered on them, isn't it"

"Where are you getting at?"

"Isn't that what you're seeing?" Father asked pointing to the window "Or am I getting the wrong idea from watching you staring at a window for ten minutes"

"You're damn straight that you've got the wrong idea. It's like I told you, because we're tough, we don't need things like that, or any help from you"

"Is that so? Let's see what's in the sack, shall we?" With a snap from his…claws? How did he even…anyway. With a snap from his claws, the bag disappeared from my hands and levitated in front of him

"Hey that's mine" I tried to grab the bag back before he could look inside, but he was able to hold me at bay while he took a peek

"Wow" Father said as he took a hamburger out of the bag "You can't tell me that you were going to eat this ghastly thing" I didn't realize that since I was using a burlap potato sack instead of a plastic trash bag, all of the food I've collected had now gotten soggy due to it staying outside in the rain too long

"If course not" I quickly tried to muster up something to cover up my obvious blunder "I was gathering these for our next prank, yeah. This stuff is so gross, that it would be a shame if it were to come into contact with someone's car, or better yet, someone's house"

"Well, here's a house? Why not this one?" Father said pointing to the girls' house

"And this is why we come up with our own plans. You see, if I did that now 1) My brothers wouldn't be able to join in on the fun. 2) These burgers are still edible and clearly aren't rancid enough. And 3) They're right there. The point of a prank like this is to get away with it without getting caught. So if you were to do this the right way, you would wait until they are called for an emergency (which is like all the time) and then strike. That way, when they come back and they're tired and beat, they'll come home to an even bigger mess"

"Hmm, not bad-" Father said looking impressed

"I know it is-"

"You're a good liar" I gasped because I didn't think he would see through my bluff. And I was so convincing too "I almost believed you. But it wasn't totally fruitless" He threw the bag back at me "That was a good 'prank' as you say. You should put a pin in it and try that out later. And who knows, keep it up and you might get as good as yours truly"

"And what have you accomplished?"

"Touché. But there is one thing that I have that no other villain can say…Fear. The fact the people are too afraid to even utter my name shows that even if those girls interfere with my plans, I'm still something to be feared. Even if my plans f- don't go as planned, I always leave them scarred somehow. I could be anywhere, watching, waiting. I could be in your mind, your dreams. I could be anything or anyone and cause so much pain and havoc. Even the girls know that. I have took so much of their innocence and joy that they had to put their childhood aside sometime, just to save this backwards town…But there are times when they forget. There are times when things go their way, they get good grades, or joy outweighs dread. But that's why I'm here to tip the scales back and serve as their brick wall, so to speak…However, it looks like you've done the job for me"

"What?"

"Even though you haven't come out victorious, you've managed to injure the green one, which is not an easy feat. Sure it was at the cost of one of your men, but an accomplishment is an accomplishment. Speaking of which, how is the little chap?"

"Like I'd-" Before I could tell him off, Father teleported us inside the hideout

"It's about time you showed up. I'm starving" Butch said completely ignoring the fact that someone teleported in his domain; one of them being the demon we told off before

"Butch, where is Boomer?" Father asked but Butch completely disregarded his statement and said to me

"It looks like you had more than a trail of toilet paper tagged behind you. Any reason why the punk drag queen is here?"

"Where is Boomer?" Even though I would have loved to ignore the fact that Father was here too, something told me there was a reason why he was dodging our questions so Butch wasn't getting food until he answered

"[Groan] He's outside. Now give me the bag" Since he finally complied, I relinquished the bag to him. After that Father touched my head and somehow both of our heads phased through the wall (since the windows were boarded up, this made sense). It didn't take much to figure out what happened to my youngest brother since it was hard to overlook a massive crater next to your house that wasn't there before

"Butch, what did you do?!" I screamed while pulling my head back in

"What I fixed his arm"

"But you broke the rest of him"

"What? When you have the urge to pound something, you don't just simply ignore it. That's unhealthy" Butch said as he was ironically eating soggy burgers…Yes, I kid you not, he was actually eating those messed up burgers... I swear, Butch has no standard sometimes "Plus I did it outside like you asked, I don't see what the big deal is" I pinched my nose in annoyance, but before I was able to lecture him, I heard Boomer's voice

"Hey Brick!" He flew towards me "Look at me. I'm not broken anymore"

"For now" Butch said grinning mischievously

"And what do we have here?" Father poofed beside Butch "You can't be satisfied eating this old junk"

"What's wrong with it?" We all mentally facepalmed ourselves after hearing that

"Here" He teleported the bag back into my hand "Let me show you something even better than that" Once he said that, a large warm pizza box appeared in front of him. It smell delicious but me and Boomer didn't move from where we stood "There, can't have you eating garbage" Father said turning to us

"HIM, we already told you and Mojo that we didn't need your help" I reminded Father "So if you don't mind, beat it. We are the only ones allowed to squat here" I know what he was doing. He was trying to bribe us, but it wasn't going to-

"I say he could stay" Butch said with a mouth full of pizza "If he keeps feeding us like this"

"Well, there is one vote down. How about you, blue one?" Father teleported to Boomer and patted his head

"Well I do feel better, no thanks to Butch. Maybe he is nice to have around?" Boomer said as he started to gravitate towards the sweet smell of hot cheese and pepperoni

"Oooh, there's two. What about you?" Father poofed up real close to me and put his arm over my shoulder "Aren't you tired?" He pointed to my brothers as Butch was hogging the pizza while keeping it from Boomer "It's a tough job taking care of other people, especially when you're young. Why don't you let someone that knows how to do it, do it for you? After all, you can't be satisfied with this? Moving from space to space, not always getting a decent meal, not having stability" I didn't answer "And if you aren't satisfied, how do you think they feel? Sure they don't say it to your face, but I bet they hate this too. But they trust you so much that wherever you go, they'll go"

"You're not making a good argument. Butch is able to handle anything. And Boomer... he'll just deal with it"

"True, but what if one of you gets hurt again?"

"We'll put up with it like we always do"

"What if you can't find anymore food?"

"Anything could be food if you put your mind to it"

"What if you get sick?" It was getting difficult trying to think of reasons why he should get off our backs, but the more he kept talking, the more I was running out of excuses "Think wisely Brick, because the ball is in your court. Do you choose a life where you don't have to play caretaker and also have a better chance at defeating your rivals. Or do you choose to continue down this road that will eventually risk you endangering your team. It's your choice, leader of the RowdyRuff Boyz. Will you lead your team to victory or watch them destroy themselves?" Father put out his claw towards me as if to shake my hand "Come on Brick. Make the right choice. I know you're tired and I'm offering you a rest. I wouldn't be coming back again and again if I didn't think you deserve it, if I didn't think you had potential, if I didn't care…"

…

…

"Fine" I reluctantly said while accepting his claw

"Good Ch-Ch-Choice" What is happening? "Yo-You ma-ma-made" As Father was speaking, he looked to be shorting out. Was the simulation machine going on the frits?

"Hey, Crackpot. What's going on?!" I demanded, but I didn't hear anything come from the intercom "Answer me!" Fed up with his noncompliance, I ripped the helmet off my head, but was shocked to not see white gritted walls, but the same glitchy reality I saw in the helmet

"You made- You ma-made- You-ou made" As the simulation of Father kept glitching out, his demeanor kept changing like he was melting away. And soon what I recognized as Father turned into something else "-made me this way"

[POW!]

Before I could comprehend anything else, I was punched in the face and knocked down to the floor. After getting over some dizziness, I looked up and was shocked to see a split version of myself. The only difference was that it was only an outline of myself (kind of like if it was a neon sign)

"You should heed your Father and rest" Of course, I tried to get myself up to teach this double ganger who's boss. However…

"What is this?" I found myself stuck to the floor…again. What is it with people sticking me to surfaces? It was like déjà vu all over again "Wait" But this wasn't like the other times. This time, I was also sinking into the floor like quick sand "What are you doing?!" I started to panic as my field of vision was gradually getting less and less

"I'm doing what you can't" was the last thing I heard before I was completely engulfed in a sea of darkness. It felt like I was underwater and it caused my chest to burn; so much that it made me scream, but no sound came out

[3rd Person POV: Butch]

….

….

[Reverb Scream]

"[Gasp]" Butch found himself waking up to a cold sweat while his heart rapidly pounded in his chest. He didn't recall himself dreaming of anything, and yet his body was sending him chills as if he had a nightmare

"Oh, the loud blow horn finally wakes up" To Buttercup's pleasure, Butch was finally awake which meant that she didn't have to listen to all of that snoring. And she didn't have to feel uncomfortable being cuddling in his chest for hours "It's amazing that no one calls the police every time you go to sleep for disturbing the peace" Despite Buttercup talking to him, Butch was still engrossed in his thought. Having his skin crawl and his senses suddenly heightened outweighed the talking green canister sitting in his hands "Hey, earth to doofus?" He wanted to just forget about it, he really did. But he just couldn't shake this ominous feeling he was getting "Hey, are you okay?" By now, Buttercup was noticing the look of concern on his face, which made her drop her joking, abrasive demeanor. Hearing this change in her voice, finally jolted him back from his thoughts and he simply responded with

"Something is wrong" Without wasting anymore time, Butch sprung into action. Thinking that whatever the problem was that he would have to inform Brick about it anyway, he set his sights on locating him first. So he closed his eyes and touched a shadow that was cast on the side of the house which cause him to merge with the shadows and pass through the penumbra vista [5]. This was a faster way to travel through building undetected and it only required him to keep his eyes closed. This opened a third eye that enabled him to see in the pitch dark that was the penumbra vista.

As he quickly flew through the house, he eventually found himself in the laboratory below. Already, Butch could hear strange noises coming from there, so he followed them through many winding corridors until he saw the Professor with some kind of monster that was encased in a box. He looked frazzled as the control panel had visible electrical currents jumping across itself surface. The Professor then stepped back and grabbed the chair he was sitting on like he was ready to swing it

"Crap, I need to get him out" And with one blow, he proceeded to smash the glass window to the machine

"What's going on here?" Butch called out; finally opening his eyes so he could transcend back to this plane of existence

"Oh, thank goodness you're here. Something went wrong with our testing and now Brick is losing control of himself" The Professor said while pointing to the creature inside

"Wait, that's-"

"There in no time to explain. We need to hurry and get that helmet off of his head before-"

"[Sniff, Sniff] She's close" They heard Brick say in a voice unlike his own. It sounded underworldly; like he was possessed. And he moved like he was possessed as well

[Brick POV:]

I didn't know what was going on, but at the moment, I feel like I must be in Hell. Even though it didn't have your traditional fire and brimstone and your typical screams of agony, this place was much worse. It was murky, and so empty and barren; yet it felt full, too full that it was suffocating. There was no end or beginning, no constant or visual indicators. Everything was just static (and felt static-like too), but at the same time I felt like I was constantly moving (like I was under a water current). Either way, it was confusing, but even more so, infuriating because despite the fact that I was stuck in this hellhole with no way out-

"Brick, I have to admit. You are one complicated character-" There was also this random voice that hasn't stopped talking since I've got here. I swear it's like Mojo reincarnated. Except I would rather it be that bumbling ape, because at least it takes one punish to shut him up. Here, I couldn't move my limbs or use my powers. Hell, I couldn't even see properly (or maybe everything was just dark, I don't know) "-A complicated character, indeed." He continued "You are smart and yet so dense, cunning but so easily manipulated, such a readable pawn and at the same time so unpredictable"

"Oh my God. If you don't shut up, I swear, I will lose it" I shouted into the nothingness that was this Hell

"Oh my dear, Brick. Haven't you noticed? You've already 'lost it'. You have lost everything; your mind, your will … your body-" For a brief moment, I saw two eye-shaped holes piercing through the darkness. And through them, I saw that the interior of the Hologram Room was almost in shambles and the Professor was panicking on the other side of the glass. After that, the darkness consumed my one source of light and it was pitch black once again "-All of it belongs to me now"

"[Groan] Yeah, yeah, yeah. 'Appending doom, you can't escape', I've heard these monologues before. Can't we just skip to you telling me who you are and what you want? Or better yet, skip to the part where I beat your ass and get out"

"Wow, you're no fun. But it is to be expected. We like to get right to the point; no side trips, no detours… well, unless it's to do a little something-something" I let out an obvious groan; showing my impatience and annoyance "But I'm getting too ahead of myself. After all, how is one to have an exciting conversation if we haven't been properly introduced" Suddenly, I saw the same fluorescent figure that punched me earlier appear in front of me. He constantly glitched in and out of existence as he went to touch my shoulder "I am not a who. I'm more of an entity. But if I was to take on a pronoun, I would say, 'I am you' since I've been in your body for the majority of your life" After he stated this, he disappeared again. But I knew he wasn't gone, because I could still hear his laughter echoing

"Like hell you are" I yelled back

"Don't believe me? Okay, let's see. We like pears and we find ourselves chewing on things a lot" The voice said stating random facts about me

"That's common knowledge"

"We dreamed of starting our own mafia group when we were eight [6]"

"Anyone could have guessed that" I said a little shooken up that he would know that. I barely even blurted that idea out, especially when Father started to push 'his plans' out on us. After that, there was no room for petty dreams like that

"We have two brothers-"

"Oh come on" Now he was just saying obvious things. Was he just running out of stuff to say?

"-That we hate with every fiber of our being"

"What?" I was taken aback for a second because I wasn't expecting him to say that "What handful of straws were you grabbing from that you thought of that? That's not true. Well maybe Boomer, yes, but-"

"Always having to care for them. Always having to waste our time pulling their weight when they lag behind. 'What do they think? That I'm their keeper?' Sometimes I just wish they'd disappear. Then maybe some progress could actually be made" He would hit me with one of the things I said about Butch back at the asylum

"Hey, sure, Butch can be thought provoking and dimwitted but-"

"You're just saying that because he's all you have. You've lost Boomer, and your Father is gone as well. But if you had another choice for a competent lackey, I'd bet you would drop Butch in a heartbeat. You don't care about Butch, all you want is someone to control, someone to demean. After all, you are a leader at heart and what good is a leader without minions to follow him? So cut the crap, and be honest with yourself. After all, I'm honest to you. Like how I know, you also loved both your creators even though you won't admit it"

"What? Now you're just making things up just to spite me" There was no way he going to convince me that I have any positive feelings towards that treacherous, inferior, annoying, pathetic, useless…

"Am I though? You appreciate all you've learned from Father, of course because he taught you techniques that made you stronger. But Mojo, even though he fills you with rage at the sight of him, you can't bring yourself to completely disown him. You compliment him when respect is due, but only when it's not in his presence. Am I wrong?"

"Yes, you are" I said quickly without thinking

"How so?" I felt myself drawing a blank. I never thought about these things before. I just knew that I felt a certain way about things and didn't question why

"I don't need to answer to you. I just know"

"'I just know'. That's what people say when they don't know. But don't worry, because I do. And that's what I'm here for. To enlighten you on things. Like how you feel about a certain so-and-so"

"Don't you dare speak her name!"

"Who? Blossom? I wouldn't dare. After all, it would be embarrassing to reveal things about your crush"

"Okay, now you have gone too far" It's bad enough that I was having a bad day as it was; having my brother betray me and render my prey soulless, figuring out that Father was hiding important things from me, being trapped in a void, the list goes on. But now you have to bring Blossom into the mix too? Why can't I get away from that harlot? Why can she just die by my hand already?

"Have we? If anything, I don't think we talk enough about her. Like how her feet are so dainty or how her thighs may not be thick, but they still have some shape with just~ enough to fill our hands with" As he was sayng this, a red neon figure was forming with his exact description "She has a waist small enough to grasp with one arm and a chest that's still soft despite its tiny size. She even has hands that are so dexterous, I could only fantasize what they could do. Even her neck is tantalizing. The fact that its unblemished makes me want to mark it all over. Then you have her lips that are so plump that I imagine every kiss is always juicy. And finally, let's not forget her best feature; her eyes. Her big pink eyes that when disturbed could create an ocean of fiery fury that engulfs my senses" At this point, a full figure of Blossom was standing in front of me, naked in an angry pose (with her hands thrusted downward with her back slightly bent forward, accentuating her tits and ass because they stuck out) "It makes you want to touch her, doesn't it-"

"No"

"-To finally break her reserve and make her scream noises that no one has ever heard"

"I said no!"

"Oh well. More for me"

At that moment, the darkness broke again, revealing the outside world and what I saw horrified me. He had found Blossom's soulless body on the operating table and was about to touch it

"No, I'm not going to let you defile my hands!"

"Why not, you have done it before. Even without my help" He had shown me countless times we've bumped into each other, moments we accidentally touching hands, even when I carried her out of PHI chamber in the asylum "You say that you hate her. You say that you despise her with all of your being. You even get angry when she comes into contact with you. And yet, you get jealous when you find out that she may have other interests"

"Like I would get jealous of the brainless bitch"

"Ha, judging by the 'type' you like to…'satisfy yourself with', you like them brainless"

"That's not-"

"But those girls are nothing. Just flyers that could be thrown in the wind; graphic with no weight to them. But this-" Suddenly the figure started to walk towards me but it tripped and fell onto my chest. I tried to grab her shoulders to throw her off of me, but she was stuck. In fact, she had molded herself onto me "-this is substance. This is perfection. This is sustenance" I started to feel my body squirm as involuntary sensations spread through my body. Just like last time but worse, because this time I didn't have to move to feel the same sensations "Doesn't this feel amazing. You can't tell me you hate how she feels. Tell me I'm wrong. I dare you"

I struggled some more but my arms were crossed between pushing her out and pulling her closer. What made this even more traumatic was that I wasn't being restricting by an outside force. I was legit fighting with myself with what to do with my hands. My brain was screaming to stop. It was reminding me that 'her eyes always lies' and to not trust what I see. However, my body was also a powerful motivator and it was doing its best to encourage what was going on. Even another feeling that I disowned a long time ago wasn't fighting this either which made this struggle even more difficult. All I had were my thoughts, my hatred, and our rivalry, but not even that was enough to push back. Was I giving in?

I looked into the figure's eyes, as she meshed her hands into my hair, staring into my soul. I saw (not pleasant moments, but) our fights, our arguments, even the moment when I stared at her as she slept (the night HIM adopted us); wishing death on her. I felt anger, but it was only a tiny match surrounded by a pool of darkness. A single snowflake landing on a hot surface, disappearing without any relevance. And all that was left was a girl that looked pretty, that was vulnerable, and-

"Damn it Brick! Wake up already!" All of the sudden, I heard a banging noise as the void I was trapped in started to shake

"Ah, just when things were getting good. Oh well, it was nice chatting with you. Besides, there is no use in pursuing a husk with no fruit so I'll bide my time. See you soon"

And with that, the void shattered, and I opened my eyes to Butch restraining me by the neck. Fueled by the ordeal I just went through and the sudden pain being inflicted on me, I flew into a fit of rage

"Ack. Get the fuck off of me" With one motion, I threw Butch across the floor with my aura and turned my head towards the Professor "And you" I instantly rushed to him, grabbing him by the neck; almost causing him to the drop the glass green container he was holding "Do you remember what I said would happen if you made another mistake? So guess what? Since this exceeded what I consider a mistake, you get to have something far worse than a broken esophagus" I readied my other hand to charge an energy blast, but I was surprisingly stopped by my own brother

"Wait!" Butch shouted as he picked himself up "Dude, chill. You are getting mad over nothing"

"What do you mean 'nothing'. I had to reside in my own personal hell for who knows how long because of this guy. And besides, when did you start to care about what happens to anyone I 'teach a lesson' to?" Before Butch could answer, the Professor tried to get my attention

"Please… If you'd let me explain-" The Professor was gasping between breaths "When you were under the simulation, the virus took over. It used the helmet to spread through your system. I saw this when the wires had turned black. I tried to stop the simulation before it could progress any farther, but I couldn't get to you in time. This virus has more dangerous properties than I anticipated. I didn't think it could travel through machinery. If I'd known that, I would have never let you undergo this procedure"

Even though I wanted to pin the blame on someone and release my wrath, the logical part of me finally broke through my frustration. As much as I wanted to dent his rectangle face in, I needed him. We were running out of time and it was too late to find someone else to research a cure for this virus and restore the Puffs' soul back in their bodies. So with those unfortunate factors in mind, I regained my cool and I let go of the Professor's neck

He dropped on the floor with a harsh thud, (managing to keep the canister safe). But after he recovered his breathing, I saw his eyes widen

"Oh no" I saw him pull up my pants leg, but before I could get offended for him touching my person, I saw that part of my leg was stained in black. This made me tear off my shirt and I discovered that half my body was coated in black vein-like patterns "The virus has spread farther"

"No shit, Sherlock" I said a little scared and irked at the same time

"What virus?" Butch asked

"I'll expound on that later" The Professor said "Right now we need to focus on curing this thing before it claims both of you. And we need to hurry and find where Boomer is hiding as well... unless you want to sit through a thirty minute explanation while I work"

"Nah, I'll get the 'spark-notes' on it late if that's the case" Butch replied as he took back the green container from his hand and went off somewhere

"Suit yourself"

The Professor then rushed to a wall, looking through drawers and shelves for many different objects. As for me, I didn't want to be in this area. Looking at the result of the lab after my "rampage" and having Blossom's body not too far from me; I had to go outside. I needed some space to clear my mind

So after leaving the Professor's dwelling, I sat by the side of the house and let my mind wonder on what just happened; the simulation, the other tests, all of it. All of this has been a weighing experience on me. Not only did I figure out that my parent knew this whole time that I was injected with something that could potential kill me, but now this 'virus' has shown itself and almost took over my body. To be honest, if I didn't get outside help, I feel like I would have… [Sigh] I have never felt this… out of control. I couldn't even use my powers, there was no visible exits

'We need to get this virus out of me and fast' I thought to myself. With every passing second, it was gaining more power, gain more of my conscious, and knowing more of me. It was disturbing how much it knew; even stuff that I didn't even touch on and pushed it as 'facts' that shouldn't be questioned. Did I really hate my brother? Did I really appreciate Mojo? Could I possible be-

'No, I know for a fact that there is no possibility that-' Even in mid-thought, I was second guessing myself on something I was so sure about before. What were facts and indisputable truths were now theories with no suitable weigh to them and it scared me

'Maybe…' This made me think of my parents and my brothers. Specifically the time I was getting food for us right before HIM adopted us

'I…' Then I went back farther to where this all began. How we fought a lot (talking about the Puffs and with my brothers). And yet there wasn't that many times we actually fought at all because we were just doing our own thing…

'[Groan] This is insane' There were too many oxymorons in my life for me to process that I decided to give up on my self-exploration for now. Even though this virus got me over-thinking about nothing, its made my feelings simple…simple for it to understand. But it's more complicated than that. All of this is. And if I was honest with myself, I don't think there will be a time when I will understand. But at the same time, does it even matter? [7]

"Greetings, Brick. Funny seeing you out here" I was unexpectedly jolted out of my thoughts after hearing Dexter walk towards me

"What do you want, Toad-Stool? I ain't in the mood to be bothered"

"Nothing much. I just wanted to make a proposition"

---

A/N: Wow, that took longer than expected. Sorry for the long wait, guys. I even missed the anniversary date for the last chapter; I took so long. It's just that lately I've been losing motivation and getting brain dead a lot more. Plus, you have this Covid-19 thing going on which isn't making things any better. And it's been hard to push chapters like I used to. So to whoever is still reading this, thanks for your patience. We only have two chapters to go (plus a surprise at the end) so I hope you can hang in there

...

[1] This part plays on the episode "Dexter's Assistance" from Dexter's Labortory when Dexter does a brain transplant on Dee Dee and gives her a smart brain so she could assist him with a invention he is working on that requires two people to activate. In the end, it is never said that he returns her normal "pee-brain" to her body so some people speculate that she may still be smart, but is acting dumb so she could still be socially accepted among her peers and brother (who hates her when she is smarter than when she is dumber)

[2] This pays homage to two episodes "If Memory Serves" from Dexter's Laboratory & "Bubblevicious" from The Powerpuff Girls. In the PPG episode, the Professor has a training simulation room designed to help the girls prepare for different types of battle scenarios. The upgrade in this story is the fusion between that and Dexter's invention that extracts and stores memories. But instead of storing them, it projects them so you and the viewer behind the glass could see them. It also still retains its 4D qualities that allows you to feel what you encounter and it also allows the controller outside the room to edit what scenario they see

[3] This was a reference to one of my favorite old cooking shows, Good Eats. On there was the main chef, Alton Brown (aka A.B.), that would tell you scientific facts about food to better understand how they react and function when preparing a dish. And in most of his segments, he would have side characters illustrate a plot so there would be a 'motivation' for the dishes he cooks (like having his annoying sister trick him into making treats for her girl scout troop so they could have something for their bake sale. Then the whole episode would be about cupcakes and cookies). But for this reference, the rare character I'm thinking of on his show is his "twin brother" B.A. who is supposed to be a criminal. So I thought, "What if there was a cooking show for criminals and B.A. starred it?" And that's how BA's Basics was born

[4] This is a reference to the anime Inuyasha and Kagome's infamous line "Sit Boy!". When she says these words, it causes the beads around Inuyasha's neck to forcefully pull him to the ground (what's worse is that he can't take them off)

[5] This is an ability that Butch learns in this story in his magic sessions with HIM (along with some other tricks). Like the story states, this is a way to either travel fast or it could be used to hide or be stealthy (which is also demonstrated in Chapter 13 when Butch was tormenting Dexter for fun). All he has to do is touch a shadow, and by using his magical powers (inherited by HIM, remember we talked about this in Chapter 9's Footnotes), he could merge into the penumbra vista (I was going to call it the Shadow Realm, but that was already taken [Cough] Yu-gi-oh [Cough]). The penumbra vista is like limbo or better yet (for those that watch DuckTales 2017, it's like the realm Lena is trapped in in Season Two). It's looks like our world but everything is transparent and dark. And because Butch is not dead, he could pass through walls, ceilings, and floors in this plane of existence as well. Also, you could see people on the reality plane, but they can't see you unless you open your eyes. Opening your eyes cancels the spell, but to counter this, a third eye is opened (or 'mind's eye) so the magic user could see when they travel

Blue: But if he could do that, why didn't he use it in the asylum? You did state that their "Magical" powers were different from their "Chemical X" Powers. So it wasn't like that ability was shut off from him

Scarlet: Well, Butch needs shadows to travel and Boomer purposely kept certain rooms lit for that reason. Plus when it comes to the in between stages, let's just say he savored moments when he could "come into contact" with his prize so I doubt he would want to fast-forward that. Also, there are moments when he simply didn't feel like it (like in Stage 2). He had a chance in the first half, but he wanted to show off. But when they were in the second half, the room was lit by the surrounding lava

[6] This concept was thought of after reading an old fanfic on this site called "A Well Known Secret" by 19lilwiccawolf93. Even though its not one of my "favorite" favorites, it had a good premise that asked the question "What if Mojo quit doing petty crimes, got custody the RRBz early on, got the Professor to surgically make him into a human so he could pass as their parent, and move to Italy so he could marry into a mafia family?" I have to admit I was hooked on that story until "the chase" was over and the PPGs & RRBz were in a relationship, but the premise still stood as good to me even after years of not revisiting it. So much so, that I thought it would be great to have Brick have that dream of being a mafia boss. He still would be a good one in this story, if he wasn't tangled in HIM's mess. BTW, there is another thing that this author brings up in their story that I took inspiration from as well. And it just so happens to be Footnote #1. I didn't even think about Dee Dee being smart until I read it in that story, so props to that

[7] This was literally my thought as I was writing Brick's parts in this chapter. After rereading my story a bunch of times, I noticed how inconsistent I was with his character when it pertained to Blossom. One moment, he is able to threaten her with a kiss (no problem), but most of the time he treats her like she has the plague, so I decided to illustrate my frustrations of this character here (especially in void scene). But hopefully his feelings will come to a consensus in the end

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P.S. Thank you, Amandalindahl94 & mayflowerbel for favoriting this story; Notshortfunsize & WaterDripdrop for following this story; and miraculousphantomoftheleaf & ShyShipper for doing both. Also, again, thanks for everyone else still on this crazy train and I hope you stick around for the next one. Because in the next chapter, we are off to war!

This chapter was inspired (brought to you) by: Time by Day Of Fire, Living In Your Hell by 3 Doors Down, & Two Worlds By Disturbed