Our Colors are on the Rise

by reina.connected

[Formally Against the Grain] There is something dark brewing just beneath the surface of the quiet city of Townsville. [Dark crime/ romance/ mystery][multi-ship] [Rated M for language, violence, and gore.]

9. Part Nine

Note: During the fight on Valentine's night I highly recommend listening to "Rats" from the Stranger Things S3 soundtrack, it adds an excellent ambiance. Honestly, all of Stranger Things S3 is pretty perfect for this series.

Thank you so much for being patient, this ended up being an extra long chapter so I hope it was worth the wait. I was hoping to update sooner but the holidays were very busy and I wanted to make sure this was a fun chapter.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and is continuing to stay healthy and safe during this time.

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Friday, Feburary 14th con't

Cars lined up the driveway on one side, a few motor scooters were wedged where people had left a generous amount of room between their car and the next, and clustered on the marble columns of the massive portico were a variety of bikes. It was definitely a high school party, just from the different colored lights gleaming through the tall windows it was something most teens had wanted to get themselves to versus having a parent drop them off for. As grand as the historical and large Georgian residence was, the bass thumping within could've fooled a blind man into thinking he was outside a night club in the city.

Brick felt himself stiffen slightly as they approached, feeling as if his feet were locking on the driveway. He was left straggling behind as Bubbles excitedly clutched her sister's hand and pulled her towards the door. "C'mon, Blossom! This is gonna be so fun!"

Stumbling a few steps as she was dragged forward she pulled back slightly and turned to look over her shoulder at Brick. He'd been quiet since they parked and now he looked like he was about to walk into the lion's den.

"You coming, Brick?"

At the sound of his name his world came back into focus, blinking those deep crimson eyes he lifted his attention to Blossom and the look on her face was enough to get him to slide a small smirk onto his lips, "I'm right behind you, Red, don't you worry about me."

As soon as her head turned back into the direction Bubbles was pulling her Brick caught himself looking at those long legs of hers, he'd never seen her dressed up to this extent before and part of him was curious as to what those legs would feel like all wr-, he shook his head.

This was his counterpart, not some normal girl. He'd punched her in the face quite a few times and she had dropkicked him into a building once. He wasn't thinking straight, that's all.

He was surprised as the door was opened by one of Princess's butlers, the man lifted his eyebrows recognizing the teen and Brick just narrowed his attention straight ahead. The lights were changing with the music and there were a few caterers floating around and refilling dishes while taking some away as they passed into different rooms.

Pulling out her phone Bubbles quickly typed out a message and then with a gleam in her eye turned to Brick and Blossom, "we should take a pic together," the sly way she smiled made Brick flush and lean backwards as he put up his hands.

"Count me out, blondie," he only backed up two steps but noticed that Blossom was looking more flustered.

Waving a hand towards both of them Bubbles grinned, "aw, it'll be fun! Brick, you stay right there, and, Blossom!" She Pulled the red head over so that she and Brick were nearly touching shoulders, "you go here, but you gotta get in close to me."

"Bubbles, let's not-," but she was interrupted by Robin rounding the corner. Her face was flushed a rosy red, though it was hard to tell with the color changing lights, she didn't have a cup in her hand and clapped gleefully as she approached.

"Ooo! Are we taking photos? Let me take it! Get close together and say, 'time to party'!" She already had Bubbles' phone in her hand and was lining up the shot. At this point Blossom would be a jerk to just leave while they were taking a photo and Brick seemed to be having the same thoughts as he swallowed and gave a look of 'cool indifference'. That's what Butch always called that look anyways.

The flash went off a few times and Robin was already scrolling back on the phone while Brick blinked and rubbed one of his eyes as he tried to get his barring back. "These look great," Robin was handing the phone back towards Bubbles who reached out for it.

"Let me see!" She studied the photos before looking up, her eyebrows arched to the ceiling as she cocked a hip to the side and placed a hand on it, "really, Brick? I've seen you smile better than that."

Crossing his arms he firmly stated, "that's all you're getting from me, no more photos." Looking at Robin he nodded, "do you know where Jeff is set up?"

Tossing her long brown hair over her shoulder she chirped, "yep! By the main dancefloor," she clasped Bubbles' hand in her own and pulled her in the direction where the most activity could be heard from, "we're all there dancing now, follow me!"

Nervously Blossom asked, "have you been drinking?"

Glancing over her shoulder she pouted at the tall leader of the Powerpuffs, "I only had two cups of jungle juice and I'm 'buzzed'," she said this pointedly, "I think Princess did this without her parents knowing." Giggling at this Robin motioned in the direction of the kitchen, the only room that looked like it had normal lighting spilling from the doorway. "There's nothing crazy in there, just some kegs, coolers and the container of jungle juice. Plus she said she'd call a Ryde for anyone that wanted to go home."

Rolling her eyes Blossom muttered under her breath, "that sure sounds like the Princess I know." Sarcasm was dripping from Blossom's words as she said this but she caught Brick giving her a side eye and she huffed, blowing her bangs out of her face, "it's true."

By this time Robin wasn't listening anymore as she chatted to Bubbles about what they had missed since they had arrived so late. Brick took this opportunity to say, "there's a shit-ton of adults here, I'm sure they aren't going to let any drunk kids climb into their cars."

Pursing her lips Blossom just sighed, unwilling to fight Brick on this for the moment. She had never been much of a drinker, even with friends. At the most having a hard lemonade. That's not what good girls did.

Entering the largest room in the house Brick recognized it as their 'unused' ballroom. Not massive like some were but it was a very impressive size to be in a mansion like this. The usually gleaming floors were covered in thick rubber mats, protecting the priceless feature. Hanging down beside the elaborate crystal chandelier were a few star and heart shaped disco balls, the lights that were pointed on them created a multitude of prisms. The pillars that surrounded that room were wrapped in brown paper and plastic wrap, further protection to these features. There were glittery red hearts dangling from the ceiling to signal that the party, was indeed, a Valentine's Day party. Pushed against the center wall in front of the fireplace was a platform that was set up with speakers, a large table, and tower lights.

Jeff was effortlessly moving between his open laptop and the variety of equipment he always brought to his gigs, the way he moved in his chair made him almost appear like he was floating between the mixes he was setting up. Kids from the school were swimming inside the ballroom, jumping up and down or rocking their hips along to the rhythm. It was a little more risqué than the school dances allowed, and as Robin pushed through the crowd they definitely passed more than one couple making out.

Approaching the platform set up Elmer's large form started to tower above the rest of the crowd, a pink plastic cup in one hand as he was laughing at something a very animated Mary seemed to have said. Both were rather tall and would've seen them had they been looking, but Robin's arm shot up in the air as she waved excitedly to grab their attention.

"Look who finally arrived," unlocking her arm from Bubbles' own, Robin gave a victorious saunter while her arms were raised above her head. Pablo seemed to materialize from the dense crowd as he approached with his own plastic cup in red and a frosty looking water bottle that he handed to his girlfriend.

"Awwhh, babe," Robin pushed her face close to his as she landed a peck on his cheek.

Giving a wave, Pablo grinned as Robin's attention was back on him, "glad you guys showed up." He took a sip of his own drink and noticed the way Blossom's eyes were studying him, "chill, Bloss, it's a soda. By the way, you look great."

Blossom flushed at his kind words and mumbled a, 'thanks', but Brick felt the back of his neck grow hot. Feeling self-conscious of whatever was going on in his head right now he rubbed his neck awkwardly, "hey, think Jeff will mind if I hop on the platform to say hi?"

Taking Mary's now empty cup and sliding it under his Elmer shook his head, "nah, he'll be excited, he was pretty pumped that you were coming."

Something about that statement caused a warmth to spread onto Brick's face, it was one thing to know your friends liked being around you, but it was another when you heard it from someone else.

As Brick disappeared to walk up the ramp to the platform the little group was graced with the host's presence. Her curls were pinned back on either side of her head with gold barrettes, and her face was dewy and glowing as she sauntered over to her guests with Clara beside her. Her pink knitted top draped elegantly off her shoulders and with a smile Bubbles complimented her, "you look so pretty, Princess."

With a half shoulder shrug she answered, "as if I could look like anything else." From her side she caught Clara giving her a pointed look and Princess cleared her throat, "but thanks, you too."

Blossom was tense and as much as she wanted to keep a polite smile on her face she knew it looked forced. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she felt like she was closing in on herself. She wasn't sure if she was uncomfortable or disappointed. Uncomfortable that everyone was drinking…? No, they weren't forcing her to drink anything. And there were adults keeping an eye out. Disappointed that she wanted to have fun at a party that Princess was throwing? Maybe? Her pride felt that one.

Robin skipped to Bubbles and linked arms with her, "why are we just standing around? Let's dance!" A shriek of laughter escaped Bubbles as Robin pulled her out to the dance floor.

Waving behind them as he followed, Pablo called out, "hey, save me a dance!" They only partially disappeared into the crowd, the beat of the music changing into a faster paced pop song.

"I'm gonna grab a water," Elmer said, "anyone want anything?" He pointed to Blossom, "you definitely need a drink, Bloss."

Blossom raised her hand to protest but she was interrupted by Clara, "I'll go with you, I could use a drink too." She laughed as Elmer extended an arm to her, gladly taking it as he could move through the crowd with more ease than she could.

"I'm good," Mary gestured towards Elmer but someone caught her eye as she lit up, "Kim! Over here!" A turn of a black-blue bobbed head turned to answer her name and she grinned as Mary trotted over to Kim and her girlfriend. With the others dispersed this left Princess and Blossom alone. Well, it was a room full of people, it's not like they were "alone-alone", but that was besides the point.

"So uh-," Blossom lamely started as one finger wrapped around a curled strand of her own copper hair, "I'll just go and-," she was quickly cut off.

"Wanna come with me and dance with the others?" Princess mumbled this with her arms loosely crossed over her abdomen.

Shocked, Blossom couldn't keep the surprise off of her face, "excuse me, what?"

Touching her forehead and giving a heavy sigh Princess said, "just forget it. Never mind." Her voice was hard, covering the fact that she'd actually tried to be nice to one of the Powerpuff Girls, nice to Blossom Utonium of all people. Beginning to pivot she was startled by a strong but slim hand catching her lower arm.

"Wait," Blossom swallowed that sour lump of her pride, "you're serious?"

"Well, duh?" Princess could act like it was obvious and still know she was wrong.

"Oh."

"Really? 'Oh' what?"

"Yeah, sure," Blossom was hesitant but even she could recognize that Princess wasn't being malicious or had any ill intentions. Not this time. The spoiled Morbucks actually seemed like she was trying to be nice.

Pausing, unsure if she'd heard her correctly Princess stared blankly at Blossom who tried to smirk, but the confident way she could carry it off during the battle was no match for the atmosphere of a high school party.

Slipping into a confident smirk of her own, one that radiated itself through her body, Princess grabbed Blossom's hand and skipped backwards, "then let's go. Just try to keep up."

Blossom tossed an uncertain look over her shoulder and noticed that Brick was in the booth watching her being pulled away into the crowd. He looked like he was laughing.

Jeff opened the small cooler that Princess had supplied for him and his brother, who was keeping the younger teens off the ramp, and tossed a can at Brick. Without Jeff even having to warn him Brick was easily able to snatch the drink out of the air and took a look at it before cracking it open and taking a drink. "So, you get cider and the peasants have to drink beer?"

Laughing, Jeff took a sip out of his own can before queuing up a new mix, "something like that."

Brick was watching the way Jeff moved the slides that controlled the lights and the music, the atmosphere shifting at his every command. He had to admit that it was pretty cool seeing Jeff in his element, he was damn good. He wasn't sure what had taken him so long to see his friend show off his passion, probably something to do with Brick not being a fan of parties or large crowds. Something along those lines.

Looking up into the crowd he watched as Blossom loosened up, her skirt swaying with every movement of her hips. This was interrupted by Bubbles practically jumping onto Princess and causing them to stumble into Blossom, Brick tensed as he anticipated the anger to flare up but it never did. This was probably the first time he'd seen Princess actively having fun with the girls, and even though she looked like she was pinching Bubbles' cheek pretty roughly the blonde just grinned and took her hands in her own.

Possibly feeling eyes on her, Blossom whipped her head around, her bright and rosy eyes locking with Brick's own and she gave a nervous smile before Elmer came up to her and handed her a cup. Red drinking? No way. Exhaling a laugh through his nose Brick just smiled into his own drink as he took another sip.

Out of the corner of his eye Brick noticed the coy expression on Jeff's face, puzzled Brick grunted, "what?"

"Nothin, nothin, man," Jeff laughed as he looked over his laptop screen and out to the crowd. "You and Blossom seem to be getting pretty friendly is all…" The blonde tried to hold in his laughter as Brick's face flushed vividly.

"N-no, that's ridiculous, the Professor is just helping us out with something, that's all."

"And hanging around your arch enemies and getting cookies from Bubbles is just all part of the plan, right?" That girl always handed out homemade cards and cookies to her friends for Valentine's Day, Jeff had seen Brick eating them at lunch today, he'd almost asked for one since he'd eaten his own earlier that morning.

"She gives everyone cookies," Brick tried to block the comment but one sideways look from Jeff had Brick flustered, knowing that that wasn't exactly true. "Shut up, man," Brick grumbled embarrassed into his can, glad the changing lights and overall darkness was hiding his face for the most part.

Jeff rolled his eyes and moved his chair to check on the sound system, "I'm really glad you came though," he wasn't looking at Brick as he fiddled with the knobs and slides. Brick wouldn't even pretend to know what Jeff was doing but he gave a small yet genuine smile.

After picking a few songs as they sat back in the booth Brick looked up and noticed that Blossom was pulling away from Robin and Princess, she was laughing but looked like it was straining her slightly. Brick tossed a second can into the bin under the table and motioned to the crowd, "I'm gonna take a look around, you cool here?"

Jeff gave a sly smile and nodded, "suuuuure, dude. Go have fun and try not to get into trouble," giving a quick wink he laughed at Brick flipped him off and started down the ramp. Jeff's older brother gave a half wave, he had soundproof headphones on and was reading a book on a backlit tablet, probably happy to ignore the teenage debauchery going on around him.

Dipping back into the crowd Brick noticed the bob of Blossom's hair as a beam of light caught the brilliant copper strands. However she was quickly swallowed back up by the crowd and Brick felt himself looking around cluelessly. He didn't know what it was that made him want to tease her or talk to her but tonight it was particularly strong. He felt someone bump into him and he was about to cast a disapproving glare onto them when soft fingers wrapped themselves around his own and pulled.

Looking back up was Bubbles, her eyes glowing bright as she resisted suppressing her powers completely. Nodding her head she pulled, "this way!" Brick stumbled a few steps, completely forgetting she too had super strength, as she pulled him through the crowd. After the last few weeks Brick just decided to let her do her thing. They moved quickly through the crowd and to be honest Brick wasn't sure if his feet were even on the floor the whole time. Popping out at the edge of the crowd she hovered in the air slightly as a dazed Brick got hold of his barring. Before he could say anything else she pointed a finger at him deliberately, "she'll be in the kitchen. And no fighting."

Brick raised his own finger and opened his mouth but the blonde was already skipping back off and waving goodbye, "have fun!"

Blossom had opened the third stainless steel cooler and made another unamused expression as she was met with more club sodas and other on brand cans of cola. Elmer had mentioned there were coolers with water bottles in them, she wished he had been more specific. Someone bumped against her arm and Blossom was about to make a retort when she recognized Floyd grabbing a club soda.

He looked surprised but grinned, "hey, I didn't know you were here, Blossom." It's not like they didn't see one another, with he and Bubbles both in chorus together, but it was nice to see him in a more relaxed setting.

Her face softened and she smiled, "hey, Floyd."

"Oh! You can split this with me, c'mere." His brunette head dipped as he led her over to where two of his other friends were waiting. Erin, the women's soccer captain, and Trace, a member of the men's soccer team. Erin looked Blossom up and down approvingly.

"Damn, girl, looking good," the bright lilac of her lipstick made her teeth look incredibly white as she smiled.

"Is that a new hair style?" Blossom asked, pointing in a friendly manner towards the other girl. Trace rolled his eyes but Erin tossed a few twists over her shoulder and gave an excited shimmy.

"Why must you inflate her head further?"

Laughing, Erin gave Trace a punch to the arm, "oh shut the hell up, don't be mad 'cause everyone else can recognize my style."

Blossom wasn't even paying attention as Floyd cracked open the club soda can and poured some into a cup that Erin had been holding for him, she didn't even see when he darted to fill half another cup with the jungle juice and the other half of the soda. He handed it over to Blossom who just looked confused.

"I hate waste, and you know that someone would've just tossed it."

Hesitantly Blossom gave an awkward smile and made a cheersing gesture, "thanks…" she knew her tone was dejected but she took a sip anyways and was pleasantly surprised, "oh." She took another sip, "that's like the one Elmer made."

"Yeah, that stuff is brutal straight," Floyd remarked as he took a sip.

"Ugh, it's too sweet for my liking," Erin remarked.

"I like sweet things," Blossom shared, though it wasn't too much of a surprise.

"That's so nice of you to say, Red, I didn't know you felt that way."

Blossom jumped slightly as Brick appeared on her right, he held two water bottles but ended up pocketing one. Guys were so lucky to have deeper pockets. Scowling at Brick, she was ignored as Brick nodded politely at Trace, Erin, and Floyd.

"Incorrigible as always, Brick," Blossom huffed, but in truth she didn't mind that he had appeared, she was probably getting too used to his presence.

"Oh, your brother here?" Trace asked.

"Which one?"

Trace looked kind of confused for a moment but then it dawned on him, "right, right, the blonde is your brother too. I meant Butch."

"He's working," Brick shrugged, "he's probably sulking about it right now." Though if Butch knew what was good for him he'd be focused and stealthy, not worrying about some dumb high school party. Well, it wasn't all dumb…

Nodding in understanding Trace said, "I'll be sure to rub it in next time I see him."

Erin tapped her foot impatiently, "are we ever gonna get back on the dancefloor? Emmet owes me a dance."

"Emmet dances like shit," Floyd laughed, he then gestured at Blossom and Brick, "you two coming?"

Blossom waved her free hand, "no, no, I need a break, plus I never got the water I was looking for."

Brick tilted his head, "same, it's hard to be in a room that loud for that long."

"Right, you guys have super hearing, or something like that?" Erin asked, trying to remember correctly. "Can you turn it off and on though?"

"Sometimes," Blossom explained, slightly embarrassed now. She took another sip of her drink, "but it's harder in an atmosphere like this."

Touching Blossom's shoulder, Brick indicated towards the crowd, "don't let us hold you up." His tone was friendly enough and there was only a hint of a smile on his lips, he'd kept so much of his life away from these people and to himself. Sharing details about his abilities made him nervous.

"Cool, we'll catch ya later," Floyd waved as the small group moved past them and back out to the dancefloor, Trace yelling the name of one of his other teammates as they spied each other.

Somewhat awkwardly Brick retracted his hand and pulled out the extra water bottle, "here."

Blossom was awkwardly taking a rather large gulp of the drink but her eyes lit up, "oh, thanks." She took it and managed a smile for him, "which cooler was it?"

Pivoting her around slightly Brick pointed to the large one on the kitchen table, "the one labeled 'water' on it."

It was like he could hear the internal head-smack coming from inside her brain and it was taking much of his self control to not smirk outright at her pained expression. "Oh my gosh," she muttered, downing the rest of the drink in a flash and tossing the cup into the trash.

As she began unscrewing the water bottle cap to take a gulp Brick pointed out at the cup she'd just emptied, "if you want, we can just blame the booze, Red."

After a hearty gulp, her face flushed, Blossom blinked at him and hid behind one hand, "can we just never mention that I was drinking instead?"

"Isn't that supposed to be some sort of right of passage in high school?"

"I feel like my brain is fighting static," her own hand was pressed now against her cheek but it wasn't doing much. Brick lifted his hand and reflexively Blossom jerked slightly, however Brick just scowled at her and touched her other cheek.

He seemed to be mulling it over for a split second, "you need to get some fresh air. C'mon, I know a spot." He pulled his hand away and Blossom was internally fighting to not grab his hand and place it back there. His hand had been gloriously cool from holding the other water bottle and with her face as flushed as it was it had been a relief.

Following Brick out the other side of the kitchen he dipped down a small hall that opened up to the patio and covered pool outside. There were string lights strung across, illuminating the space. Small tables were set up and there were a few people crowded around one or two of them, taking animatedly about some game or other. Brick pointed at some stone steps that lead upwards to the second level of the house overlooking the property. The cool stone and marble along with the February breeze that moved through the night were both welcome to Blossom.

Here Brick plopped down on the steps, and gestured towards the stone railing, "lean against that, it'll cool you down."

Blossom wished she was moving more cautiously but she knew she was imbalanced as one of Brick's hands raised up. Turning she sat on the cool stone and shivered slightly, but it was a shiver than ran along her spine and unlocked the tension in her bones. "Oooo, that's much better." Brick arched his eyebrows and looked rather smug but Blossom just rolled her eyes before shutting them and leaning against the smooth stone beside her. "Thanks."

Taking another sip of his own water bottle Brick watched some other people move around outside, a few girls giggling and some juniors attempting to flirt with them. The soft beat of the music coming from inside was more preferable to both Chemical X laden teens, something about not having to monitor their own hearing as it piqued at higher frequencies. He wasn't sure how Bubbles was dealing with it.

"You're pretty familiar with Princess's house," Blossom observed, her eyes still lightly shut as the flush began to dim from her skin.

Rubbing the back of his neck Brick awkwardly gestured, "well, we did date at one point, and being here was better than being at home sometimes."

"What was that like?"

Squinting at her suspiciously Brick questioned, "not wanting to be at home?"

Shifting slightly Blossom's eyes were half lidded as she fully relaxed within her own rival's presence, "no, I know what that's like. I meant dating Princess."

"You trying to date her, Red?"

Scoffing Blossom just crossed her arms and gave him a look of pure exasperation, "no, but you know how people act differently depending on who they're with."

"Like how you're acting like you don't hate me?" His grin was a little forced and came off more as a smirk, but her answer caught him off guard.

"I don't hate you, Brick." He shifted back as Blossom uncrossed her arms and chewed at her lower lip, contemplating, "I hate when you act like you're still a villain, and when you try to put on that whole 'lone wolf' routine, but I don't hate you specifically."

For a few minutes Brick wasn't sure what to say, it was a lot easier going through life assuming the girls hated his guts but the last month and a half had proved him wrong time and time again. He and Buttercup actually enjoyed joking around, she was tough and not afraid to poke at him. Recently Bubbles had even told him that he wasn't scary, she'd even grabbed his hand confidently and led him through the crowd. What was more alarming though was the fact that the more time he spent with Blossom Utonium the more he wanted to spend time with her.

He liked the way she huffed at him when he was taking the lead, and the way she pointed so specifically at things when she was bringing attention to her point, he even liked the way she laughed and reprimanded him for using foul language. Lately he liked the way she tucked her hair behind her ear when she was thinking about something and the way she smelled like a garden or summer strawberries. These were things that he hadn't expected a month ago, especially when he'd tried to get her and her sisters to back down from poking around Mojo's disappearance, even though he'd asked for the help in the first place.

"Well, you're not so bad either, Red." He wasn't sure what else to say but dared to look at her. He was met by her leaning forward slightly and looking at him in a coquettish way.

"So after all these years, that's all you're gonna say?" He opened his mouth but stopped when she laughed, "you know what, I'll take what I can get."

Not wanting to be a laughing matter he quipped, "I mean I could have said you're not as much of a stuck up bitch as I used to think, would that be better?"

Unaware she was even doing it she pushed lightly at his shoulder, "language, Brick Jojo." The drink had made her brain more foggy than usual and loosened the threads that kept her so proper and in check. "Why is it that you have Mojo's last name but not HIM's? Or at least a hyphenated version?"

Confused Brick leaned his arms against his knees, "well, we can't exactly go around being called 'his infernal majesty's sons' and that's about as close to a last name as it comes." His eyebrows knit together, "infernal? Majesty? I don't even know. It's just easier to go by Jojo."

In her current state Blossom tapped her index finger on her lips, "so if Mojo used to be the Professor's lab partner, and he accidentally helped in creating my sisters and me and then he created you and your brothers… does that make us, like, cousins?"

Shocked, Brick just stared at her and he felt like his soul was leaving his body for a moment. The audacity of Blossom Utonium bringing up such a question was… well… the audacity!

Brick found himself clutching her hand that had been close to her face and lowered it, "god no, Red. Why would you even put that out into the ether or the universe?" Embarrassed, as he could feel his own face heating up and his eyes darted away from her face. The sound of a small laugh was the only thing that brought his eyes back to her own. "How are you laughing after you asked a question like that?"

She noticed his grip on her own hand hadn't loosened, and in other situations she would have shaken him off but this was actually pretty nice. "I know we aren't cousins, different stem cells and all that," now a slightly wicked grin moved onto her lips. It was one when she was confident and known she'd gotten the best of someone, "it's just funny to see you so flustered for once."

This made Brick's ears glow red and Blossom just laughed harder, still with her hand in his he jerked her towards him and she ended up throwing her free palm down onto the cool stone to brace herself. Noticing that she was positioned looking up at Brick from her place she let her surprised eyes rise up to his own. They were glowing a deep crimson, she'd gotten underneath his skin enough for his own powers to ignite without the building sparks.

Maybe she'd thought that too soon though as a ripple of red electricity flashed over his fingers and her own hand. It wasn't unpleasant though, maybe if she'd been an ordinary human being it would have been but with her genetic makeup it was exciting. She'd expected to see anger or a look of maliciousness on his face when she zoned back out to take his expression in but what she saw surprised her. There was an uncertainty, and his boyish features stood out as stark as daylight as he seemed to be combing through a multitude of choices laid before him.

With her face tilted to look up at him, she was so close that Brick could've easily erased the few inches between them to come into contact with her face. Maybe that's what caused his eyes to soften, giving a nervous lick of his lips, "so…, Red," he sounded like he was on the verge of saying something else but had lost the nerve.

Excitement built within her chest as her heart hammered excitedly against it, and as much as she wanted to put one of her hands over it to soothe the rapid beating she also didn't want to take her hand from Brick's own or from the stone beneath her. Blossom's voice was soft as she noticed him daring to lean more forward towards her, "Brick." It wasn't a question, and she felt very strongly that she had an idea of what could be coming.

As her eyes were about to flutter closed and she could feel his hot breath against her skin she knew her face was flushed but not with embarrassment. Brick's fingers barely grazed her earlobe when a small group came clamoring out of the back door. "Aim for the trash can!" Hollered an unfamiliar voice.

Both jerked away from each other, their hands awkwardly finding their own laps as they turned away.

Stumbling past them was a kid on the basketball team along with one of the cheerleaders holding open a trash bag, "Damien, don't puke in the pool!"

Mood. Ruined.

Pulling awkwardly at the collar of his shirt Brick cleared his throat, "ah, so…," wanting to smack himself as they could hear the other student retching.

"Um, yeah…," Blossom felt incredibly lame, but she also didn't want to hear someone else puke, that would just cause her own stomach to become upset. Quickly standing she brushed off the pale pink skirt and looked up at the sky above them, "do you know where the bathroom is here?"

Standing and taking both her still partially full water bottle and his empty one Brick nodded, "yeah, follow me."

Once they entered the house again they dipped down another long hall, noticing a few people sitting neatly in the lounge and chatting casually. Brick motioned further down, "second door on your left."

"Okay, I'll be right back," Blossom said as her long legs carried her swiftly down the hall and she dipped inside the open door. Brick could hear the lock turn, and as soon as it did he smacked his forehead. Nice going.

Walking a few steps away he tossed the empty bottle out and pocketed the other, he scanned the lounge causally, not being on any super friendly terms with any of them in particular. Sure he recognized a few he had classes with over the years, and maybe a few from this current semester but not to the extent he wanted to have a full blown conversation with any of them. He was being rather lackadaisical when he heard a familiar voice, but it wasn't a tone he was all that familiar with them using.

"Stop."

Brick turned his head and walked back down to the end of the hallway, looking towards the foyer he noticed a tall figure leaning within the doorway. Normally Brick would mind his own damn business but he knew the voice and figure on the other side pretty well by now.

Bubbles had her arms crossed protectively over her chest, her blonde hair was down about her shoulders and back and she looked like she was restraining from doing something that would get her into trouble. However Jenner, the senior captain of the football team, just rolled her hair tie back and forth between his middle finger and thumb.

"You look way hotter when you don't wear your hair like a little kid," somewhere in his drunk brain this must've sounded like a compliment, but it just made Bubbles feel disgusting all over.

"Please," she started, "give me back my hair tie."

His body language changed as he cocked a hip against the doorframe and continued to loom over the blonde. "You and Blossom are such teases," just the mention of Blossom's name from another guy had Brick bristling, "you're supposed to be made of sugar, right?" His free hand reached for a lock of gold but his hand was swatted away.

"You're being a real jerk, Jenner." Instead of a pout in her voice there was a rising anger. Her hands were by her sides now and she was trying not to narrow her eyes to show her displeasure.

He grinned, "don't be like that, I'm not asking for much." She knew was he was asking for and she could feel her fingernails digging into the soft flesh of her palm.

"You shouldn't be asking for anything at all, it wasn't yours to take." Brick wasn't sure what he was waiting for, but something fell from her right hand and splattered on the floor. It was small, but Brick didn't like the coppery tinge that he caught with heightened senses.

"Just do this one teeny, tiny little thing and it's all yours, babe," his hand raised to show the hair tie again and as much as Bubbles should just turn and walk away she also didn't want to turn her back on him either. Jenner was looking like he was about to touch her again with his free hand but Brick fully turned around the corner and in just a few strides he was right behind the high school senior.

He plucked the hair tie out of Jenner's hand, "enough." As the football captain turned to look at him they were glare for glare, Brick could see the drunk fog in Jenner's eyes and he put a hand on his shoulder. Pulling him past his own body he was able to swing himself in front of Bubbles who just looked surprised at Brick's arrival.

"Whatever," Jenner shrugged and stalked off.

Turning towards Bubbles, Brick fished a crinkled napkin out of his pocket and shoved it into her hands, "here, sorry I don't have anything else." The napkin in her right hand began turning a bright crimson, luckily she hadn't broken skin on her left but the embarrassment that he'd even caught her at a moment like this was evident.

Without warning her he stepped behind her and pulled her hair back into a loose but high ponytail, he'd had plenty of experience, so his motions were quick as he assisted in righting Bubbles back to herself.

Coming back around he noticed her sniffle and looking down at her feet, "next time just knock his lights out." The distinct clatter of Blossom's shoes hit the hardwood as she came out of the connecting hallway looking worried and perhaps a little frazzled. Did she think Brick had left her completely alone?

As soon as she saw them a relief flooded her eyes as she approached them, this relief quickly morphed into concern but before Brick could explain anything further Bubbles just stepped in front of him and grasped Blossom's hands in her own. "Can we go home?"

It was on the tip of Blossom's tongue to ask what happened but with how Bubbles had been acting that week she chose instead to give a small smile. Tucking a stray hair behind her sister's ear she looked over at Brick, "we can just fly home."

Holding up a hand Brick shook his hand, "I told the Professor I'd be driving so I'll drive you both home, plus," he cast an exhausted look around them, "I've had enough socialization for one night." He pulled out his cell and checked a text message, without looking at either Powerpuff he said, "I'll say 'goodbye' to Jeff and meet you at the door."

"Thanks, Brick," Bubbles managed with a smile, but he only nodded before dipping quickly down the hall. Bubbles was jerked to attention as Blossom grasped her hand that was clutching the bloody napkin and looked at her seriously.

"You'd tell me if something was seriously wrong, right?"

Pulling away from Blossom, Bubbles turned to walk back towards the foyer, "I'm fine, Blossy." Figuring the use of a nickname would be enough to ease some of Blossom's concern. Blossom fell into step beside the blonde, they ignored the faint beat of the music as they stepped back into the color changing foyer, Bubbles gave a slight side-eye to her leader before forcing a smile. "So how was hanging out with Brick?"

Her cheeks reddened immediately and Blossom whipped her head to look at the wall while crossing her arms, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Seeing her sister being flustered made a warmth spread through the weariness and strain that Bubbles had been feeling, it wasn't often that Blossom was seen enjoying the advances of anyone and it was rather sweet. "He's actually pretty nice," Bubbles dabbed at her hand before crumpling the napkin and tossing it away in a nearby trashcan that was set up. The good thing about their powers meant that they stopped bleeding relatively quickly, now all she needed to do was let the small wounds heal over and it'd be like it never happened.

Thundering footsteps came crashing through the doorway as Robin, Mary, and Princess made their entrance. With big blue eyes Robin practically wailed, "you're going already?" Behind them a tired looking Brick came, rubbing at his right ear in irritation. Likely the doing of Princess, either pulling at him or yelling into it on the dancefloor.

Bubbles gave Robin a hug and pulled back, "I'm the party pooper this time," her smile was weak and Princess was eyeing her suspiciously.

"I can't believe you gave in before little-miss-buzzkill did," remarked Princess.

"Hey!" Blossom's hand flew in an offended manner to her collarbone, "I am not a buzzkill." The commander and leader of the Powerpuffs was actually pouting at this accusation, possibly because she was still a little buzzed from the alcohol that evening.

"Stay," Bubbles squeezed Robin's hand, "you can tell me all about your date on Monday at school." Mary laughed and Princess just crossed her arms with a huff.

Awkwardly Blossom shifted as she admitted to a once dangerous rival, "this was fun, Princess."

"Of course," but the queen bee of Townsville High was just as awkward as Blossom was.

Inwardly sighing, knowing she couldn't force Blossom to give more than that, Bubbles gave Princess a big hug, "we should hang out again sometime!" Her voice was forcefully bright, her smile soft enough to force its way through her weariness in a believable manner.

"Oh," caught off guard Princess gave a half-hearted shrug, "sure. Totally." Mary placed her hand on Princess's shoulder and winked at Brick.

"Get our girls home safely, Jojo. And text me what you get inside, Blossom."

Robin followed this with a hearty, "please!"

Brick had moved behind both the sisters by this point, he had a hand on Bubbles's shoulder but his other hand found Blossom's lower back instead as he guided them out, "thanks, ladies. Have a good one."

Princess gave Brick a raise of her eyebrows, suspicion growing in her expression, but he just gave a grunt and lowered his hands back to his side as they moved out of the opened doors.

"So who wants to take bets?" Mary slyly leaned over, Robin stifled a giggle and Princess turned her own bemused expression over to Mary.

"Those dorks? Yeah, I'm down for a bet. Whatcha got?"

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

Brick flopped over the armrest of the couch in the back living room with a heavy sigh, his nerves were absolutely shot. He'd been sober and had almost kissed Blossom. Blossom Utonium of the infamous Powerpuff Girls of all people! Groaning he let his hands cover his face, just relieved that Butch was in the shower when he'd gotten home and that Boomer wasn't sitting up with a videogame of some kind. Actually he wasn't even sure if Boomer was home.

Removing his hands from his face he stared up at the ceiling, he knew he should get to sleep but his brain was scrambling through the evening as if he was putting together a puzzle without a distinct pattern.

Someone's feet were quietly padding across the hardwood floors and as Brick leaned up, Butch appeared in the doorway rubbing his towel across his dark hair. Brick stared at his brother for a moment before stating, "you're dripping water everywhere."

Rolling his eyes Butch chose to ignore his brother, lazily draping the towel over his shoulders and walking slightly behind the couch he gave a nod of his head, "I put the scroll in your room, I had to hide in the fucking sewer just to get to the right place to fly off." He was grumbling about it but overall didn't look displeased. Butch enjoyed the thrill that those jobs brought.

"I really wish you boys would stop with this freelance nonsense," the high and lofty voice came from the armchair as HIM sipped on a cup of tea. Brick sat up quickly and Butch yelped before holding the towel over his bare chest.

"Damnit, can you not do that?" He wasn't sure why he had such a knee jerk reaction to his other father's appearance.

The black and slim pantsuit was new, and Brick noticed that the heels sported the luxury red bottoms. HIM took another sip from their cup and brushed a wrinkle from the deep décolletage of the jacket, although they appeared aloof there was something weary in the way they moved. The bang and lock of the door caused all three of them to look towards the hall, "ah, finally, my sweet Boomie is home."

Brick sighed, "yo, Boom! Come in here."

Trudging into the living room Boomer picked a stray blade of grass off his sweatshirt, "how was the party?" He didn't even notice HIM at first, who now appeared unamused that they were being ignored, but also jumped slightly as he did. "Oh. Uh… what's going on?"

Butch peered carefully at Boomer, "dude, why're you covered in dirt?"

"Crashed into the park, no big," Boomer leaned against the armrest of the couch but Brick shoved him off.

"You're gonna get dirt everywhere." Boomer resisted the urge to ruffle his own blonde hair to dislodge dirt onto Brick and instead crossed his arms and looked towards HIM. Their other 'father' eyed up all three sons who suddenly appeared very nervous beneath their gaze, they were definitely hiding something.

"What party would this be, Brickums?" Brick grimaced at the nickname but just shrugged one shoulder.

"Just a high school thing, my friend was DJ-ing." Pursing his lips to refrain from saying anything else Brick suddenly understood what others meant when they said their parents interrogated them. This was extremely uncomfortable.

Taking an exaggerated sip from the cup HIM looked flatly over the rim before setting it in the air to float beside their materialized hand. "I can always take a looksee for myself if you boys insist on being dishonest with me," they scoffed, "the very idea that I even raised such disrespectful children!"

Butch grumbled from his spot, "if you already know then why are you making such a big deal out of it…?" As the bright pale green eyes swung to lock onto the dark haired boy a mocking smile curved onto those black lips of HIM's.

"Well yes, I might already know," Butch was rigid under the gaze and Boomer just looked confused, he tried to catch Brick's eye but his leader was staring into his hands. Brick had an inkling that something was going on, the family-style dinner had tipped that much off but he didn't feel like prying into Butch's relationship with the girls.

Trying to break the awkwardness of the situation Boomer just casually remarked, "well I'm starting to be good friends with the girls and I was hanging with the guys and Buttercup tonight." Another blade of grass was discarded from his hair now, "the girls are pretty cool."

HIM appeared surprised by the lax approach Boomer had taken and Brick and Butch just appeared dumbfounded. HIM cast a look at the other two who refrained from chiming in with their brother. "And you two?"

"They're okay," Butch mumbled and Brick nodded in an uncomfortable solidarity.

This wasn't exactly what HIM wanted, "forming attachments to those girls won't do you much good." A glass nail file appeared in their hand as they buffed out an imperfection from their manicure, "if this ruckus with this… creature continues then they'll likely end up dead." HIM gave a deep frown as they extended their hand to get a better look, "and I can't fix that kind of dead."

"What are you saying?" Brick's voice was on edge, "can't you just see where this thing came from?"

Unamused HIM blew at their fingers and snapped the file out of existence, "in order to do that, my sweet boy, I would have had to have tabs on where exactly it originated from. Or better yet, who. Plus a whole lot of other mystic-underworld knowledge that I cannot disclose."

"So someone made this thing?" Brick was musing this mostly to himself but Butch gave a shiver just from the reminder of those creatures, he didn't have that all impending dread that seemed to follow Blondie around but he wasn't ignorant to the darkness that loomed just outside of his emotions when it came to that. It was oppressive.

Crossing their legs in the other direction now HIM leaned in a manner that all the boys really could tell that they were weary.

"What's happening?" Brick asked this with more force than he had intended, but HIM was definitely keeping something from them.

"It's getting stronger," HIM hadn't been the one who wanted to know this but it was attacking their assigned guards and spies they had lurking around the city. These demons were now beyond help, needing only to be put out of their misery within the depths of Hell. "I am planning on infiltrating Mojo's mind, although getting into that lab undetected is proving to be a challenge."

"No!" Boomer was shocked at his own reaction but quickly followed, "not until he's out of that coma, we don't want to lose him again. Please." He even took a step forward, his deep cobalt eyes were pleading with HIM at this moment. Butch moved and clutched at the elbow of Boomer's sleeve, although Boomer had voiced the same concern they all held they rarely were so vocal about defying HIM's desires. That was Brick's job.

As HIM stood up, their height dwarfing the three with the added pumps, they took a few steps across the room towards their 'sons'. At the sudden movement Brick shot up from his seat, his eyes were intense and defiant, no one was allowed to smack his brothers around except for him.

Tutting as they halted, HIM just waved a hand casually, "now, now, you boys are so defensive. I can't wait until your hormones are finally in check." The three just exchange puzzled glances but HIM crossed their arms, "I need to see exactly what could be lurking in that primate's skull, there could be a clue… but…," here they paused to take things into further consideration. "I guess since you boys were correct about Mojo still being alive, I can give it a few more days…," they tried to ignore the small smile that appeared on Boomer's lips, but HIM was glad they could come to a temporary compromise.

"If this gets worse though, that's off the table." The cheeriness in their voice was not appropriate for the situation in the least.

"Fair," though Brick didn't really mean it.

Giving two flourishes of the wrist the red claws replaced the delicate hands that HIM enjoyed materializing from time to time. Now they pointed a claw at the boys and jabbed at the air, "now no more sticking your noses into this creature business though. I mean it! You are not the Powerpuff Girls." The anger that trailed on the last word raked through the air with invisible heat. Exhaling and pushing back a strand of dark hair that had fallen out of place HIM cleared their throat, "excuse me, old habits die hard."

Boomer opened his mouth but Butch quickly clapped his hand over it, if they didn't say anything then it didn't mean they were making a promise, right?

"And please stop with this freelance nonsense, it's such a waste of your talents," pouting now HIM brushed the lapel of their jacket again before stepping back. "Kisses! Ta-ta~!" The swirling smoke engulfed HIM and quickly dissipated, revealing their empty living room. With the vanishing of HIM the floating cup shattered on the floor and Brick smacked his head.

"I fuckin' hate when they do that…" turning to grab a dustpan from the utility closet. Unfortunately, this was a rather common habit that HIM had developed.

Butch just sighed and flopped onto the vacated couch, "so how much are we going to listen this time?"

Shrugging, Boomer answered, "probably as much as we usually do."

"Great," pointing a finger gun at the blonde, "so not at all. Got it."

As he swept up the broken porcelain Brick barked, "alright, enough. Butch, that report better be on my desk in the morning," he ignored the groan as Butch slunk back to the stairs, "and Boomer…" narrowing his eyes and gesturing at the blonde, "I don't want to even know, get in the shower and try not to make such a big mess."

Sarcastically Boomer threw his hands in the air, "jeeze, mom, I got it." However he stopped in the doorway and leaned to look over his shoulder, "so, be honest, how was the party?"

Pausing, but glad to be facing away from Boomer, Brick answered, "you know, it was actually pretty fun." Since he was being honest with himself, "I had a good time."

Smiling, Boomer nodded and gave the doorframe a simple smack, "good. I'm glad. I'll see ya in the morning." He climbed up the steps after Butch, knowing he'd have to stop by the hall closet to fish out a new towel. Butch never replaced the ones he took.

As he dumped the remains into the trashcan and put the pan and brush away Brick wasn't feeling so much anxiety about almost kissing Blossom anymore. He wanted to do it, and knew he wanted to do it, so for right now that was enough.

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

February 14th, Valentine's Day, Saturday Early Morning

Her response time was off, and although she was throwing the barriers up it still didn't feel as strong as they had been before. Chewing at the corner of her lower lip, Bubbles stopped to stare up into the growing pink of the sky. Even though she'd arrived a little early this morning Butch was still running late. There was something of worry rolling around in her stomach, she'd been tempted to call him but didn't want to end up annoying him.

He should have called her though if he wasn't coming, right? Or was he ditching her? That thought alone made her want to smack his stupid face.

Returning back to her discarded backpack and sneakers on top of a smooth and flat rock Bubbles checked her phone with some uncertainty. Her home screen just showed a selfie she and her sisters had taken together over Winter break, but there were no messages or anything like that. Wiggling her toes in the cold sand her thumbs hovered over the glass as she debated unlocking it and just send a text his way.

Resolutely she discarded the phone back into her bag and turned her back on it, trudging off towards the ocean. The hard packed sand close to the waters edge felt sturdy, and although it wasn't something she'd normally do she sat onto the damp sand with her legs crisscrossed.

Watching the pink fade into orange Bubbles was glad she didn't wear watches and that she'd left her phone back on the rocks. Perhaps she was pouting at the thought of being ditched, the fact that she wasn't even worth a text hurt. She was always putting up this sweet and accepting front but this was eating at her as much had been lately. Being alone was harder nowadays with the creeping feeling that something was bound to happen, she woke in cold sweats from nightmares of that creature ripping off her limbs and engulfing the entire city in it's spiny-teeth mouth.

Behind her Butch was finally landing, out of breath he dumped his backpack on the rock beside her own things and looked around. It didn't take long to spy the blonde hair catching the early rays of morning light and he started over towards her with an apology at the ready on his tongue. HIM appearing out of nowhere last night had caught Butch off guard, and maybe he'd been more tired from the mission than he'd anticipated but oversleeping by a full hour and a half wasn't like him.

"Yo, Blondie, sorry I'm late," he stopped only a few feet away from her and was surprised when she turned to look at him. Bubbles was all big doe-eyes and her facial expression was soft, but something about the smile didn't lead up to her eyes.

"It's fine."

He was puzzled as she stood up and brushed off the seat of her shorts, "that's a load of shit."

She straightened and looked at him as if she had no idea what he could possibly be referring to. "What do you mean?"

"You're mad at me, I know you are."

Pausing, Bubbles looked at his bedhead and piercing eyes, "you apologized, I'm sure you had a good reason." Pushing up her sleeves she motioned towards him and took a few steps to move past him. "Do you want to get start-," but she was cut off as Butch gripped her forearm tightly.

He didn't look at her, staring at the ground, he was getting pissed off and maybe it wasn't wholly for a good reason but he had to say something. "Can't you just be honest with yourself for once?"

"What?" She tried to pull back but his grip only intensified.

"Just be fuckin' mad, I upset you, now tell me that."

Narrowing her eyes Bubbles lifted her chin, "I'm not mad." Her tone was hard but level and she was growing alarmed internally that he was managing to pull this reaction from her.

"Bullshit," he hissed. Butch didn't understand why he needed her to admit her anger and disappointment in him, maybe he'd feel less guilty if she did. Bubbles always kept smiling, but all that smiling couldn't be good for a person's psyche.

Throwing up her other hand to shove at Butch he just grabbed that wrist, she was startled by how firm his grip was and why he was being so adamant about her telling him that she was mad with him. Biting her lower lip with some hesitancy she swallowed that quiet voice that told her to just 'let it go' and followed her gut with this one.

Butch should have been focusing on her actions more than her facial features, he was just so damn frustrated with her acting like shit didn't bother her when it did. Even Boomer wouldn't roll over to easy and he was her counterpart. Swiftly the pale sparks of her powers wrapped themselves down her arms and she quickly jerked back as a solid wall of sapphire light smacked his grip off of her. Just as quick as hands had been snapped away did she rock forward and slam the barrier with as much force as she could muster from her position into Butch's body.

She was surprised when he went reeling back roughly 20ft, but he dug his sneakers into the sand to stop the progression. Shock was exactly what he was feeling as he looked over at the small blonde, but finally he saw the furrow of her brow and the tightness at the corner of her mouth and a smug grin of satisfaction came onto his lips.

Rolling his head to the side he shook his hands by his side for a few seconds before the sharp emerald light engulfed his hands. Smacking them together he gave a crack of his knuckles before swinging them down, his legs quickly covering up the space between them before he jumped in the air to bring them down with force.

Her response was just in time as panic squeezed her heart, dragging her hands above her she created a dome around her just as the force of Butch's attack slammed into the barrier. Part of her wanted to yelp but she was also trying to figure out her next step. He rebounded off of her barrier, rather impressed she'd been able to get it up that quickly, but he didn't have time to continue to admire his student's work as the barrier fell and a blue covered fist came dangerously close to his face.

Now they were in the air, and the ferocity that poured out of her tiny frame was enough to keep Butch on the defense as he blocked her own moves. What he didn't catch was the high kick that slammed into his ribs, sending him back towards the ground. He did, however, anticipate her follow through and effortlessly he threw up his own barrier between them just as her fist connected.

His reaction time was better than hers though when it came to working with the barrier alongside additional attacks. Smoothly he transitioned onto the offense and launched a few attacks in her direction. He knew he'd connected but her own thrown attack had as well, though she'd only had to launch one.

Converging on the shore, Bubbles fists continued to seek and block Butch's own, giving a frustrated grunt she slammed her bare heel into his chest and followed it up with a hard blast of her powers. They were actually beating each other up.

Butch was ready to head back onto the offense as they both landed hard onto the tightly packed sand but Bubbles came at him so quickly all he could do was throw that humming barrier around himself and stand his ground.

At this point all sense had gone from her head as she continued to slam fists and feet into the dome, the kicks and twists were only wearing her down further but she couldn't stop herself. Bubbles wasn't sure how long she'd been beating at the barrier or how long Butch had been keeping it up but slowly she pulled back on the force.

It wasn't until she was breathing heavily that she stopped and dropped onto her knees. She was spent for the time being, she was looking at her worn knuckles when the hard snap of the barrier sounded and Butch dropped to one knee opposite of her.

His own breath was slightly labored as he worked to control it by inhaling through his nose and exhaling through his mouth. He'd pushed her. They hadn't fought so adamantly since they were kids, and even then they tended to stick predominantly to their counterparts instead of going after one another, but it had been known to happen from time to time.

Butch's large hands took each of her own one at a time, he couldn't say why he did this, especially since he knew the snapping of the barrier wasn't something that was entirely too damaging at this point to her. Maybe he just wanted to touch her. It'd been a long time since he'd seen her like that, and up close.

"I was mad at you," her voice was small and she wasn't looking into his face.

Still holding her hand in his he gave an almost smug smile, "I know."

"Then why did you have to make me even angrier? You didn't even text me to say you'd be running late! Or you could've been hurt, or you could've just been ditching me." Pulling her hands back from him she shifted so her legs were between them, hands tightly holding her knees. This was how she would put distance between them for now.

Sighing he folded down onto the sand, crossing his own legs.

"Remember when you said I always follow saying something nice by being a gross jerk?"

Bubbles gave a small laugh and smiled at her lap, "I don't think I phrased it like that."

"Well I don't think you should lie just to spare someone else's feelings," he was very matter of fact in his statement and just watched as she seemed to take in what he'd said.

"I just-," placing a hand on her forehead and trying to figure out the right words, "I just don't want people to feel bad."

Shrugging rather nonchalantly he said, "I should feel bad, you're right, I could've texted you that I was running late."

Having someone be genuinely concerned about his whereabouts was new territory. Sure, his brothers cared (sometimes), and Marion checked in with him. Sometimes even Mojo and HIM expressed wanting to hear from him but this was different, this wasn't a family thing.

"I'll try to be more mindful if it happens again."

Bubbles wasn't all that sure how to respond at first but followed it with, "thanks."

They sat like that for a few minutes, both awkward in where this conversation was supposed to go now. Picking at the skin around her thumbnail, Bubbles stole a few glances at Butch as he had his face turned towards the sea. With his dark hair blowing gently off of his forehead and his eyes so focused on the horizon she was seeing him in a new perspective, like the way the morning light outlined his profile and reflected off of his dark hair.

His eyes flicked over to her and instead of being embarrassed like she should've been she just rolled her head to one side and continued to observe. Now was his turn to be embarrassed, looking away he awkwardly rubbed at his chin.

"Do I have something on my face?"

"No," she answered so quickly that he turned his face back to her, "you're just really, really pretty."

Stiffening, Butch recoiled slightly with his face beat red, "men are not pretty!" Lifting his hand he cleared his throat, "girls aren't supposed to call boys 'pretty'."

Perhaps Bubbles was too tired to really think straight at the moment, instead just enjoying the flustered look on Butch's face, "I like to think I'm kinda familiar with HIM, and I feel like they'd object to what you just said." There was a slow and smug smile on her lips as she said this, lord knows the devil creature was the first to drop gender stereotypes.

"Well next time tell me I'm 'manly' or 'rugged', alright?" Not that he wanted there to be a next time.

"What about handsome?"

Now she was just pushing it, "if you keep this up I'mma yeet you into the ocean."

Her laughter bubbled more naturally to the surface, and it made sense why she'd been named such, standing she held her hand towards Butch to help him up. Rolling his eyes it appeared like he had no intention on taking her hand at all but he surprised himself by doing so. He was able to actually pull his body up with her as an anchor, a benefit of her strength, but once he was up he didn't let go. Instead he tugged her by the hand and pulled her down the shore a few more feet.

"C'mon, since you've gotten pretty good with training I'll show you something as a reward." Butch only leered slightly and gave a short laugh at her open mouthed expression, leaving it at that.

Bubbles had been surprised that he didn't let go of her hand but after feeling so alone the last few hours she welcomed the warmth of his large hand around her own smaller one. Stopping not too far from the waters edge Butch released her hand and kicked off his shoes before turning to her.

"Stay close," and with little effort he wrapped them into the humming barrier, this time though it ran under their feet and Bubbles gave a small giggle. She was wiggling her sandy toes on the base of the barrier, surprised it ran beneath them without any interference.

"It kinda tickles."

Switching into teaching mode Butch just nodded, "if you're making direct contact with it like that then it should, especially from the inside. You okay to float?" They'd cooled down from their earlier fight but even Butch had to take extended time for recovery every now and again.

In answer she left her feet dangling over the humming base and nodded.

"Alright," levitating off the bottom himself Butch pulled the barrier into more of a spherical shape as they moved forward into the lapping waves. The water that was parting for them pushed against the barrier and splashed in protest to the almost electric hum.

Pushing their way deeper Bubbles noticed the small fish that were up close to the shore, the shells embedded into the sand below peeking out. Although the color was warped by the glow of the barrier it didn't make it any less cool. There was some nervousness on her part as they dipped deeper into the ocean, but as they were fully submerged she felt the joy of experiencing something new.

The suns rays were breaking through the waters surface, illuminating the lively landscape around them. Swaying high above the coral and twisted rocks were hundreds of kelp vines, their leaves capturing the light and creating patterns along the sea floor.

"It's a kelp forest," Butch explained, and used a free hand to gesture to follow him further in. Staying close, Bubbles was resisting the urge to chatter on and on about the different fish they were seeing. "Look over there," Butch pointed out a good few feet away and Bubbles felt like she was holding her breath.

It's fin cut through the water almost lazily as it moved through the kelp forest, the silence of a creature so large was mystifying but it showed no interest in the glowing sphere. "We're about 25ft down, give or take," Butch explained.

"You don't think it's gonna come near us, right?"

Half laughing Butch looked down at her, "don't tell me you're scared of a little shark?"

Giving Butch a notable glare she said, "that is not a small shark!" But she was partially enthralled by watching the massive creature move through the waters until it was out of sight.

"It wasn't a Bull or Tiger, plus it's probably hunting for something it can munch on." With a feral grin that showed his canines Butch flashed it at Bubbles who just gave him a soft shove on the arm.

They stayed beneath the water for a few more minutes before heading back towards the shore, Butch was just taking in the sound of her chatter as she expressed her excitement over doing something like this, and with the barrier no less.

"You liked that, huh?"

Giving an excited clap she exclaimed, "yes! It was so pretty down there." As they waded closer to their hips Bubbles asked, "do you do that a lot? Go down under the water like that?"

Feeling slightly uncomfortable Butch made light of it, "eh, I used to when I was younger and would fight with Mojo or HIM. I thought I might wanna study sharks as an adult."

"You should totally do that!" She had stars in her eyes at that, maybe part of it was because he was opening up to her on a level she didn't think he would but either way it was exciting.

Chucking he asked, "I thought you were afraid of sharks? You really gonna encourage me to study them?"

"Well," as they were now up to their ankles Butch released the barrier with a hard snap and dropped them into the waves, ignoring the splash Bubbles continued her thought, "if you study them then you can tell me more shark facts and I won't be so scared of them anymore."

That implied she expected them to still be close in the years to come, and Butch felt conflicted towards this. He was liking getting to share these small things with someone but being close to the girls was everything he'd resisted his entire existence. Especially this bubbly one.

Shuffling out of the water Butch scooped his sneakers off of the sand and they made their way back over to their discarded things. They were quiet as they dried off their feet and laced sneakers back on, but reflecting on that morning Butch couldn't deny that she'd gotten better with the barrier than he'd expected.

"So I guess I'll see you around?" He wasn't sure what he was expecting, maybe when they went to see Mojo, or at school.

Not picking up on his intentions Bubbles pulled up the calendar on her phone, "when do you want to get together next? I think Tuesday is clear for me."

"You still want to do this?" She just looked at him confused, "you still want to train? You seemed to have a decent handle on it during our fight so I figured you were good."

Without hesitation Bubbles blurted, "of course I want to!" Her appetite for more was dropping all hesitation, "oh! And before I forget," she began rummaging in her bag. "I didn't see you Friday but I already gave some to both Boomer and Brick but I wanted you to have these." She pulled out a small baggie of cookies with a grin on her face, "they're Valentine's Day cookies."

Surprised by her answer and then this gift she seemed to be offering, Butch hesitantly took it from her. She said she'd given both Brick and Boomer cookies of their own so it wasn't weird for him to take them, right? Giving her a small smile he said, "thanks." He knew he needed to follow up with something more though, "didn't know you liked me that much, sugartits." A roguish wink sent her way to seal the statement.

"Of course I like you," she rolled her eyes and zipped up her bag before tossing it over her shoulder. Her head was down and she didn't see the surprised expression on his face, but he cleared his throat and turned slightly away from her.

"So these are supposed to be Valentine's cookies, huh?"

She liked the way his face softened when he said it like that, "yeah, I think everyone deserves a Valentine."

Putting them into his bag he wrapped them in a discarded hoodie to protect them on the journey home, "pretty good start to my Valentine's Day then, it can only get better tonight, right?"

It wasn't surprising that he had a date, he and his brothers were good looking guys. Plus they were really fun to be around the more they opened up. So why was she feeling this twinge of jealousy?

"You have a date tonight?"

He could tell her voice was being a little forcefully bright, but he let this one go, not ready to even try to read into it. "Naturally," he was giving a cool grin but saw the way she kind of pursed her lips in a tight close mouthed smile.

"Sounds fun," she wasn't looking him in the eye though.

"Not really," he gave a dry chuckle as she gave him a disbelieving look, "Harry is dragging me on another double date with this girl he's been seeing and her friend. Fuckin' snooze-fest, I'd rather be home whooping Boomer's ass in Mario Kart." He noted the small quirk of her lips untensing and added, "cheaper too."

"You're terrible," but she laughed as she said it.

"Too late to change that now," Compelled he questioned, "what about you? Big fancy date with the captain of the football team?" Butch hoped he didn't sound as bitter as he felt in that moment, but she scowled and looked down at the sand.

"Jenner is a buttface."

Brightening a bit at this news Butch heartily agreed, "fuck him."

"Right?" She doubted he knew what happened last night but it felt good to have someone else agree. An alarm on her phone went off and silencing it she gave a sigh, "I like talking to you like this but I need to get home and shower, maybe take a nap if Blossom doesn't catch me."

"Oh, you gonna think about me while you're in there?" Butch was definitely pushing it but he got a lovely shade of pink to appear on her cheeks. Pinching one of those cheeks he gave a wicked grin, "see ya later, sugartits." He leapt into the air and shot backwards with a small wave, definitely looking much more confident than he felt.

Surprised, Bubbles just stood there and watched him fade away into the morning sky.

It's like they took turns surprising the other as they tested the boundaries of this relationship. Eventually Butch would have to figure out if she was flirting or just being Bubbles. Bubbles on the other hand would need to figure out if she was starting to like the Baron of Bezerk as more than a friend.

She couldn't help that she was looking forward to seeing him and wanting to be around him more and more as time went by.

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

February 14th, Valentine's Day, Saturday Night

Stepping out of the cab Pablo had picked Robin up in he held out his hand to her with the cheesiest smile, "Ms. Snyder." Robin was all smiles as she took his hand and exited the car. In admiration Pablo gave a low whistle to his girlfriend, "you're killing me, honey."

Internally Robin gave a sigh of relief, she'd spent three hours with the girls just picking out the right shoes and dress as well as carefully applying the glossy mauve lipgloss that Pablo had complimented her on during their first date. So apparently Buttercup had been right about the jewel green with the floral print dress, and even though it had sheer sleeves and a high neckline the open back of the dress added a certain sexiness to it. The short hemline showcased her long legs which was emphasized by the strappy black heels.

Tossing her long ponytail over her shoulder she too gave an admiring step back, "I couldn't let you outshine me," tapping an index finger on his lips playfully she pulled him closer to her. Her forward attitude was something that he'd always admired as friends but as her boyfriend he found it incredibly attractive.

Giving a low chuckle in his throat he held up a finger, "hold up, and let me pay the driver." He gave her a kiss on her temple despite her currently being an inch or so taller in her heels. Robin pivoted on her toes to fully take in one of the hottest restaurants in Townsville. At 60 stories it was no slump, and the old classic architecture mixed with the modern industrial interior held a charm that was still popular.

To think that Pablo had gone out of his way to get them a reservation at The Blacksmith almost made her want to throw up with excitement. She was a teenage girl, sometimes excitement resulted in hurling stomach contents all over the sidewalk. Tonight wasn't that night though.

Downtown Townsville boasted some of the most luxurious stores and services the city had to offer, it was also the cleanest part of the city due to the high tourist activity. Normally high foot-traffic like that would mean more litter and less decorum but there were dedicated sanitation departments for this section as well as a rotating force of officers. If someone had asked Chief Rosa on her opinion of it she'd probably glare them out of the room.

"Shall we?" Pablo held his arm out to Robin who continued grinning as she slipped her hand around his arm.

"Ooo, have you been working out, Mr. Ruiz?"

She waggled her eyebrows at him as they boarded the elevator and he blushed a bit, "Robin," he paused but couldn't help looking into those big blue eyes of hers, "I hope this is the best Valentine's Day date you've ever had."

Covering her mouth as the elevator surged up she grinned behind her fingers, "it already is."

Although they were out on the terrace they were comfortable in the pleasantly mild evening air. Dusk had just started to fall and although there were surrounded by roughly 15 other tables the two teens really felt like it was just the two of them as they laughed and caught up on all the things they couldn't when they weren't together.

"I'm still narrowing down what I might want to major in in college, I have a meeting with Ms. Keane next week to go over some ideas, but what if I'm wrong?"

Shrugging, Pablo replied, "then you start over again, my cousin changed her major three times and now she's a Project Manager for a construction company and loves it."

"I'm glad we can talk about this stuff together," Robin's tone was genuine and Pablo returned a warm smile in her direction.

Popping one of the buffalo cauliflower 'wings' into her mouth Robin gave her shoulders a little shimmy. She and Pablo had shared a love of good food for a long time ago, he was never afraid to explore different dishes with her or the sketchy holes in the wall that often served up the best BLT around.

"That good, huh?" Even though this place had a reputation for being popular and busy he knew that the food was something that Robin would be dying to try.

"You picked a great place, sweetie," she reached for his hand and grasped it with a tender squeeze. "You know I would love anywhere you picked though, right? Even that hotdog stand at the corner by city hall."

He knew the one, they'd tried a tofu dog and the guy had loaded too much relish on it. They'd both been sick to their stomachs. "I know, but I knew you'd really, really like this place. Plus they have an awesome dessert selection."

They continued chatting as a busser came to refill their water glasses, casually asking, "you two need a refill on your other drinks? I can pass the info to your server."

"Hm," Pablo mused, "how's the pineapple mocktail?"

The busser was no older than 19 and she gave a thumbs up, "it's great!"

"Can I try that? And what about you-," but a loud bang and ripple through the building cut him off.

Alarmed, Robin leaned over the railing to look down at the street, she ignored Pablo's yelp as he clutched the side of her dress. He didn't want her being too reckless when it came to the creatures that invaded the city.

Observing closely a store alarm was blaring across the street and an overturned car was smashed against the building they were currently in. Even though she couldn't make out serious details it would be hard not to guess who the figure in red was- a dark tendril of hair ensnaring and tossing a well dressed man out of the jewelers window and over her shoulder.

From a table behind them someone yelled, "dinner and a show!" Which garnered a few uncomfortable laughs. Mayhem was normal in this city but something about the atmosphere didn't feel right.

"Do you think-," but Pablo barely got the words out before Robin twisted in her seat as another rumble came from the building across the street.

An ash gray colored creature with horns and wings like a bat leapt out of the building cradling in it's arms a kaleidoscope of jewels. Widening her eyes Robin knew she'd seen the girls fight creatures like that before, she was pretty sure they usually came from HIM though so what was Seduca doing with one?

Sitting back down and staring at Pablo as they heard other people a few stories up leaning over the railings, Robin fidgeted slightly. Unsure what to say to ease her Pablo just reached for her hand again, "I'm sure the girls are already on their way."

The busser was already running around the restaurant with other servers and the managers were telling people to remain calm and in their seats. Spinning red and blue lights reflected off of the surrounding buildings, three high pitched sounds of the sirens wailed.

"Drop the merchandise and put your hands behind your head," the voice rang through the speakers as an officer stood half in their vehicle behind their door.

Seduca seemed unfazed as she snapped and pointed at the officers and a second winged demon descended from a nearby building, talons outstretched to sink into unmarred flesh. A few shots were fired from two of the guns but the demon inhaled deeply before igniting one of the cars in green fire. Dodging out of the way as the engine rumbled ominously, the officers dove for cover as the two in the second vehicle shot at the retreating creature.

Her laugh rang loudly as the flames seemed to slink around the metal of the vehicle, searching for the correct components to cause an explosion. A firetruck's sirens began to blare through the city evening to signal that they were on their way and someone at a nearby table scoffed, "seriously?"

Picking up her cell phone, Robin started to tap over to the address book when Pablo stood up from the table, "I'm sure they've already been called." He moved around the table and took her hand, "we should get back, they'll probably be evacuating soon."

She knew he was right, she stood and took his hand and as she did the three piercing streaks could be heard as they approached the city in record time. From sheer habit Robin turned and clutched the railing, relief flooding her chest as the girls landed in quick succession, the asphalt breaking beneath the force of their approach beneath their feet.

Tossing her long braid over her shoulder Blossom lifted a brow in silent challenge to the villainess. They hadn't taken the time to switch into their uniforms when they'd heard it was only Seduca, though the two demons from HIM would've been nice to hear about.

A shiver ran down Bubbles's spine and she darted her eyes around their surroundings, it was a smothering fog of uneasiness that was dropping itself over her senses. Blindly her hands looked for something to do as she adjusted the belt around her high waisted shorts.

"Blossom," her voice was a hiss in the air but all Blossom was able to do was give her a small head shake. Now wasn't the time to let their focus fall to other things.

Crimson silk arms crossed in a defiant and irritated manner and a sneer lifted the corner of her voluptuous blood red lips, "figures you brats would be sent to ruin my shopping spree." Cocking a hip to the side she gestured with one hand towards the demon that was holding the gems to put them in a heavy velvet bag that was lying on the ground.

Buttercup shifted back in her boots as she called out, "aren't you a little old to be dressing like that, ma'am?"

The vibrant green eyes narrowed in her pale face and Seduca lifted her chin, it was true that she wasn't as young as she had been but she also knew she was still an attractive woman. She'd do whatever she had to in order to stay beautiful, and in all honesty she had. Waist long ebony hair quivered and waved in the wind apprehensively, she hadn't built much of a cohesive relationship as the girls had aged like a few other villains had and she wasn't about to start today.

Mock pouting at the dark haired teen Seduca clipped back, "I'd apologize for interrupting your date but we all know that nobody wants to touch a dykey little bitch."

Against her better judgement Buttercup bristled at this, her hands engulfed in the sharp chartreuse of her powers. Even her short hair was floating around her face as she began to crouch into an attacking stance.

Blossom raised a hand in front of Buttercup, who continued to look right through her. "Don't let her get to you."

Her bitter bark of a laugh moved past her lips, "she ain't even worthy of being my target." Buttercup's voice was low but she smirked at the older woman across the way.

Police officers seemed to be escorting people away from the streets while others blocked off traffic from getting anywhere too close.

With a hard jerk Bubbles leapt sideways as a tendril of hair came snapping viciously in her direction, but this gave entrance for one of the demons to lunge forward and knock her into the air.

"Go!" She pulled her knees to her chest and kicked the monster away from her body, Blossom and Buttercup didn't even wait to check if Bubbles really had it under control before they met their other two opponents.

Long black hair slithered over Blossom's pant leg as she raised it for a kick and whipped her back into an evacuated cab that was still on the street. Feeling the collapse of the metal beneath her back she only closed her eyes for a moment before focusing on the feral woman coming at her. Pink sparks danced down her arm as the rose glow enveloped her hand, just as Seduca was about to dig her nails into her flesh, Blossom swung into an uppercut aimed at the woman's jaw.

However her aim was a little off and all of the power didn't follow through. The villainess went sliding across the pavement, halting in a crouching position, the look of fury on her face was only amplified by her smeared red lipstick. Inhaling deeply Blossom blew out the ice powers she was well known for, halting two tendrils of hair mid-strike.

Meanwhile Buttercup had her hands full of one of the demon's wings as she spun it around, the bright green energy swirling around them like a mini twister. Upon release she sent it hurling down the block, far past the Police blockades.

"Seriously, Buttercup?" An exasperated sigh escaped Blossom as she shook her head in disapproval.

Giving a half-hearted shrug Buttercup simply replied, "whoopsie!" The smirk on her face adding insult to injury.

Barreling down from the sky to slam into the asphalt were Bubbles and the other demon, she was forcing it down with her hands and part of her arm was immersed within that sapphire glow. As she crushed down into the center of the demon's chest it burst into dark gray dust, a wisp of smoke trailing away as it returned back to HIM's realm. Emerging from the crater and wiping at the grime on her cheek she was clapped on the back by Buttercup.

"Nice!"

Bubbles couldn't help the smile that made it's way onto her face, her sisters knew she could be tough but it still felt good to be acknowledged. "Thanks," she moved to stand by Blossom, "the fountain is right behind us."

A wicked grin slid onto Blossom's face, "good call, I think she could use a little cool off."

As Seduca ducked to avoid the ice breath that came for her she whipped several tendrils of hair at the girls, using them to snap at their faces. Buttercup began using her heat vision and lopped one of the long strands in half, the smell of burning hair quickly permeating the area.

"Ugh!" Grunting as she smoothed and soothed the singed hair in her gloved hands Seduca glared at the green Puff, "I'll make you pay for that!" However before either party could move forward a grotesquely deformed demon shoved open a manhole in the street, dragging itself out pitifully.

It must have broken through the street when Buttercup had tossed it, but the fact that it had made it back here so quickly was suspicious.

Dark dribbles of blood flowed from where the bottom of it's jaw had been lopped off, the bottom halves of both legs were missing, and one of it's wings was partially severed. The tongue that remained attached to it's esophagus flailed back and forth and it reached an arm out towards Seduca, a single finger pointing ominously at her.

Fear flooded the woman's eyes and she took two stumbling steps back in her laced red leather boots. Bubbles clasped both hands over her own mouth and took a horrified step away, her throat felt incredibly dry. Buttercup moved past her and shot a look over to Blossom, "why hasn't it 'poofed' like they usually do?"

"I- I don't know." Blossom's hand found her forehead and she wracked her brain quickly, "that's not right." But hearing the clack of shoes on the pavement Blossom whipped her head to view Seduca fleeing, "don't let her get away!"

Several officers were rushing over with what appeared to be the sheets coroners used, their intention was to cover the horrifying sight of the mutilated demon. Before they were close enough long inky arms reached out of the grate, wrapping themselves around the remains of it's legs before giving a hard tug and whipping it back into the darkness.

With that knowing feeling in her chest Bubbles looked up at the puzzled officers before screaming, "get out of here!" Bounding forward with two strides before going airborne she snagged one arm around a woman's waist before the corpse was violently ejected from the dark of the sewers and slammed with destructive force into one of the nearby buildings.

Now that slithery, ink-like creature seemed to be pouring out of the ground before it shot upwards, the bulk of it cracking and pulling a radius of at least 20ft of asphalt up with it. Bubbles already had the other two men, one clinging to the other's arm in desperation as they landed on the other side of the barrier. There was shock and awe as this destructive creature began to break up into a few smaller creatures, and these were the ones Bubbles recognized with a stifled horror.

Buttercup had dashed out towards Seduca but both had halted in their tracks as the demon's corpse smashed into the building right in front of them, debris flying from the force of the throw and a few windows shattering.

Stumbling backwards, Seduca turned to flee when Buttercup grasped an arm roughly, "where do you think you're going?" She hadn't seen the emerging creature but heard the sound of buckling concrete, it just made her grip tighter onto the villainess.

"Let me go!" Her voice was a shrill cry of terror, with wild eyes she jerked roughly, "it's going to kill me! It's going to KILL ME!" Ragged ends of her vocal cords seemed to muster enough sound as if she had been shrieking for the last several hours instead of seconds. "Get that fucking thing away from me!"

It was taking barely any time at all as smaller creatures pulled themselves out through the still unknown pulsing tower. Whipping her head back Buttercup was just in time to watch the mottled colored creatures shake themselves into existence in a way that conveyed hounds waiting to be released onto the hunt. Possibly 20 or so, but they were larger now than they had been in the underground.

For Buttercup and Blossom this was their first face-to-face with these things, the needled teeth gleamed when the streetlights glanced off of them and the phallic tongues poured out of jaws attached to seamless rippling skulls with no clear definition. They began an insect-like chatter of clicks as each stood roughly the size of a wolfhound, the swish of their lizard-esque tails conveying irritation to the surroundings.

Before the remainder of the creature emerged two of the smaller ones shook masses of spines from their backs, one stood on it's haunches in Blossom's direction, the clicking low and almost curious sounding. Without even hearing the shouts of onlookers stuck in the buildings surrounding the city Blossom took a step back, then another. She wanted to gain as much distance as she could between her and this monstrosity, but as she moved it appeared to tilt the grotesque head as if it were watching her movements with sickening curiosity.

On her third step the shuffling and scuttle of a dislodged chunk of asphalt bounced away from the foot of her sneaker. Her breath hitched in her throat as the clicking stopped, however it only stopped so it could pull apart those jaws and let out a bone rattling shriek, spurring the other small ones into attacking.

Leaping up and backwards, Blossom took to the air but dark vines whipped out at her, in a blind panic she ignited the rose glow around her hands and launched attacks at the converging creatures, not aiming so much as trying to buy herself some time to actually think of a plan.

Buttercup had already let Seduca flee, though she doubted she would get too far in the chaos erupting through the city block. She ran towards Blossom and with fists blazing she tried to make more room for her leader, any time the plasma of their attacks hit one of the creatures it seemed to screech out.

Bubbles was already trying to evacuate some of the scrambling citizens who were mobbing the streets. Noticing Pablo and Robin on the outdoor section of the restaurant she landed and breathlessly said, "let me take you guys out of here."

"We've got this, go help your sisters!" Robin was trying to appear confident but even she was shaken, this thing didn't look like anything she'd ever seen before.

"But-," Bubbles was cut off as Pablo nodded and backed Robin up.

"We'll make sure everyone gets out of here safely, there's gotta be a back-loading dock."

As much as she wanted to wrap her arms around both of them she also knew that they could get people out of here in one piece too, they knew the drills that came with attacks like this. As she shot back out into the fray Robin squeezed Pablo's hand. "C'mon, we have to get everyone out of here." And marching towards the restaurant she began barking orders on staying calm and finding their destination.

All Pablo could think as he stood watching his girlfriend was, what a woman.

Sirens seemed to blare louder as more vehicles arrived, converging on the edge of chaos, out of one of those vehicles spring Chief Rosa who was strapping her vest on as she approached the scene. Matsuo quickly appeared at her elbow and she asked as calmly as possible, "what's the situation?"

"The Powerpuffs seem to be keeping whatever that thing is busy, and we are sending officers behind the buildings to see if they can get people out the back but there are plenty of people trying to make a run for it as well."

"Are they even thinking?" Aggravation dictated the impact of her tone, Miranda knew she shouldn't have snapped like that but Alex sighed.

"You know what intense fear and panic can incite. So far if the girls see any of them they have been getting them out and dropping them as closely to us as possible. The fire chief has ordered the department to set up inflatable rescue cushions so the girls aren't wasting time with being gentle and can focus on the monster at hand."

"This is a disaster," with a heavy sigh she stopped and saw another fire surge up and the collective cries of onlookers, "how long until they are inflated?"

"Anywhere between a minute to two and a half minutes based on size," the growing worry on her face had him feeling much of what she was. "This has to be the creature-," he was unable to finish though as a vehicle was hurled into a building, taking out some of the supporting pillars. The building began to collapse and slammed into one of the neighboring ones, shattering glass tinkled off of the wreckage and more screams accompanied it.

The whistle of the sirens was only multiplying as ambulances were rushing to the scene, but Miranda wished she could just tell everyone to stop coming and to evacuate the area.

"God I hope so…or else we have another fucking problem," the sight alone of this monstrous thing was sending shivers down her spine, but she didn't have time to worry about all that. "Morgan! Santiago! Davies! I need you three over by the corner two blocks down to try to try and redirect people away from the scene. Marco! Where's Chief Peters?" Right now barking out orders and being conscious of what was happening was all she could do.

Matsudo was right on the same wavelength as he commanded others, "evacuate everyone here, we don't need gawkers to get injured and try suing the city."

By this point the remainder of the creature had split into two relatively large beasts, the gloppy noise of solid objects moving around sticky liquid came to an end and each stood roughly at 100-124ft. One swished it's tail and rattled at the other, but instead of the traditional open jaws and spiney teeth it took on a new transformation. Three petal-like flaps opened like a blooming flower, though instead of a peaceful garden it was entrance to a murderous wasteland.

Serrated spines appeared to be flexing within the creature's new mouth, each flap lined with dangerous teeth, but perhaps most disturbing were the three waggling tongues.

"What the actual fuck? Is this some kind of Alien shit!?" Buttercup used a downed lamppost to smack several creatures away from her and into a badly damaged building.

Frustrated, Blossom said aloud, "why isn't anything working on them?" Using her ice breath to take care of several of the smaller creatures, it was a fruitless effort though as they warped their bodies out of the ice easily.

Hurling two blasts from her own fists Bubbles leaned back, "I've only seen them break up from our blasts, I- I don't know what else will work!" She was trying not to panic as she reported this, fighting the urge to turn tail and sob under her covers.

"I can do that," grunted Buttercup as between her hands she began storing additional energy, the green sphere that was building cracked with intensity. Lifting both hands above her head she was about to hurl it towards the cluster when a searing pain surged through her nerves.

Crying out unexpectedly, she felt her arm jerk backwards slightly and noticed the coil around her wrist, it flexed and tightened, and it bore down like acid into her flesh. Blood trickled down her arm and she winced at the realization that this thing really wanted to take her hand off.

Twisting around, Bubbles noted her toughest sister's cry and without thinking she grasped onto it, tearing it off of Buttercup's arm. With both hands glowing Bubbles could still feel the pain bite through her palms but with a shout she focused on launching her powers through her hands and into the creature.

Stunned, it screeched before bubbling up in certain places, stumbling and destabilizing momentarily. It was almost a sad scene to see it struggle to pull the mottled body back together, but Bubbles felt no pity for this thing that consistently pursued her in her nightmares.

Meanwhile Buttercup had raised both hands and with intense force, launched the plasma-like sphere towards one of the larger creatures. It partially phased through the creature, and panic stifled the confidence that Buttercup had been feeling as she had released it. Luckily, the force of which she'd thrown it was enough to clip the creature and send it flying along with the energy ball and into a building.

Erupting, the energy was caught between both the creature and the building and although it destabilized the creature partially it also destroyed the whole front of the large structure. Fire and smoke leaped into the air above the explosion, but screams accompanied it as well. It could just be onlookers, and to the best of her senses she hadn't caught the sound of anyone in that portion of the building anyways.

Gurgling shrieks came from the petaled jaws as it began to writhe, thrashing about in a struggle to regain itself. The smaller ones seemed to be called towards it and the majority of the group managed to merge into the giant, speeding its recovery. Two more changed their shape with jerking cracks and pops, eliminating the entire front of their bodies to build heavier back haunches and thicker tails to balance them and their bigger jaws that hungrily lifted up towards the sky to take in the air before stalking off.

Crashing into the road, Blossom's leg was entangled by one of the smaller ones that hadn't returned when called upon. Grunting, she twisted and fired an attack larger than she intended, but it succeeded in slamming the creature away and into an overturned vehicle. She, however, slid backwards across the rough terrain and barely caught herself from going too far.

With sweat dripping down Blossom's face she called out, "we need to find where those other two went!"

She was quickly answered by a scream and the sound of something wet hitting the asphalt. Both Buttercup and Bubbles locked eyes with their leader, but Bubbles was the first to bound over to pull Blossom back onto her feet. Buttercup began to hold smaller energy spheres in-between her hands, unable to buy more time than she could afford to truly ramp up the attacks she wanted to deliver. Holding them at bay she nodded at her sisters.

Bubbles was about to jump forward when the flash of movement caught her eye, instead she ended up jerking Blossom's arm, practically throwing her sister away as she put her back towards the offending attack. A dark tongue darted out, it had been aiming for the red head but instead lashed right across the blonde's back instead, in its recoil it caught her by the elbow and Bubbles was ripped through the air to land heavily on the street.

Gasping as the wind was knocked right out of her, she clutched her hand to her chest and gasped. Tilting her head back she had the upside down vision of this blooming mouth, she could swear the corners were tilted up as if it were grinning in recognition of the girl. Bottom lip trembling, Bubbles wrenched herself onto her stomach and struggled to her knees, she wasn't sure what to do next.

Thankfully she didn't have to plan an attack as three bright green blasts slammed at the creature's legs. Not enough to destabilize it but enough to distract it from it's intended target. Buttercup was glaring at this thing for all she was worth, she didn't even speak as she threw several more attacks at the creature and provoked it into lunging in her direction.

With one last look at her sister Bubbles got back on her feet and ran in the direction they'd heard the scream from. Bubbles kept her feet on the ground as she hopped over warped pavement and debris from the buildings, overhead she noticed Blossom with a badly bleeding college kid in her arms. Without a doubt Bubbles knew that Blossom would be dropping him off by the barriers for medical aide.

Moving between fires she finally saw one of those two-legged creatures, but it appeared to be… swallowing something. Wet and gloppy noises were accompanying it and as she stopped dead in her tracks Bubbles realized with horror that it was partially eating the remains of a citizen. She hoped it had been quick as this man's legs were what the creature had been choking down, he had been split down the middle, almost turned inside out and his head was missing from the nose up.

Numbly, she clasped her hands over her mouth and crept backwards, the smoke from the fires and the overturned vehicles spread about the wreckage was giving her good cover. She could taste the bile in her throat, desperate not to throw up she exhaled quietly. Why was she such a big baby? She could hear the slight whimper in her breathing, lowering her hands from her mouth she knew she needed to strike that creature before it got the better of her.

Sapphire illuminated her hands and rolling from behind an overturned van she launched several energy attacks at the feasting creature. It screeched with irritation, shaking it's skull aggressively it faced her and bellowed a challenge. It began charging at her, Bubbles panicked and her brain went instantly on autopilot.

Projected in front of her body was a firm barrier, but instead of bracing herself and covering her body she used it like a tennis racquet and struck the creature into a crumbling building.

Stumbling backwards, she caught herself by surprise, she hadn't been expecting that to be effective. A massive swirling energy ball of rose went hurtling overhead, she didn't have to see the impact to know that Blossom had gotten her target, the screeching that one of the creatures was making was more than enough.

Pivoting, she bolted back to where Buttercup had been holding them off, dodging licking flames and viscera that made her sick to her stomach. Bubbles was glad she had come through the smoke when she did because it looked like her sister was beginning to struggle with her efforts.

Passionately Buttercup was throwing energy spheres at the now larger and more repaired creature that she'd taken down earlier. Blood leaked down the side of her cheek from a strike the monster had managed to get in, it was coiling up now and Buttercup gave a yell of rage. She was so busy focusing on the smaller tendrils it was lashing out from it's petaled mouth that she wasn't seeing what it was actually doing.

Her breath hitched in her throat and Bubbles raced to her sister, skidding on the pavement she threw her hands up to create a barrier just before the impact of a strike reached Buttercup. Giving a heavy gasp Bubbles worked on focusing on the barrier that was domed around them, they were both crouching beneath the humming sapphire glow.

Giving a hiss, the creature moved in a predatory manner as it moved closer to the girls, the flaps were pulsing as if it were taking in their exhaustion and fear off the air. It was clicking quietly and with her hands shaking slightly due to fear Bubbles did her best to follow it. Buttercup was catching her breath but in the next second she yelped as the thick and heavy tail smashed into the barrier.

"What the fuck!" It wasn't a question as she knew what it was doing, but Buttercup certainly hadn't been expecting this to happen.

It smashed twice more and Bubbles was just relieved that the barrier was holding up, however on it's fourth smack she felt the pressure push her down. There was nowhere to go, panicked Bubbles looked around and as it slammed and roared at the humming dome both girls were forced into a deeper crouch.

Grunting with the expansion, Bubbles moved one hand and closed her eyes, beneath them the barrier grew and connected. On her hands and knees, Buttercup winced at the buzz but turned towards her sister, "what are you doing?"

"Trying not to get smushed," Bubbles struggled out, but her timing had been perfect because the next slam caused Bubbles to cry out as the barrier sunk into the pavement from the force of the hit. It lashed out and gave a guttural growl, the chirping and clicking buried beneath the irritation from this creature. It's form began to change, the mottled color more clear to her than it had ever been previously, she was squinting at it when two heavy hits came from both sides at once.

Crying out again as they sank deeper into the road, Bubbles gritted her teeth, "I don't know what else to do," she was fighting tears.

It sounded like Buttercup whispered her name, but she could feel the heat from her hand as she clasped it on the blonde's shoulder. Giving it a little squeeze, Buttercup tried to reassure her but even she felt the pit of worry building. She never knew Bubbles could create solid barriers- never mind the actual size of the damn thing.

Just as she was about to suggest they make a run for it another rose hued energy ball sailed overhead and smashed into the creature. It reeled backwards, the bubbling cry of fury that wrenched from whatever throat it had sent shivers down their spines.

With relief Bubbles released the barrier and stumbled backwards as she straightened up. She was wiping the sweat from her forehead as Blossom landed at her elbow, immediately falling into 'worry-wart' mode.

"Are you okay? How long have you been able to do that? Did it hurt you?"

Slightly dizzy, as she hadn't had the experience holding the barrier against that much power for that amount of time Bubbles shook her head, "I'll tell you later, but we have to do something to stop this thing."

A seriousness came onto Blossom's face, nodding, "or at least get it to retreat." She was ashamed she hadn't figured out what this thing was and still couldn't pinpoint a weakness of any kind. This wasn't a welcome feeling.

Giving a crack of her shoulder Buttercup sighed, frustrated, her eyes looking through the smoke and trying to listen through the screams and sirens. "Oh that's fucking great," she muttered, "just fucking wonderful!" This she shouted while pointing up.

Blossom was ready to reprimand her when she followed Buttercup's pointing finger and grumbled. "You've got to be kidding me." Hovering above were several news station helicopters, she knew they weren't approved.

Swirling the straw in his soda aimlessly, Butch was leaning on one elbow barely paying attention to whatever Harry's date was saying. His own date was chattering excitedly with her friend and would occasionally touch his forearm or shoulder and he'd turn and give her a half-hearted smile and nod before going back to whatever he was doing. He found himself wishing he'd gone with his brothers to the Utonium's residence, they were doing school work while sitting with Mojo. Knowing the girls though he had a feeling they were all hanging out together, probably talking and making fun of each other… Boomer and Bubbles were probably practicing their cute little song.

That thought alone pissed him off, he wondered if Boomer was teaching the other blonde how to play the ukulele… he took a sip out of his drink, he was acting like an idiot. There was a perfectly hot girl next to him, and she'd pretty much said she'd wanted to make out with him. So what if she was annoying and laughed like a seal?

"Ooo! Are those the Powerpuff Girls?" Harry's date was pointing towards the TVs above the bar and Butch might have turned his head too quickly.

"They're always fighting monsters, it must be hard to date," one of the girls said.

"Actually I'm friends with them and-," Harry started but he was cut off.

"You don't have to try to impress me, Harry, I already think you're cute."

Uncomfortable, he said, "I'm not…?" He looked over at Butch who had his eyes glued to the screen, "dude, back me up here."

But the live coverage on the TVs wasn't showing anything good happening downtown. The burning and collapsed buildings, the bloodied people being loaded onto stretchers, and then the cameras were back on the girls fighting. His eyes were wide as he recognized what exactly they were up against and his mouth felt dry, this thing spiked fear into him that wasn't natural to him.

Plus, it was so much larger than the last two times he crossed paths with it.

He saw the dash of pink as Blossom carried a citizen away, the camera was moving around and he caught himself mumbling under his breath, "c'mon, c'mon, c'mon…," his finger rapidly tapping the table. Already a small dent was being drilled into the wood, but he had other things on his mind.

The anger in Buttercup's body was clear as she yelled her challenge, but from her stance alone he could tell she was tired. Relief mixed with alarm came in as soon as the familiar blonde was racing towards her sister, she had to see that it was going to attack, right?! What was she thinking? He felt sick, like he was going to watch the girls die right here on the news. Instead there was a flurry of pride as he saw that barrier cover both their heads, she'd been so resolved in its creation and she used it.

And then that thing started slamming on it, she didn't have the endurance for that- not yet.

"I have to go," he stood abruptly and slammed down some cash.

"Dude, wait!" Harry stood so quickly that his chair clattered to the floor, "what are you going to do?"

This made Butch pause, but he then shrugged and gave a weak version of his normally cocky grin, "I have no idea." He was out the door before Harry could say anything else.

Dodging a truck that had been thrown at her by the creature, Buttercup gave an angry grunt of frustration. Her arm was on fire, whatever those things were made of had bitten straight through her skin and the lingering tenderness from the acidity was driving her crazy. Genuinely feeling pain like this wasn't supposed to happen, the Chemical X was supposed to neutralize most of that.

Running sticky fingers through her hair she pushed it away from her face before finally spying one of those two legged monstrosities. It appeared to be searching fruitlessly for something, it gave a strange rattling click, it vibrated through her bones, a distinct call. Winding up her arm she launched an attack, the chartreuse energy caused it to trip and screech at her, as she positioned herself to build and launch another attack she heard a whistle in the air but then a sharp electric jolt.

There was pressure on her back and she could tell at least that it was human, but she couldn't be babysitting some random citizen during this time! Looking over her shoulder her jaw dropped and then with narrow eyes she spat, "what the hell are you doing here?"

With his arm crossed over his face and palm wide open she could see the humming dark green of the barrier that Butch had in front of him, and in front of that was a large and angry looking creature.

"I noticed you're shit at your job so I decided to step in," the grin on his face wasn't teasing though, it was vicious. He'd never fought to protect the city before and the adrenaline running through his body just amped him up.

Snorting, she turned to look back at the smaller creature, "fuck you." However there was a lingering ease and laugh underneath it. "Your brothers joining us by any chance?"

In practiced ease Butch gave a quick twist of his arm before punching the barrier outwards towards the larger creature, his other arm immediately coming up to replace the lost protection. "Uh, I was a liiiiittle busy coming here, didn't exactly have time to give them a call."

She'd been building a decent energy sphere, the lightning snapping off of it fueled her with the thrill of the fight, "just you? Guess we're really fucked then."

Launching the attack at the two-legged creature it caught it reeling, and the squirming as it destabilized around the energy gave her a sick satisfaction. It's screech of pain only caused the larger one to move over towards them in an animalistic manner, it was seeking to merge with the fallen creature.

Both teens leapt into the air, surging away from the gaping petal mouth, the whipping tongues just missing them before it turned back to absorb the smaller creature, a fourth petal blossoming now.

Another large building came down, toppling across the road and spreading more dust and debris into the air as it did so. The larger of the two creatures seemed to be handling both Blossom and Bubbles, it's body arched in a strange manner as all the spines along it's back came to attention but the booming shriek that sounded from it's dark cavity shattered windows and sent glass flying.

During this attack it's tongues whipped out in a distorted manner, Blossom was in the air and dodged one, trying to knot the two together, but instead it twisted them and slapped her backwards into the broken ground.

"Blossom!" Immediately Buttercup was racing to her leader, Butch was partially on her tail but only stopped when he heard the crash. Buttercup yelling caused enough of a distraction for Bubbles to falter in the air as she whipped her head around, giving the third tongue the perfect timing to snake back around her ankle and send her crashing into the pavement below.

Giving a gasp she started to roll onto her side when she felt herself being yanked by her ankle, the pain from the touch of this creature was spreading up her leg like fire and that's when she noticed that it was crawling up her leg, wrapping itself tighter. Gritting her teeth and trying to blink back tears with little success she let out a sob as her hands clutched this strange creature. Igniting in sapphire she channeled her powers down the creature, it screeched and bubbled, slightly destabilized now she was able to kick free. Holding one hand in front of her she sent out another blast, still too shocked to quite scramble to her feet.

Unaware of the twisted tongues, now separated, she twisted to pull herself up when they lashed to strike. Only catching the last bit of movement out of the corner of her eye she pivoted painfully to attempt to throw up a barrier but was blinded by the humming green and the body that blocked her.

His name escaped her in a shocked whisper, "Butch," and she swallowed the sour lump of tears in her throat.

He knew he couldn't look at her right now, but instead focused on throwing his abilities completely forward. It wouldn't have the radial impact of the dock attack but it should be enough to give them some time. "Hang tight, I'm going to throw as much power into this as I can."

Relief flooded through Buttercup's chest as she finished helping Blossom to her feet, she'd never thought she would ever be thankful for the green Ruff and yet here they were.

Disbelieving Blossom swiped at the blood running down her arm, "that- that can't be Butch, right?"

Reluctantly her dark hair sister sighed, "I mean if you're seeing him too then I guess the world really has ended."

"Oh my gosh." Blinking and shaking her head slightly, she kept a firm hand on the top of her head as she did so. She knew it was likely she had a concussion. "I'll launch an attack on the biggest one," looking around the smoke filled streets Blossom mumbled to herself, "we have to find the second one too."

"On it, Bloss," crouching down low she took off in flight, skimming through the dust and dirt, and over more than a few bodies. "You couldn't have hidden that well, you fucker."

Movement of red caught her eye and Buttercup turned to look at it, afraid it was another citizen that would need to be dropped off at the barrier. There was a sickening satisfaction as she saw Seduca skulking around.

She was covered in ash and grime, no longer pristine and beautiful. She looked terrible with her hair in matted knots, barely active and certainly unable to do damage, her fishnets had massive holes in them as well. When Buttercup really looked at her through all of her injuries seemed rather superficial, she'd somehow managed to avoid those creatures.

That possibility pissed her off, she just wanted to tackle her to the ground and pummel her into nothing. Crouching by chunks of brick and cement, Buttercup waited for the opportune moment to strike but instead she was frozen in place.

Clicking, the creature slunk through the smoke and flame, jaws open and tongues waggling. Seduca screamed and turned to run but it snagged her legs out from under her, Buttercup could hear and smell the smoldering as it sunk through the leather of the boots and started to graze her skin. Pathetically the woman clawed with red gloved hands, the monster fully laying down with it's pulsating mouth wide open for her.

Swallowing, Buttercup closed her eyes and exhaled as steadily as she could, there was no way she could do anything right now. Seduca's screams came out strangled and Buttercup dared to look through a hole in the rubble. Her fingers had broken through the tips of one of the gloves and she was leaving a trail of blood in her wake, her eyes were darting wildly with desperation. It was then she caught Buttercup's eyes watching her through that tiny space, the realization that dawned in her eyes was manic.

"Yes! Yes, Buttercup! Save me! SAVE! ME!" Her body heaved as she laughed with relief and terror, "you're a Powerpuff Girl, you have to save me! Please!"

Shuddering, Buttercup closed her eyes, and crouched down with her arms wrapped tightly around her. Terror like this was so unnatural but she fell into it.

Discerning that she was abandoned Seduca's screams became more frantic and her voice more hoarse, tears streaming down her face, the black of her mascara running with the grime on her skin down her cheeks. Attempting to dig her nails into the pavement she placated again, snot running down her face, "please! Please! You can't let me die like this! I don't deserve this! I did nothi-," she was cut off abruptly as the creature gave her a hard jerk.

Nails ripped off her fingers and bloody tips scraped for anything to keep her grounded, the blubbering from Seduca was choked and painful to hear as her chest heaved and shook. She was realizing that she was doomed.

Daring to open her eyes, Buttercup leaned back towards the small opening and felt the bile rise in her throat, choking down acidity she moved one hand to cover her mouth and she could feel her lips trembling. The explosions she heard in the background were doing nothing to deafen the sound of this woman being ingested by the creature.

Seduca's legs were already within the spined mouth of the creature, she was convulsing with shock from the inflicting pain. Her pale skin was melting away off her bones, muscles were turning black and the smell of burning and rotting flesh was saturating the immediate air. This thing was breaking her body down into nothingness and the horror of it all was that Buttercup couldn't tear her eyes away from the now melting skull of a villainess she'd known all her life.

One last, garbled, "please," was all that she could croak out as bloody foam poured out of her lips. At last the creature fully closed the flaps of it's mouth around the woman and without a chewing or swallowing motion the crunch of bones could be heard coming from it's body. Like a cat with a hairball it made a hacking noise before standing back to it's full height, Buttercup watched as it stepped away from it's position and out of it's front leg came the remains of a red boot, part of an arm in a mangled glove, and a mass of foul smelling hair.

Shaking the spines along it's back it made a loud chittering sound, this was answered by the other large creature in the street, gloppy noises followed as it broke down into many small hound-like creatures again. Pressing her body against the cold stones as much as possible she listened as they clicked and padded in a race towards the larger one.

Not quite understanding what was happening, Butch threw up another shield as Blossom had joined them. She and Bubbles had launched several attacks and even he had blown the creature backwards once, but now the bubbling liquid was moving around them with the deadliness of molten lava.

"Look!" Blossom pointed in the other direction and Butch gave a quick glance over his shoulder.

"There's so many of them," Bubbles whispered.

Watching the small creatures merging back with this large mass of mottled ooze as they slunk back into the gaping hole within the ground. They were returning to the sewers, retreating. As the last bit slipped away into darkness Butch released the barrier, feeling the sweat soaking through his shirt as the night air met his body fully.

"Find Buttercup, I'll go to Chief Rosa," Blossom was panting, her body already shaking and as she stumbled forward Butch quickly grabbed her wrist to steady her.

"Hold it, you're hurt too, are you fuckin' crazy?"

He barely managed to snatch Bubbles's own hand as she went to limp by him, "I'll go look for her, you two stay here and sit down."

Bubbles gave his hand a tight squeeze, "okay."

Looking at her sister indignantly Blossom used additional energy to wheeze out, "what are you thinking? No! W-we can do this! We always do this." But she was panting and when she pulled back she ended right on her butt as Butch released his hold. Startled that she was now looking up at the Ruff she had her mouth open to say something when he pointed a stern finger at her.

"Stay put." He returned the small squeeze and released her hand, not sure why he was doing all this in the first place. But watching Bubbles kneel beside Blossom and pull her head to her chest, it just looked so sad in that moment.

Jogging into the street he hopped over a few obstacles, then felt someone grab his arm. Jerking away he looked at the face of Detective Marley, though he wasn't actually familiar with the man.

Scowling, Marley immediately reprimanded him, "what the hell are you doing here, kid? This is no place to be playing around!" Behind him were firefighters screwing their hoses into extinguishers to put out the fires and officers pulling people from some of the rubble and buildings.

Narrowing his eyes Butch could see the dark glow of his eyes slightly illuminating the man, "I'm doing more than you, that's what." He was off before the detective could say anything further.

Pushing through, Butch jumped onto the remains of a heavily damaged car, his eyes scanning as he looked desperately through the smoke and dust. Hopping back down he wandered until he stepped on something soft. Lifting his foot he saw a pile of black hair, instantly his stomach fell but he also recognized that it was too much to be Buttercup's hair. Beside it was that red silk glove, tattered and still full of… something.

Feeling ill he backed up a few paces, exhaling uncomfortably. Turning his head he caught a glimpse of green fabric, and moving over to investigate he saw his own counterpart huddled on the ground. Had she not been wearing a tank top that color than he would've never spied her. Moving over to her he called her name, "Buttercup?"

Nothing. So he crouched down on one knee beside her, he ignored the vomit on the ground by her and put a hand on her arm, "yo, Buttercup, you okay?"

She looked at him, alarm in her eyes, but wiped off her face with the back of her arm, "y-yeah, I'm fine. I'm great." All she managed to do was smear more blood and grime around.

Gesturing with his head he backed up and stood, "your sisters are over this way."

"Yeah, o-okay." Her hands were shaking as she stood, "listen," she started and Butch really looked at the girl who was so much like him. "Can you not mention this to anybody?"

The understanding that passed between them was probably the realest thing either had experienced with one another. "Sure."

"Okay, good," she shoved her hands into the pockets of her damaged jeans, "'cause I'd hate to have to kick your ass, you know?"

"You fuckin' wish," they were clearly uncomfortable but walked side-by-side through the chaos and back to where Blossom and Bubbles were.

It was almost a surprise that they hadn't moved much, but standing beside them taking notes was Chief Rosa and Officer Morgan. Blossom had at least moved a few feet to sit on the remains of the curb, but as Bubbles watched as Butch and Buttercup approached relief flooded her chest and she half limped-half jogged over and wrapped her arms around Buttercups's neck. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she gripped harder, just happy that Buttercup's arms wrapped around her too.

"I'm so glad you're okay! I- I was so scared when you didn't appear when th-that thing left."

She'd done a good enough job of hiding it but in the time when Butch left to when he returned with her sister Bubbles had broken like a string that was pulled too tightly.

"Of course I'm okay, dumbass," she mumbled this as she buried her face into Bubbles's neck, ignoring the blood and sweat.

When she looked up Chief Rosa was motioning towards her, grimacing she released Bubbles, "do I have to talk to her too?"

Sighing, Bubbles pulled away, "the sooner you do, the sooner we can go home."

Grumbling, Buttercup shoved her hands back into her pockets, "fine." She was stepping away when she stopped and looked over her shoulder at Butch, giving a slight nod of her head and a tired smile she said, "thanks."

Embarrassed, he nodded back at her before looking down at the ground.

"How did you know what was happening? You're not hurt, are you?" She was so close as she reached to touch his face, hesitating because she didn't know if he'd be okay with that or not. They still had so much they didn't know about one another. To both his and her surprise he leaned into her bloody and dirty hand, exhaling and just enjoying the reassurance her touch brought after this chaos.

His nerves felt ragged but he didn't move, only looked at her, "the news was broadcasting, I saw you and-," he stopped, "you did good with the barrier." Expressing his worry and the ebbing fear he had felt wasn't something he was good at nor ready to do just yet.

"We should go home," her words were small and he was going to say something but Bubbles got there first, "to the lab, I mean."

Dropping her hand to her side she started to turn back towards where her sisters and the Chief were, but she stopped and looked at him, "can I lean on you?"

Just looking at her leg made him wince, the bleeding had stopped but the skin was puffy and irritated. All three girls were in worse shape than he was, he had a few cuts but overall made it out easy this time around.

He gave a small but crooked grin before scooping her up, her yelp was enough to have Blossom jump to her feet in alarm but as soon as she noticed that Bubbles was actually fine she visibly relaxed. Miranda looked over but didn't analyze anything over it but as he started walking to the girls she waved him over. Mortified, Bubbles hid behind her hands as Butch reluctantly stopped in front of Miranda.

"You're one of Brick Jojo's brothers, right?"

Butch looked over at Blossom who gave a tired wave of her hand before he answered, "yeah. Butch."

"Do you know what's going on here?" Miranda wasn't exactly suspicious of the boy but wanted to gage what he knew.

"No more than anyone else," he looked uncomfortable but nodded at both Buttercup and Blossom, "they need to get back to Professor Utonium's. Can we go? It's not like you don't know where to find any of us."

Miranda pursed her lips and Blossom glared daggers into Butch, hissing, "what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking," he said it loudly enough as he put Bubbles back onto her good leg, "that you three just about got yourselves killed trying to stop that fucking thing."

Blossom wanted to say something but instead pressed her palm into the side of her head where dried blood was matting her copper hair, she winced as the pulsing that burrowed itself into her head and skin thundered and made her feel dizzy and half blind.

"C'mon," he tried to reason, "I can take turns getting you three home." Blossom looked at him with one eye open, skeptical as all hell when he followed up with, "I'm not always a jackass."

There was a dry laugh from Blossom, but the tiny smile on her lips was relieved, "if Chief Rosa is okay with it."

Miranda nodded, knowing they'd have to get repaired themselves, "I'll follow up tomorrow." Pointing a finger at the dark haired boy she said in a low voice, "get them home safely."

Buttercup exhaled and then motioned at Butch, "carry Blossom, I can handle Bubbles."

Blossom looked indignant, "absolutely not! And you're hurt too!"

"Yeah, but I'm not dizzy, I'm just tired. Plus your legs are longer than Bubbles's are and it's harder for me to piggyback you."

The pitiful tone in Bubbles's voice got them moving as she practically whimpered, "can we just go home? Please?"

They were all already fading out of sight when Matsudo came over to Miranda, "so far we haven't been able to find any remains from this thing. Finding what it is isn't going to get much clearer if we don't find a clue soon."

Loosening the Velcro on her vest Miranda watched as bodies were covered in white sheets and survivors that had been caught in the fray were loaded up on stretchers, "how many casualties so far?"

"We're up to six dead and forty injuries, but that'll change."

The future for the city was looking bleaker as the night fully settled in around them. Miranda was remembering the quiet nights of the girls throwing villains into jail cells and her teams stopping robberies and assaults. Who knew that she'd be wishing for one type of chaos and endless paperwork over another with barely any paperwork but endless chaos, it certainly wasn't her.

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

Plucking on the strings of the ukulele, Boomer hummed a few notes and asked without looking up, "does that transition sound better? Or should I still do the first one?"

Irritated, Brick looked over the top of his laptop with annoyance, "ask Bubbles when the girls get back." He didn't want to weigh in anymore, but also… there was something else that was bothering him. Brick was weighing on how it would sound if he asked but thankfully Boomer took that weight away from him.

"They've been gone awhile, I figured it was just Seduca, but this is taking kinda long. Isn't it?" Frowning, Boomer put the instrument back onto the chair as he stood with his arms crossed. For the most part he was looking at Mojo who was still tied up in wires and monitors, both doctors had informed them that afternoon when they'd arrived that Mojo was off the IV drip of Chemical X and his brain waves seemed to be responding more to stimulants in the area. It was a relief, and after hearing that news Boomer wished he could keep worrying about his father-figure instead of the girls.

Trying to be nonchalant Brick casually opened his email at the sound of the alert, "HIM said she hired some lower level demons from him, they're probably just cleaning up whatever mess they made." Opening the email, his eyes scanned the lines and his face fell. "You've gotta be fuckin' kidding me."

"What?" Curious, Boomer walked over and look a look at the screen as Brick pulled his hat down over his face and tried to exhale the irritation from his body. The email was simple enough; Norman was pleased with the scroll, blah, blah, blah, his researchers already pulled some interesting data, okay, whatever, blah, oh! And Jules had another assignment for them to retrieve a formula from a former employee who they had fired. Great.

"I can't deal with this right now," Brick muttered as he closed the laptop. Boomer on the other hand shot two finger-guns at his boss.

"Guess who's getting a new car!" Usually he wouldn't want to stoke the fires of his brother's temper but lately he seemed to be in a better mood.

Brick shoved Boomer away from him by his face, "knock it off." HIM already wasn't happy about their little "side business" and yet he still didn't want to be stopped from doing something that brought them good money and utilized their skills. Boomer just chuckled as he tossed his bag onto his vacated chair beside the instrument, careful not to put the weight of it down.

The door to the main entry of the lab was wide open so it was a little jarring when Professor Utonium frantically ran towards the stairs and gave an anxious shout, "girls!"

Now that they listened they could hear the cluttered steps of multiple bodies coming down the steps, the smell of blood and grime was something they both picked up and immediately rushed into the doorway. They collided as they both tried to push through the doorframe together, Brick grunted and pushed up at Boomer's face.

"Back off, dude," but both boys were mollified when they noticed Butch was coming down the steps with them.

They finally stopped struggling against each other and slid past the door. The Professor had one hand on the side of Blossom's face and the other on her shoulder, he seemed to be checking her pupils under the florescent lights.

"Honey, what happened? I thought it was just Seduca! Don't tell me she did this to all of you." He knew the injuries each consistent villain inflicted on his girls and none of these lined up with what he had documented by memory so far. There was one thing that had caused damage like this before though… his eyes darted to Bubbles and Butch. "Please tell me it wasn't that thing again."

"My god…," Brick breathed, taking in the developing bruises and still open wounds on the girls, it was a sharp difference from how he'd seen them the night before.

Blossom appeared embarrassed, still trying desperately to keep it together, "we'll be fine, we're always fine." She paled and reached for her head, "c-can we please sit down?"

"That was thoughtless of me, yes, and I want to examine each of you."

Elizabeth leaned back from the monitors she and Clark shared, "do you need me to grab anything for treatment?"

Relieved to have a helping hand the Professor gave a nod, "in the cabinet over in the corner I have the medical solutions I use for the girls injuries," he looked at Blossom again, "I'm going to grab some warm washcloths from upstairs to clean up the injuries."

Buttercup whined, irritated, "can't we just shower like usual?"

"Buttercup," Blossom sighed, "can you just make this as conflict free as possible?"

She was about to make a retort when Butch lightly shoved her shoulder with his free arm, Bubbles was hanging onto his other shoulder and his arm was wrapped about her waist to keep her off of that bad leg. He nodded with his head to indicate she needed to go sit on the metal lab table and she silently flipped him off before trudging to the table and boosting herself onto it.

Blossom didn't have the strength to say anything and just pinched the bridge of her nose and gave an exasperated sigh. Before Brick could react Boomer was already helping Blossom over to one of the tables as the Professor climbed back up the steps. Butch boosted Bubbles onto the table beside Buttercup who winced when she got a better look at the leg.

Boomer helped Blossom lie down on the cold surface and she rested her head to the side with a shuddering exhale. He exchanged a worried glance with Brick who quickly moved to her side.

"What happened, Red? What did that thing do?" Part of him wanted to clutch her hand and do more but in this moment he didn't even know what he could do.

Gruffly from the other table Buttercup chimed in, "I'll tell you what that thing did, it kicked our fucking asses. It's-," she trailed off, fear raking through her as she remembered what she had witnessed. That thing did more than just kill people.

"It's even bigger now," Bubbles added, she caught the way Buttercup's eyes darted uncomfortably as she searched for something to focus on.

Elizabeth bustled over with cotton rounds and the sterilizing agent that would clean their wounds, she held each girls face in her hands as she looked into their faces and had their eyes follow her finger. The Professor came downstairs with some washcloths, warm and damp, the heat was welcomed and each of the girls had to push their father away as he tried to clean the blood and grime off of them. He even handed one to Butch who awkwardly mumbled a 'thanks' before cleaning off the dried blood.

Hissing, Buttercup snatched her wrist away as Elizabeth administered the solution, "damnit, Professor, did you boost this or something?"

Raising her eyebrows, patient Elizabeth took Buttercup's arm gently and held the saturated cotton round firmly on her wrist. Gritting her teeth, Buttercup turned her face away muttered a few choice words under her breath.

"Actually, I did," he started, "since Bubbles and Butch both had such a prolonged period of recovery time I upped the dosage and added another chemical I've used in the past on your girls, especially when you've sustained more serious injuries." He was inspecting Blossom's head wound as he said all this, trying to get the area as clean as possible so he could apply the solution.

Bubbles took this opportunity to gingerly wipe most of the grime and dried blood off of her body, she knew if Buttercup was complaining that it hurt that she'd surely end up crying. She finally could get a better look at the damage to her palms when she'd gripped the creature, angry red tears looked back at her and she could feel the throb of her heartbeat in them.

"Oh my god," she turned to look behind her to find Boomer standing close and giving her a pained expression, "your back."

Twisting, she couldn't get a good look but could see the dark stains in her peripheral that stained a once pristine blue blouse. "Oh."

"Do you mind if I…? Uh…," Boomer wasn't sure how to ask if he could help her but she gave a small smile and held the damp cloth over her shoulder.

"I'd really appreciate that." As she turned back to face forward she noticed Butch staring a hole into her, caught off guard she asked, "what's wrong?"

"You need to be more careful, that's all," grumbling he crossed his arms and leaned against the counter behind him. Buttercup leaned backwards slightly as Elizabeth bandaged her wrist up, eyeing up Bubbles's back she grimaced.

"Damn, Bubs, does this thing have a vendetta out for you?"

A shudder ran down her spine, her eyes locked on her hands and she gave a nervous gulp. Her mouth felt dry and she tried to give a short laugh but it sounded brittle and false, "that's silly, it probably doesn't even know the difference between me and a regular human."

"Buttercup?" Blossom leaned up on her elbows, looking at her dark haired sister who was trying to sit still while her cheek was wiped with the solution. "Did you see what the smaller creature was up to?"

The Professor moved from assisting Blossom to check in on Bubbles's injuries, Buttercup paled and exchanged a look with Butch. He'd seen how shaken she'd been when he'd found her, she swallowed uncomfortably and relayed, "I saw it, it was bigger by that time and it… uh," how was she supposed to explain this? "It kind of… I don't know the right term to use. Ate? Absorbed? Devoured?"

Brick shifted uncomfortably, moving closer to Blossom now that the Professor was tending to Bubbles. He was glad he did because Blossom tried to sit up fully but Brick's hand on her shoulder stopped her, he didn't want her getting worked up more than she was.

"What do you mean?" He chose to ask Buttercup this, ignoring the way Blossom's rose colored eyes flicked up to watch him.

Boomer put the washcloth down and moved around to where he was standing beside Buttercup, "it ate her?" She looked pale and he was regretting that they were pressing it but they needed this clarity.

She avoided looking at anyone as she threw her hands into the air, "I don't know what else to fucking call it!"

From her position on the table Blossom mumbled, "language."

"Whatever, Blossom," Buttercup grumbled, "but yeah, it just got her and…," she gestured with her hands again, "she disappeared in it's mouth. I don't know."

Bubbles could hear the underlying strain in her sister's voice and reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, Buttercup just shrugged her off and looked down at the floor. If she let Bubbles try to comfort her she didn't know if she'd be able to keep herself together. And she was not going to lose it in front of the Rowdyruff Boys.

"Did you grab this thing?" The Professor was carefully examining Bubbles's palms in his own.

"Yes…," she didn't want to look at him.

Instead of her creator and father saying something, Butch interjected, "why would you do something so stupid?"

His tone caught her off guard and she looked past the Professor to glare at Butch, "I didn't have any other choice! And besides," she huffed, "you grabbed it last time."

"Which is why you're stupid." Worrying about her getting intentionally hurt was not on his list of things he wanted to think about when it came to her.

Both teens now seemed to be in a standoff, not looking at one another. This at least let Elizabeth temporarily bandage Blossom's ankle and put a long adhesive bandage on her arm to protect it while it healed, the Professor took this time to take a look at Bubbles's leg.

"This is going to hurt," he looked at her pointedly, he knew his sweet little girl wasn't one to hide her pain or discomfort well.

Biting her lower lip she just nodded, "I know." To her relief Buttercup nudged her hand with her own, and even if her sister didn't look at her she knew she was being supported. Clasping Buttercup's hand tightly she focused straight ahead, even if it was straight at Butch's face.

The moment that the solution touched her wound Bubbles squeezed Buttercup's hand even tighter, the pained gasp that left her lips caused Butch to uncross his arms but Boomer was the one to put his hand on her shoulder and give a reassuring squeeze. This wasn't going to be a fun process.

Tenderly she traced the wound running up her leg, ignoring the stinging that was lingering in her back. She had a satisfied smirk on her face as Butch had to endure the same solution on the few cuts he had sustained and he'd had the same reaction as Buttercup. It had been utterly satisfying, especially the way he tried to shoo the professor away.

Blossom was finally sitting upright, her fingers combing uselessly through the tangles in her hair. She was feeling dejected and noticed Brick was staring at her as the Professor and Elizabeth cleaned up the mess.

"What?"

He leaned in towards her, "is there anything I can do while you recover?" His voice was low and there was something in it that reminded her of the night before. That night seemed worlds apart from tonight's events.

"I-," startled and nervous she looked away, "I'll let you know."

He was dejected by her answer but nodded solemnly. Looking at both Boomer and Butch he gave a short whistle, "yo, it's getting late. We need to get home."

Brick and Boomer had driven over earlier that evening but the three boys stood in the doorway still looking forlorn at the state they were leaving things in.

"You sure you'll all be okay?" Boomer asked this, looking carefully at Buttercup. He could hear the shower running upstairs, where undoubtedly Blossom was trying to rinse the dry blood out of her hair.

Skeptically, Buttercup cocked a hip as best she could, "we'll be fine, but I'll give you $5 if you open the bathroom door and ask Blossom if she needs help."

As she snickered, Boomer turned a bright red and looked at his feet awkwardly stammering. Brick was unamused and gave his blonde brother a smack over the head. This was enough to bring Boomer back to earth as he blandly stated, "no thank you."

"I'll take that bet, Butterbabe, you need help?" Butch gave a roguish wink and she flipped him off.

Scoffing she began shoving them out the door, Bubbles gave a quirk of her lips as a small laugh escaped her as she watched the expressions of the boys. Brick unlocked his car with the fob and pointedly looked at both girls, "text or call if something happens, okay?"

"Sure, mom, will do," Buttercup placated him but Bubbles was much more friendly.

"We will, thanks for caring." Buttercup rolled her eyes at her sister before turning to trudge up the steps. "And, Butch?"

His brothers were already halfway across the lawn when he turned around. She was making him nervous, the way she kept pulling herself to him. He decided cool indifference was the best way to go, "what's up, sugartits?"

Tilting her head slightly she said, "you showed up just in time. Thanks." Even though she wanted to have a good cry she smiled in spite of it, though it was easier knowing that Butch had cared enough to come help them. "Oh, and sorry for ruining your date."

Before he could stop himself he lifted his eyebrows, his hands jammed into his pockets and he gave a mischievous grin, "no worries, you can always make it up to me later." Pivoting he speed walked over to the car and opened the backdoor, throwing himself across the backseat. His face was beet red and he mumbled something unintelligible into the seats.

Ignoring both of his painfully awkward brothers at the moment Brick put the car into gear and pulled away from the curb. Somehow those girls kept digging their fingers into all three of them, and oddly enough he was wishing they'd done so sooner.

Machines continued to whir and beep through the stillness of the night, the lab was newly sterilized from the blood and dirt from earlier that evening. The glow from the glass that encased the mind of the primate cast a cool tone over the corner of the room, shadows jumped sharply from the crevices that the light didn't quite reach.

An odd sensation of being underwater.

This glow wasn't quite right. The sheets weren't right either, they were more crisp than usual. Not the soft or worn in percale or downy softness of a fluffy comforter. It was dry though, but why would dryness be a concern? There had always been dryness when it came to the warmth of a bed. Lingering senses of cold and damp stone were on the edge of a memory, but this memory pulsed just short of being plausible. It shouldn't be plausible.

Twitching, underneath a finger the sensation of a soft blanket came to the front, soft and plush but still it was out of place. This was so strange, everything was familiar and yet it was incredibly out of place. Perhaps someone could explain this but what exactly this was?

Lifting a hand was a struggle, tremors moved through the palm and fingers, the pull of something brushed against tendons and caused another pause. Something was very wrong. The dull thump that came from dropping the hand back down to the soft quilt, it had to be a quilt with the way the seams were running across it, there was understanding that was just out of reach.

Several small blips, red-orange-red, this place lived in the mind as being so very, very familiar and yet-, dull throbbing melted through the mind as if to push away any hypothesis or realization. The several blips came again, and this time in the background there was a low clacking of shoes. No one wore shoes like that in the lab. Lab? Yes, there was supposed to be a lab and familiarity to this situation but… it wasn't right.

A tiny 'click' sounded from above and cast a brighter light, it was warm and comforting but still nothing was in focus. It was like looking out of window that had ice frozen over it after a heavy rain in the night. A warm hand made contact and immediately the left arm twitched, this figure was hard to make out but their silhouette moved in an assured manner.

"This might be uncomfortable, please bear with me," it was a woman's voice, and this was definitely unfamiliar.

Something was sliding, and uncomfortable was an understatement as a long object traveled up the esophagus and through the mouth, the mouth… dry like cotton. Cotton mouth was a thing, yes? Fingers continued to twitch over the quilt and a dry cough heaved as the last bit of the tube was extracted.

"Here," this voice was gentle and soothing, but why would she need to soothe?

The prod of a silicone tube against lips wasn't particularly welcome but the voice continued to encourage, "just take a slow, small, sip." Oddly enough obeying this order was the only thing that could be concentrated on. Cool water rushed over a parched mouth and felt much like heaven, but there was something about water… what was it about water that was so detrimental that it was coming to the forefront of the mind consistently?

"Don't worry, you're safe. Things will be a little difficult as you reacclimate but I'm here to assist you with that." She sounded smart, but like she was speaking to a victim of some sort of trauma. There'd been a trauma? Yes, that sounded right, that thought made sense. "I'm Dr. Stark, my associate Dr. Hamilton will get you more up to speed in a few hours. Right now I want you to rest and remain calm." The click of the light went out and the room was plunged back into that watery atmosphere, "oh, and welcome back, Mojo."