I Can be Your Everything

By Monday, people were still talking about Princess' Halloween party even though Brick deemed it mediocre at best. He would have done things differently, such as not invite every upperclassman to his house and agree to play Truth or Dare and end up kissing Blossom. That was all he'd been able to think about over the weekend, that damn dare Susie gave him. He tried to be productive but his mind kept wandering back to that night, that room, that circle of people watching him expectantly. He replayed moving over to her, her smooth cheek against his palm, a hint of floral perfume. "Morning," Brick greeted when Blossom walked into Physics.

"…Good morning," she tentatively replied, like they'd never spoken before. The teacher launched into a lecture lasting the whole period but Brick hardly heard a word. Blossom had a habit of tapping her pencil against her lips while she scrutinized the whiteboard, and everything else became inconsequential as he focused on that little action. He knew exactly how those lips felt against his, their warmth and softness, sweeter than candy…

"That's all for today," the teacher suddenly said. Brick realized the bell had rung and everyone was leaving. "The test will include some of the material we just went over so I hope you took good notes!" Fuck, he only wrote two sentences.

Since they both had literature next he easily caught up to Blossom. Once again she faced him as if they hadn't interacted until now. "I need to borrow the notes you just took," Brick said.

She quirked a brow. "Why weren't you listening? That was a pretty important lecture."

"I… had other things on my mind."

"I see. I'll give them to you in Spanish." Blossom turned away but Brick reached for her arm, the brief contact making her falter.

"Just give them to me now since we're here."

"I need the notebook for this class. It has the rough draft of my essay."

"Who uses the same notebook for two classes?" he asked, dubious.

"Lots of people!" Blossom claimed. "You'll have to wait until Spanish to copy the lecture notes. I'd give them to you during lunch if we had the same one but we don't. Sorry."

Brick glanced at his watch. "Let me see them right now since we still have a few minutes."

"What good will that do?"

"I have a photographic memory," he explained, "I just need a glance and I can write my own."

"Did you miss the part where I said I have an assignment?"

Brick erupted. "For fuck's sake, Blossom, give me your notes! Why are you making this into such a hassle?!"

"Me? You're the one who's too impatient to wait until fifth period!"

"Because I don't need to wait!"

She tightly crossed her arms. "If you think you're entitled to my things, then I won't help you after all! You should've taken your own notes instead of zoning out."

"Fine, who needs you?" Brick whirled around and stalked into Lit-Comp, a few students giving him a wide berth.

Blossom huffily entered her own classroom. What in the world was his problem today? It was his own fault for not paying attention, as if his lax concentration could be blamed on anyone else. Just when she thought they had established a sort of amiable rapport Brick had to rear his arrogant head and make demands like she was some peasant in service of his lordship. "Your brother is insufferable," she complained to Boomer at the beginning of fourth period.

"Yeah, Brick can be a real asshole sometimes, but it's not his fault." Blossom was skeptical. "There weren't other kids where we lived and adults always talked down to us. He became that way so they'd take us seriously."

"So he's a stuck-up jerk because he's maladjusted? But you and Butch get along with people just fine."

"We're not the ones in charge of us." Boomer frowned at his wording. "I mean, Brick is like you, the leader. He chose where we went, where we stayed, got in contact with people that, uhh, we did odd-jobs for, made sure they didn't hold out on us…"

Blossom noticed the way he stopped himself from revealing too much. "I'm aware of the jobs you boys did, and I'd definitely call them odd. I did a deep web search and compiled an index of your activities." He gulped and flexed his fingers, wide blue eyes seeking an exit. Blossom felt guilty for trapping him with the conversation and spoke in a soothing tone. "It's okay, Boomer. I'm not going to turn you in or anything. What you three did throughout the last decade wasn't exactly what I'd consider evil."

He couldn't believe the Powerpuffs knew the details of their illicit activities and were willing to give them a free pass. Bubbles was the sweetest one, the most kind-hearted and gentle, and she had gotten closer to him despite the objectively bad things he'd done. Boomer always rationalized the jobs as a means to live comfortably, but the Ruffs honestly weren't cut out for anything else. They weren't normal people, they had superpowers, and it made sense to make money off them. Brick said that in the very beginning when they were seven year-old kids trying to figure out how to survive in the world.

"You wanna eat, don'tcha? You wanna sleep in a bed instead of the streets? Then this is what we gotta do. If you chicken out you don't get a cut of the money." Butch and Boomer didn't want to starve or die of exposure, so they stifled their misgivings and agreed to go on their first mission. "Good. Now do everything I tell you and we'll come outta this just fine."

They had been "just fine" for the last decade as promised. Working for Mr. Morbucks was no different than the other jobs they'd taken. They snuck around, got into firefights, made shady connections… and they occasionally killed people. Bubbles knew that about Boomer but she still liked the person he had become. Even though he'd done a lot of sketchy stuff she didn't see him as a bad guy, so as thanks for being friends with him it was the very least he could do to get the headshots she requested for her art project.

Unfortunately, several people on her list were currently eating lunch while Boomer had Culinary Arts. One of them was Li Leigh, a girl who had been best friends with Dee Dee and Mimi but drifted apart from them as her interest in ballet waned right about the time Bubbles joined the class. The three of them still hung out since they lived in the same neighborhood, but they didn't have much in common anymore. Leigh was primarily focused on practicing her violin, earning some of the best grades in school, and boys, although her obsession with the latter had been placated for a while after hooking up with Butch.

Leigh spied him at a table with other members of the football team. She approached from behind and squeezed his shoulder, the players quieting as Butch spun around. "Hey, what's up?" he inquired with a grin. In response she kissed him soundly.

Butch sat agape as she pulled away. "I just wanted to say hi, and I had fun Thursday night. You were amazing." Leigh smiled, waved her fingers, and headed for the band room.

It took a minute for brains to start functioning again. "Uh, what the frig was that?" Harry demanded. "Since when d'ya know her?"

"Halloween…" Butch answered, distracted by her sashaying form.

"Speaking of that, where'd you go after you gave Buttercup the molly?" Pablo inquired. "You didn't come back and none of us could find you."

Mike rolled his eyes. "You guys are so dense. Obviously he and Leigh hooked up."

"No way!" Harry shouted. "Props, man!" He proffered a fist that Butch hesitated to bump.

Joey gave a small laugh. "Leigh is hella smart and she never dates below her grade, so you're lucky to have tapped that."

Only because he was high on the drug meant for Buttercup and ran into a girl with a lady boner for him by complete accident. Butch also assumed they weren't dating but now he wanted to make certain, flying off to land between Leigh and the music building. "Uh, hey…" he said, mussing his hair. "Should we, like, talk about what happened?"

She tittered. "What's there to say? Weren't we just having fun?"

Was she doing that weird girl thing by pretending everything was fine only to freak out and yell at him later? "You sure?" he pressed. "You don't wanna be my girlfriend or somethin'?"

"I know it was nothing serious, Butch. Don't get me wrong, you're a great guy, but you're busy with football and I have a ton of things to do after school, so if we dated we'd barely see each other." Leigh tilted her head when she noticed he looked mildly disappointed. "But… if you wanted to meet up from time to time to blow off some steam, I could make that work."

"Yeah? You're okay with that?" He'd never met a girl with such a casual attitude toward sex. They always wanted more from him but the Rowdyruffs rarely stayed in one place long enough for deeper relationships to flourish.

Leigh nodded. "Whenever we need a little stress relief, we can just meet somewhere."

Sign him the fuck up. "How 'bout my place tonight?"

"I can't, I have a violin lesson. Actually I'm busy all week." She slid her slender fingers behind his neck to bring him in for a kiss. "Can you wait until Saturday? I'll make it worth your while."

"Mmm… okay." Butch wasn't sure if he could wait that long when merely feeling her tongue graze his lips got him going. He returned to the cafeteria with a smug expression on his face.

"What happened?" Harry asked. "You find Leigh? You gonna see her again?"

"She's comin' over this weekend," he answered.

"Nice!" Joey cheered. "My man's got game on and off the field!" Other guys congratulated Butch for getting laid but Mike only scoffed quietly.

"Maybe that could be me and Buttercup if you weren't such a dick to her."

The table abruptly fell silent, and Joey gave him a hard look. "What was that?"

"Nothing." He stowed his phone and stood to leave. "Catch you guys later."

Butch recognized the tension Mike left in his wake as that of the dissenting variety, which he himself had directed at Brick on more than one occasion. He didn't always agree with his brother's commands but he obeyed because Brick made decisions that benefited people other than himself. Joey was not that kind of leader. He gave orders to both harass and ostracize Buttercup, to spread rumors about her while telling his friends to pretend she didn't exist because only he was allowed to covet her. He tried his damnedest to hurt her but the Powerpuff refused to play his petty games. She was better than that.

Butch saw her ignoring two sophomore boys when he walked into the gym after changing for P.E. "Holy shit," he gawked, "what happened to your hair?"

"Right?" one guy snickered. "She looks more like a dude than most dudes." Buttercup continued examining her emerald green nails.

Butch snorted. "Yeah right. Guys don't have tits that nice." She scoffed and turned her back on them. "And this booty! I guess from a distance she kinda looks like a dude, but you can tell she's got curves in aaall the right places."

The sophomores now eyed her with interest. "I guess you're right. She's still hot even with that ugly haircut."

Buttercup sighed. "And now it's time for you to fuck off before I suplex you." Butch stayed put. "That means you too, fuckboy."

"I don't get a thank-you?" he pouted.

"For what, presenting me like a cut of beef? Of course not."

"But they stopped botherin' you… And why'd you buzz your hair? It was so cool before."

"Mitch dared me to shave it off at the party," she explained.

"That asshole!"

Buttercup was amused by how indignant he sounded on her behalf. "It'll grow back soon enough and I'll have Bubbles give me a new undercut."

"Do you still get modeling gigs when it's that short?" Butch wondered.

"Of course." She planted a hand on her hip. "I'm the whole package."

He laughed and then bit his lip, giving her a once-over before class began. Buttercup was so cool. Her sense of self-worth didn't depend on the opinions of others and Butch admired that about her since he was the opposite, thriving on attention and praise. He loved being popular and having lots of friends, none of which he would've met if not for Joey. He was outgoing, charismatic, and recognized Butch's potential right away, giving him a chance to be in the spotlight. For those reasons Butch remained loyal to Joey even though he really wanted to be friends with Buttercup.

Their P.E. teacher announced a dodgeball game, designating Butch a captain. He picked Buttercup first. "Got a strategy in mind?" she questioned.

"Uhh… don't get hit?"

"Wow. Hey everyone, half of us should hang back during the rush. Less of us will get struck out that way."

Butch gave her a sideways glance. "Since when do you take charge?"

"Since Blossom decided she'd rather sit on her butt at a computer desk than fight crime in the streets with me and Bubbles." Butch was stunned to hear such a thing and missed the starting whistle. He would've gotten hit right away if Buttercup hadn't shoved him. "Pay attention, dumbass!"

That was easier said than done when he was distracted by her awesome moves. Buttercup nimbly navigated the court, ducking and weaving while rolling dead balls toward her teammates. Butch tried participating, he really did, but her agility captivated him. When it came down to two versus two she assumed a power stance while determining which opponent to pick off first, making them sweat, then she bolted for the center line. The guy on the left hurled a ball at her but she dropped to her knees and slid beneath it, returning fire at his chest. His buddy took advantage of the moment to bean Butch's cheek. "Great job just standing there," Buttercup chided. "Help me get this last guy."

He blinked. "Huh? Aren't I out?"

"Only if you get hit below your chin. Weren't you listening to the rules?" She rolled her eyes. "Just throw toward his legs." Butch did as instructed. Buttercup anticipated he'd jump over the ball, aiming for his shoulder which she struck with unfailing accuracy. Their team was victorious.

"Nice job, everyone!" the teacher called. "Are you okay, Lucian? I saw you take a hit to the face."

"I'm good…" Yet again his focus was on a girl walking away from him. "Yeah, I'm totally fine."

During the second week of November the junior council finally announced the field trip they'd been planning: their entire grade was going to a ski resort next month. To alleviate some of the cost the council was also hosting a public bake sale that weekend. Bubbles and Blossom eagerly went to the library to sign up with Buttercup on their heels, but they stopped her before she could write her name. "Hey, what's the deal? I'm trying to contribute!"

Blossom cringed. "I know you want to, but the thing is… we can't have you in the kitchen."

"Why not?"

Bubbles waved flippantly. "There've been… incidents."

"Like what?"

Her sisters shared a look. "There was that time you caught a potholder on fire while making spaghetti."

"And that other time you broke the microwave by forgetting to unwrap Pop Tarts."

"You somehow managed to burn instant ramen."

"And you ruined the stovetop when that milk boiled over."

Buttercup was almost indignant. "So you're saying I suck at cooking?!" They nodded and she sighed in resignation. Better not to participate than hinder them. "Fine, then you two better make lots of stuff that people wanna buy!"

Since the bake sale was on Saturday they had the whole week to prepare, and Bubbles certainly needed all the time she could get plus more if it were possible. She had cheerleading practice every day in addition to a couple football games away, she had more shifts at Heavenly Body since the holiday shopping season had already begun in Townsville, and her ballet lessons became more frequent. She also stayed up until at least midnight doing homework, practicing her songs for the choir concert, and working on her super-secret art project.

After four hours of sleep Bubbles had to drag herself out of bed Friday morning. She managed to hide the bags under her eyes but couldn't prevent herself from blinking incessantly beneath bright classroom lights. Thankfully the days had gotten shorter and darker, lending her some relief as Choir let out. "I'll come find you when I'm done with the portraits," Boomer said, receiving a weak wave in return. He frowned at her lack of enthusiasm. Bubbles kept asserting that everything was perfectly fine and she could handle it, but she was almost burnt out.

In the Photography classroom Boomer uploaded sixteen headshots to a computer, cropped and edited them a bit, and printed them on glossy photo paper. The process took about forty minutes but that was enough time for Bubbles to run out of steam entirely. On his way to the auxiliary gym he saw Dee Dee and another cheerleader carrying her unconscious form into the athletic medicine office. Boomer never flew anywhere so quickly in his life. "What happened?!" he cried.

Dee Dee tried to smile reassuringly. "Nothing terrible, Bubbles just fainted a little."

"She passed out during practice?" He watched the nurse handle her. Bubbles was limp as a rag doll, dead to the world. "She should've gone home to relax."

"That's what I said, but she's our best flyer and we've almost perfected the new routine. She insisted we nail it for the next football game." Dee Dee hung her head. "It's my fault. I let her push herself too hard."

"Poor Bubbles…" the other girl sighed. "It really is tough being popular, huh? We should call Professor Utonium to come pick her up."

"I can take her home, it's faster," Boomer offered.

"You'd better get her there safely or there'll be consequences." Dee Dee grinned. "Kidding! I know you won't let anything bad happen to our dear, sweet Bubbles." First Boomer had to negotiate with the nurse to let him take her, then he had to gather their combined belongings. Dee Dee followed him outside, watching him lift off with Bubbles securely in his arms. "Hey, Boomer!" she shouted, and he halted. "Ask her out when she's better. You guys've been flirting for three months now!"

He blushed. "Wh-what? No we haven't! We're just friends!"

"No, you like her, and Bubbles likes you. She talks about you all the time, and we approve of you." "We" being the cheer team, he deduced. "She'd be really happy, so just go for it!" Boomer left then, trying not to let nerves make his hands sweaty at the risk of losing his grip. Bubbles liked him? Like, she had a crush on him? And her friends liked him, too? He was more concerned about her sisters, holding his breath as he landed on the doorstep and elbowed the bell. Thankfully Blossom and not Buttercup answered, her pink eyes going wide.

"Oh no, did Bubbles overexert herself? I thought this might happen since she's been dealing with so much lately." She stepped aside to let him in. "Come on, let's get her upstairs."

Boomer was honestly surprised by the sheer amount of stuff in Bubbles' bedroom. Her open closet was packed with clothes and there were even more strewn across the carpet and furniture, plus tons of accessories dangling off decorative hooks. She had shelves of stuffed animals, shadow boxes full of miniatures, and air plants hanging from the ceiling among lanterns and string lights. There was a desk covered in art supplies and a vanity overflowing with cosmetics, grooming implements, and a growing perfume collection. The walls were painted a moonlight blue color. Blossom cleared off the frilly canopy bed so Boomer could lay Bubbles down. She then took her sister's school bags and tried finding a suitable spot for them, but there was too much clutter. She pursed her lips at the mess. "Thanks for bringing her home."

"No problem," he shrugged. They returned downstairs where Blossom stopped him as he reached for the door handle.

"Since I'm working on food for the bake sale tomorrow, is there anything I could make especially for you? Do you have a favorite dessert? I think it's what Bubbles would do, bake you something special."

Boomer thought for a moment. "I like tiramisu."

"Oh, really? But that's easy."

"Some of the best things in life are simple." He grinned and left. Blossom smiled, too.

With Bubbles out of commission she now had twice as many treats to whip up. She thought about asking Buttercup for help but the disaster that would surely ensue wasn't worth it. In any event she'd gone to a meeting for a potential modeling job so it was just Blossom and the Professor, who remained in his lab as usual. After the first few hours she fell into an almost cathartic state while working her way through their recipe stash. Cookies, scones, fudge, bark, bars, brownies, cakes, pies… She ran out of containers to store everything in and had to improvise with serveware, and when there was no more of that she plastic-wrapped the dinner plates. She iced one last cake and checked the time, gasping.

It was two in the morning. She'd been baking for almost twelve hours straight but she couldn't go to bed without cleaning up and leaving instructions for the Professor and Buttercup.

When the two of them awoke later that morning they were astounded to see Blossom's handiwork occupying every available inch of flat space in the kitchen. She had also left it spotless, and there was a note on the counter. "Please take everything I marked with pink to the bake sale at school by 11:00. There's more in the fridge and freezer. P.S: the blue one is for Boomer." Getting everything into the station wagon was a workout for both of her family members, but they had help unloading it from Brick, Wes, Susie, Boomer, and Robin.

"Wow, talk about doing the most," Wes remarked. "I think you made more than the rest of us combined!"

"This is what happens when you leave Blossom alone in the kitchen all day," Buttercup said. "She was at it till midnight at least."

"Blossom made all of this by herself?" Brick managed not to appear as impressed as he sounded, placing her desserts at the front of each table.

"Yep. Bubbles is resting and apparently I'm a culinary liability, so it was just her." Buttercup handed the blue container to Boomer. "This is yours."

"Mmm, tiramisu. Tell Blossom I said thanks." Brick scowled at it. Why did his brother get special treats?

"You can thank her yourself– she'll be here when she wakes up. I'd stick around to help you guys but I have a photo shoot at noon."

"Ooh, for what?" Susie asked.

Buttercup preened. "You'll find out. They're an indie company opening a store in our mall later this month. See ya."

Sales were slow the first hour, then a sizeable crowd arrived during lunch. Most of the customers were parents of Townsville High students who wanted to support the junior ski trip. They also had a steady stream of employees from nearby businesses. A bakery owner sampled one of everything, making critical comments that quickly got under Brick's skin. Teenagers made this stuff, not professionals, and there was nothing wrong with his gingerbread cookies.

Business soon returned to normal and Blossom arrived at two o'clock, apologizing for being late. It wasn't like her friends could be mad at her for staying awake until two a.m. "How much have we made?" Boomer inquired. She quickly counted everything in the cash box; they had not yet reached their goal of $1000. "I might know some people who can help." He shot a quick text.

Fifteen minutes later a large group of students from Pacific Science Academy showed up. "Hey," Mandark greeted in his usual monotone. "This is the spread you promised, hm? Looks pretty good." His friends were already doling out cash to get their sugar fix. "And you said Blossom made most of it?"

"She did," Boomer confirmed, slinging an arm around her shoulders. "She's super awesome at baking."

"I'll say," another guy agreed. "These chocolate chip cookies are better than my mom's."

"This almond bark is divine," a girl gushed.

"Can I get the recipe for these lemon bars?"

"Will you go out with me, Blossom?"

That query filled Brick with instantaneous rage. He crushed the pfeffernüsse he'd been about to hand off into powder and gave the boy who spoke a look that could have turned him into a charred human doughnut. Everyone laughed like he wasn't serious but Blossom's cheeks flushed scarlet and she stood with her pretty lips parted in disbelief. Her wannabe suitor wore a smirk. He was tall, well-built, and conventionally attractive, but Blossom was still lightyears beyond his league.

"Well, what do you say? You're famous, I'm rich, together we'd make a perfect couple! And if things work out between us, we can even get married! My family is loaded, you know," he went on. "You could go to any university you want when we graduate. You still help with the Aegis Project, don't you? How do MIT, Caltech, or Carnegie Mellon sound?" The laughter died down as Blossom's jaw dropped a little more. "I could give you everything you want in life– wealth, status, recognition… What do you say? How about a date?"

Absolute silence for a full minute.

"I think you should leave." The voice was masculine, quiet yet firm. "Thanks for coming to support us, but you should go now." It was Boomer who spoke.

Susie piped up next. "Yeah, look how uncomfortable you made Blossom. Who do you think you are?"

"She doesn't even know you, dude," Wes added. Robin hugged her friend and Brick didn't dare move a single muscle. First a condescending adult and now this smug bastard? It was like the universe wanted him to lose his temper today.

The guy shrugged. "Fine, we're going. But think about it, Blossom." He sauntered toward the cars the PSA students had arrived in, waving a brownie. Mandark mumbled an apology. He'd honestly wanted to be a good friend to Boomer, not make things awkward.

"Oh my god," Susie exclaimed once they left, "can you believe that douchebag? Does he really think he can buy your love, Blossom? I'm so sorry you had to deal with that." She shot Boomer a hard look. "Why did you invite them here?"

"We needed money and those academy kids have it, so I thought…"

Wes came to his defense. "Hey, if you got connections like that, you use 'em. You didn't know that guy would be with them."

Robin sighed. "Do we have a thousand bucks yet?" Susie counted it this time and nodded. "Well, that's good. Anything else we make pads the budget for… hey!" Blossom left without warning as a pink streak arcing toward the coast. "One of you go get her!" she shouted at the Boys.

Brick reacted first. Blossom flew faster than he anticipated, her energy trail already fading from view, but then he spotted her on the beach and landed nearby. He didn't hear her crying which was good because he had no idea how to comfort crying people. "Hey, what's the Aegis Project?"

She gave a dry laugh. "I knew you would ask. Aegis is Townsville's private quantum network. It's still being developed but the main goal is to protect locally-stored server data from digital thieves. Of course, it goes hand-in-hand with quantum computing, fiber optics, and laser technology. It will herald the era of quantum internet."

That subject was way beyond Brick's area of expertise. "How are you involved?"

"I'm a white hat hacker. I try subverting the rudimentary network's encryption protocols. It's a great opportunity to enhance my skills and help the engineers improve security features."

Opportunity… Boomer must have used meeting Blossom as a selling point when he asked Mandark to bring his friends to the bake sale. She was a local celebrity, after all. "Who was that guy who propositioned you? I can't believe a stranger would address you so casually."

"Contrary to what Wes said, I do know him," Blossom answered. "I've met him a few times at galas and tech expos. River Waters. His parents are the Morbucks' lawyers."

So the boy was the very embodiment of spoiled rich, thinking it perfectly acceptable to buy her love like Susie said and turn her into some kind of trophy wife. "You deserve much better than him," Brick declared before he could stop himself. "You should've laughed in his face. The idea that a guy like him could ever be worthy of you—"

"Is ridiculous," Blossom finished. She turned toward him as an ocean breeze blew strands of long hair across her visage. "I know you think I'm better than everyone by virtue of being a Powerpuff Girl, but I'm not. I'm just a normal girl."

"Normal people don't get accepted to those schools," Brick retorted. "Average people don't even set their sights that high. Everything you do, you do better than them. It's what you were made for, to be faster, stronger, smarter, better. You and I are superior to regular humans in every conceivable way. We're basically gods."

"Oh, okay…" she muttered, "that explains where your attitude comes from."

He raised an eyebrow. "What attitude?"

"The one that makes you feel entitled to whatever you want whenever you want it." Blossom lifted her chin, staring him down. "You know something, Brick? You're no different than River."

That was literally the most offensive thing anyone had ever said to him. "What… I… you…" He couldn't even form a sentence. A second passed and then his face was in hers, noses touching. "How dare you compare me to him! I was never handed anything in life, I earned it. I bled for it. I had to work and fight for it all after you ran us out of Townsville!"

Blossom mirrored his heated expression. "You chose to leave. We didn't run you out of anywhere, we were just protecting the city from three little hellions!"

"Excuse me for being a stupid kid once upon a time. Do you have any idea how much we suff—" Brick clamped his mouth shut, folded his arms, and looked away. He shouldn't have let so much slip. Blossom took everything she had in life for granted. The Rowdyruffs had also accomplished far more than what they'd been created to do, so didn't they deserve a peaceful life like the one the Powerpuffs had?

Much to his surprise Blossom embraced him tightly. She may as well have used her ice breath on him because he froze. "I know you struggled out there. You were children doing things children should never have to do to survive. It's… sad." She withdrew to search his expression. "But you left on your own. No one else made that decision for you."

Running away from Mojo Jojo, Him, and the Powerpuff Girls had been the best option for the Ruffs back then, and as the leader it was Brick's call to leave Townsville after they finished the job for Max. He told himself that the feeling of finally belonging somewhere, a place where no one batted an eye at the fact that he'd come into the world as a genetically-engineered weapon of mass destruction, was nothing more than wishful thinking. "I didn't say I made the wrong choice," Brick stated. He never regretted his actions. His brow furrowed at the way Blossom eyed him, judging his character.

"Maybe you did. If you stayed we might have become friends. You could've helped us stop bank robbers and jewelry thieves instead of getting shot at with RPGs."

"How do you know I've been shot at with RPGs?" he queried.

"Know thy enemy," Blossom said. "You used to be my number one."