Chapter 12
Enemies
Sophomore Year - October
Blossom straightened herself. She may have been defeated, but she wouldn't let Princess demean her. With a grace Princess didn't deserve, she picked her books and notes off the floor.
"And just how was the prude convention, Blossom?" Princess asked, snidely inflecting her name.
Blossom rolled her eyes, as if she had never been called a prude before. She wouldn't react any more than that, it would only provoke an escalation.
"Princess." Brick gripped the side of his desk like he wanted to break it. "Shut up."
Strangely enough, Princess did. Though she still had that condescending smile on her face.
Once she had gathered her things, Blossom inspected her new seat for any nasty surprises. She wouldn't put it past Princess to cover the chair in grease or something equally disgusting. There didn't seem to be any traps, so she sat. Her new partner sighed while reading the lab assignment. She sat as far away as possible, her skin crawled at having to be near him.
Blossom took a breath and began arranging her notes on the table. Brick, for his part, actually began to prepare the materials for their lab assignment. He had a scowl on his face, but didn't look at her.
"I don't need you to defend me."
He finally looked up at her and his scowl deepened. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
"You told Princess to shut up. I don't need you to do that."
He looked back down at the assignment. "Whatever."
"Do not 'whatever' me." Blossom didn't like it when Buttercup did it, and she absolutely hated it when Brick did it.
He looked back up at her again, those red eyes boring into hers. "Whatever."
"You are the absolute worst person I know." Blossom winced at all of her memories of him. "I still remember you holding me down and spitting in my face."
Brick pounded the table. "Would you like to know what Hell is like? Because I can tell you." He gripped the desk again. "You killed me."
Blossom wouldn't so much as dignify that with a response. "Whatever." Much to Blossom's chagrin, HIM had resurrected Brick and his brothers a few months after that particular incident. He was a literal fire demon, Blossom was sure of it. He was probably hiding horns under that hat.
Blossom reached for the beaker. Her hand found the glass at the same time as Brick's. She pulled her hand away as if she had just touched a hot stove. He pulled his hand away too. Her stomach turned upside down. She had actually touched him, the mere thought made her want to throw up. Brick glared at her, his lips practically curling into a snarl. They bore into each other for a long time, each coming to terms with their situation. They were lab partners, stuck with each other.
Brick opened his mouth to say something when his phone alarm blared. "Yeah?" The mayor's voice came from the other end, it was muffled, but Blossom could pick out his signature style of speech.
She received a text from her mother. [I have a bad feeling about this monster. I need you on stand-by]
Without a word of acknowledgement or anything affirming that he was on it, Brick pressed 'End Call' and jetted out of the classroom. Blossom was quick behind him. They both typed out messages summoning their siblings.
A giant glob of metallic ooze squirmed around the abandoned industrial district, it pulled itself forward like an amoeba standing on four protrusions it used as legs. She winced at the screech of metal moving against metal.
Brick noticed Blossom behind him. "What are you doing?"
"Ensuring you don't screw up."
"Whatever." Brick went back to studying it and Blossom fought the urge to punch him in the back of the head.
Boomer and Butch arrived with Blossom's sisters close behind.
"Hey Blossom," Boomer said with his hands in his pockets and a half-smile on his face.
"Hello Boomer." Blossom tilted her head at him.
The boys floated above the monster while one of its legs demolished an old structure. Brick concentrated very hard on the blob while it was still destroying the town. The buildings were empty and unused, sure, but being demolished nonetheless. Blossom couldn't understand the screeching. That had to mean it was solid, but it had a liquid-like flow to its movement.
"What do you think?" Butch asked pulling on a pair of fighting gloves.
Brick craned his head over toward Butch mulling the question over. "Hit it."
Butch gave him a shark-toothed smile. "Thank you." He dove toward it's center mass, fist cocked and gaining speed. The impact of his punch warped the metal and left a twenty-foot crater in the blob's body. It slammed into the ground with a deep 'boom'. Those facts leaned to her hypothesis that it was, in fact, solid. Butch had punched it so hard, holes ripped in the knuckles of his glove. The monster itself didn't seem all that bothered by the wound and proceeded on it's merry way.
"Effective," Blossom said, sarcastically.
"Let's go, Boomer," Brick said before he and Boomer charged in. The three of them flew in circles around it. Their punches left dents in its body. Brick shot a stream of fire at one of the legs. But nothing they did so much as slowed it down while it destroyed another piece of Townsville history.
"Get ready, girls," Blossom said. "If they can't do it, we take over."
"Why won't this thing go down?" Butch asked, ripping off his ruined gloves.
Brick whipped his head toward Boomer. "Lightning. Butch, get clear."
Boomer pulled his hand back, charging a large ball of electricity, and threw it at the monster. The sky turned black while streams of light arced through the metal and into the ground.
The monster staggered and collapsed. Clumps of metal fell apart rolling away from each other. It wasn't a blob after all. It was solid, like chunks all held together by magnets.
The pieces began moving backwards. They glided over each other and came together, reforming the monster. The reconstituted thing charged Boomer. He managed to zip away and up into the air to rejoin his brothers.
"I knew they couldn't handle it," Blossom said, earning a scoff from Brick. "What was your plan anyway?" She giggled at him. "Punch it to death?" Of course, he couldn't. It was apparently immune to physical force. And that took away all of the advantage he and his brothers had. They had always been stronger, which meant Blossom and her sisters had to figure out alternate ways of beating them. But raw strength meant nothing to this monster.
"If only you had someone who could slow it down by say... freezing it. And someone who could scoop it right up with... I don't know... a forcefield." Blossom giggled again. "Admit you can't beat it and I'll do it for you." Blossom honestly didn't care about the money, she wanted the confession. She wanted him to say the words.
Brick clenched and unclenched his jaw. Blossom could practically smell the smoke in his throat.
"Why don't you go back to class and leave this to someone who can actually do the job."
Brick raised his fist like he was going to hit her, fury in his eyes. Blossom readied herself to avoid his strikes. Fire curled up his arms and built in intensity, growing more concentrated. Blossom could taste the X he was expending. He didn't strike. Brick flew down and blasted the monster with two yellow streams of flame.
The monster didn't seem to notice at first, but it soon began to glow a deep red. Brick didn't stop, he wouldn't stop until he had used all the X he could muster. The monster dripped molten metal like sweat. It shouldn't have been doing that, Brick couldn't make fire hot enough to melt steel, at least not that much steel. Cracks in the joints and weak sections glowed brightly. This only seemed to encourage Brick and he further concentrated his fire, bringing it to an almost white jet.
"Shit..." Buttercup said in an awed tone.
"Yeah, this is why we don't piss him off too much," Butch said. Blossom noted the odd the casual exchange between Buttercup and Butch. It was an impressive display of power, but any one of them could accomplish something equally destructive.
The monster lurched, large sections of it liquefied and splashed on the ground. Even when it collapsed, Brick didn't let up. He circled it, hitting all the spots that weren't melted.
Finally, the monster had been reduced to a boiling puddle of metal on the ground and Brick stopped. He hunched, his forearms resting on his thighs and out of breath, inspecting his work. He flew up only to get in Blossom's face again. He wheezed and couldn't close his hands all the way. She could feel him tremble with weakness. "And that's how you do that."
Blossom rolled her eyes. He was such an insufferable bastard.
"Uh, guys," Bubbles said. "Where's it going?"
"What are you talking about?" Buttercup asked. "It's dea-"
They all looked at it. Bubbles was right. The metal was soaking into the ground. "You don't think..."
"Yes," Blossom flicked her hair over her shoulder to shame Brick. "Yes, I do. It's still alive."
"Ugh." Brick dropped out of the air, landing on the ground.
"What are you doing?" Blossom asked.
He crossed his arms. "I need to recharge." That was it, another chance to kill him. If he was recharging, he wouldn't be using invincibility or heightened reflexes. Blossom could take him out and he'd never see it coming. All of her problems would be solved. As he had pointed out, she had done it once before.
Fountains of metal spurted out of the ground. They pooled together and the blob reformed itself. Steam wafted up from it's body. What was worse was that it was even bigger than before and had jagged spines all around it where bits of metal had cooled.
"It's using groundwater to cool itself," Blossom said.
"But it's growing," Bubbles said. "How is it growing?"
Brick brought his hand to his mouth while the monster resumed destroying the town. "Now that's interesting. Could be useful..." he trailed off watching it plow through yet another building. "We need to let it get bigger-"
"No." Blossom spread her arms in front of Brick. "Absolutely not." The buildings were empty and unused, sure, but they meant something to Townsville's history. He didn't care about the city at all.
"That thing, its not steel. It's a mix of metals," Brick said. "Chromium, palladium, mercury, and a shit-ton of lead. It's absorbing more contaminants when it goes into the ground, that's how its growing."
"All that shit is in the ground?" Buttercup asked grimacing.
"This area used to manufacture microchips, semiconductors, and all kinds of stuff until the ground got too polluted and started poisoning the workers. That's why they never rebuilt here. Let's get all that shit in one clump and be done with it." Brick took off after the monster before Blossom could rebut him.
He caught up to it and blasted another jet of fire. It was already hot and the section he was heating melted easily. Once again, it seeped into the ground.
Blossom grabbed Brick's arm and pulled his palm away from the monster. "We need to stop it before it can destroy any more of Townsville."
Brick wrenched it out of her grip. "They'll rebuild," he said. "And the soil will finally be clean."
"Letting it grow bigger is a risk we don't need to take," Blossom said, putting as much authority as she could into her voice. "I will not let you endanger this city or anyone living in it."
"One, I don't take orders from you." He got in her face again. "Two, people around here are poor, not stupid. They know to run when a monster attacks."
Blossom grimaced. People did irrational things at times, desperate people most of all.
"Need to plan ahead." Brick lifted his hat, ran his hands over his hair, and put it back on. "How do we kill it?"
"It's like gray goo," Boomer said. "I wonder what it eats."
"Boomer, I am trying to think," Brick said tersely.
Blossom circled, floating around Brick. She needed to end this quickly. "Can't figure it out, huh? Last chance. Say the words and I'll end it."
He looked at her like he wanted to say something, then looked back at the monster, then at Boomer, then at Bubbles. He was planning something. Whatever it was, it was going to be bad.
"Butch, Boomer, get it to chase you. It's trying to get to that building," He pointed to a brick building with a collapsed roof. "The old watch factory. Buttercup, make it melt a few times in different areas. Keep it nice and hot."
Buttercup tilted her head. "You gonna pay me?"
"Yeah."
"What!?" Blossom and Butch said together.
"Let it go underground and do its thing. I'll be back." Brick flew off toward nowhere. He couldn't just leave in the middle of a monster fight.
Blossom had had enough. She was taking initiative before the boys could act. "Alright, girls. Time to test our mettle." She launched into the air to engage the monster. Bubbles followed, but Buttercup hesitated. Blossom used her eyebeams to cut the monster into four equal sections, separating each of the legs. At the very least, that would slow it down.
The sections rearranged themselves. The main bodies split themselves. Three more legs formed on each. The four smaller blobs ran in different directions, much faster than when they were one creature.
"What are you-"
"Shut up, Butch," Blossom demanded. "Stay back." He and Boomer hung in the air. A quick burst of ice stopped one of the things in its tracks. They were much easier to handle when they were small.
Bubbles formed a dome around another with her forcefields. That was two down. They were going to make quick work of them.
Blossom felt a warmth coming from her right. Buttercup was using her eyebeams to melt one of the sections.
"Buttercup! Stop!"
Buttercup did stop, but only momentarily. "Brick said to keep it hot. Besides, I don't have ice powers or forcefields. Not like Bubbles can make anyway. What else am I supposed to do?"
"Throw the frozen one into the Sun."
Buttercup blinked with a blank stare like it hadn't been obvious.
Bubbles tossed hers into the sky. At least one of her sisters could keep up with her. At least one of her sisters was loyal.
Brick returned holding a huge municipal water tank that he had cut open. "What are you doing?"
"We're doing what you can't, defeating this monster. What are you doing with that?"
Brick looked at her incredulously. "It's a mousetrap."
"How is that thing a mousetrap?"
"Those old disc batteries used to have a very small amount of uranium in them." Brick flew ahead and tossed the tank to Butch. "Multiply that over 60 years and it makes a good energy source."
"An energy source for what?" Bubbles asked.
He gave them a cocky smirk. "The nanobots. Boomer, get it over there. We need to clean that section." He clearly hadn't checked to see if anyone was in danger.
He was such an arrogant jerk with a foolish smirk. Being a hero wasn't supposed to be about pride. It was about doing what was right. He could take down the monster and get all the money and glory he wanted, Blossom needed to stop standing around. And if Brick wasn't willing to take innocent lives into consideration, Blossom would.
"Bubbles, Buttercup. We're looking for civilians." Blossom took off. "Bubbles, you check southwest. Buttercup, you-" Buttercup wasn't with them. She was back with the boys, actually doing as Brick said.
"Buttercup!"
"What!?"
"I gave you an order."
Buttercup put a hand up. "I've got work to do."
Blossom was so mad, her entire body shook. But she had her own job to do. "When this is over, we are going to have a talk."
Blossom scanned the area with her x-ray vision. She remembered how difficult it was in the industrial district. Fortunately, they could narrow their search to the areas between the monster and the watch factory.
She saw something near a creek bed. A man with a large beard was standing there with his arms behind his back. Perfectly still, he stared at a singular point in the distance. The building next to him rattled ferociously, blue and red streaked above, and he didn't react in the slightest.
"Sir, we need to get you to safety," Blossom said over the rumble of battle above them.
He did not react. Blossom may as well have been talking to a statue.
The building rocked off of its foundation. The telltale screech of Buttercup's eybeams rang out. Blossom looked up to see a waterfall of molten metal was about to rain down on them.
Blossom kicked off the ground, using superspeed to grab the man. She got him out of there just before the liquid metal splashed on the ground where they were standing. She ran him to the safe zone, one of the roads near the beach. She placed him on the sidewalk, just as he was.
"You're safe now."
He still didn't react. He kept the same standing position, only now he was staring out over the ocean. If not for the fact that she had felt his body heat through the coat and the layer of fat around his belly, she would have actually been convinced he was a very lifelike sculpture.
Blossom still had a job to do. She finished scanning the area and rejoined with Bubbles. "Did you find anyone?"
"No. The place is abandoned."
"I did. We need to search the destroyed buildings for survivors."
"Right," Bubbles said.
It took longer than it should have without Buttercup. The lifted debris and used X-ray vision to find anyone they could. They confirmed no one needed assistance and watched the monster climb into the water tank being held by Butch. He and Boomer lifted it into space.
Blossom's shoulders slumped. At least it was over.
The mayor's limo pulled up on the road. A caravan of news vans followed it. The door opened and the mayor hopped out with Blossom's mom in tow. He walked up to Brick while a microphone stand was set up. The news crews went about the business of preparing for the mayor's impromptu press conference. Butch and Boomer landed next to their brother and the mayor.
"Congratulations, boys. Not only did you defeat the monster, you cleaned up the soil in the area. And paved the way for redevelopment of the old factory district. Why I remember when I was a boy..."
The mayor started telling a story about how it was a bustling community long ago. Blossom didn't want to hear any more. She took off back to school. Bubbles and Buttercup followed her.
Almost immediately, her phone buzzed with a message from her mother. [The mayor is only spinning this as a win. Thanks to Brick destroying the storage tank, the city's water system is at 70% capacity]
Blossom sighed. The monster was gone, someone was saved from certain doom, and she had the better plan. She should have been contented with that. But she wasn't.
The bell for the end of sixth period went off. Blossom packed her things quickly and caught Brick on his way out of the classroom. "We need to talk about our science project."
"Getting a little ahead of yourself."
"I also like to plan ahead."
He gave her the slightest of nods, recognizing his own words. The best person to convince Brick of anything was Brick himself.
He followed her as she led him to the library, maneuvering them through the throngs of students in the halls.
"Are you going to apologize?" Blossom asked, when they had left the math and science building.
"For what?"
"You put the entire city at risk by letting that monster go on a rampage."
"No one was in danger-"
"Yes! There was, Brick! There was a man!"
"There was no man."
"How would you know!? You didn't even check!"
"I did check. There was no man. My plan worked perfectly."
Blossom couldn't believe what she was hearing. "It was irresponsible, reckless, not to mention stupid-"
"Shut up," Brick demanded, giving her that death glare again.
Blossom got in his face and gave him one right back. "Make me."
"Is there a problem here?" Jared asked. He stomped up to Brick and pulled Blossom behind himself. He stared Brick down with an unearned bravery. Blossom's sweet boyfriend was cute trying to stand up for her, but he was going to get himself hurt like that.
Brick's face, to his credit, turned placid, knowing he could crush Jared at any time.
Blossom took Jared's hand. "No, Brick is my new lab partner."
"And what nefarious scheme did he use to pull that off?"
"Jared, that isn't his fault."
"Well I don't like it," he said, pointing a finger, almost touching Brick's chest. "This villain probably has some kind of plan."
Brick looked at him, confused.
Blossom squeezed Jared's arm. "He and I need to talk about out science project."
"Then I will accompany you to make sure-"
"Jared, I will call you at 3," Blossom said sternly.
His lips scrunched up like he knew what to do, but couldn't bring himself to do it. "Alright." He walked away, looking back no less than three times.
Blossom sighed and resumed their trek to the library.
"So that was your guy, huh," Brick said, walking behind her.
Blossom suppressed the deep rage building in her chest. "Yes."
He chuckled. "I always pictured you with-"
"Wow." Blossom turned and clenched her fist, digging her nails into her palm. "I did not ask for your opinion."
Brick snickered. "I'm going to give it to you anyway. He doesn't deserve you."
"'Deserve' has nothing to do with it."
"Guy's like steamed rice on milk toast. What's that like?"
"What is what like?"
"Being a god dating an insect?"
Blossom rolled her eyes, not bothering to respond to Brick's toxic point of view. She opened the door to the library and headed for the study tables.
"Doesn't your dad have a lab we can use?"
"A lab I can use. You will never be allowed in."
"Fine." He placed his backpack on a table and retrieved a notebook. "I'm sure you have an idea for a project."
Blossom flipped through her own notebook. "I want that blue ribbon, and we're not going to get it with a baking soda volcano."
Brick scowled at her, probably contemplating the most entertaining way to end her life.
Blossom ignored it and found the page where she had written the ideas she had sent to Dexter.
"You know." Brick scratched the peach fuzz above his upper lip. "Geothermal energy isn't a bad idea," he said, extrapolating from Blossom's comment just like he did with Boomer's. The more she thought about it, his mousetrap idea had come from her 'forcefield' comment. He didn't have a single original thought. All of his ideas came from someone else.
She let it go only because he actually did acknowledge that he had taken her idea and spun it in a different direction. "How are we going to build a working geothermal plant?"
"We convert Mojo's observatory."
Blossom pursed her lips at his bringing up his parentage. He never did that. Most of the time he acted like Mojo didn't exist. "Have you talked to him lately?" she asked.
"No. Have you?"
"He tried to blow up the dam a few months ago. Since then, he's been in prison."
"You have such a soft spot for the old ape."
Blossom crossed her arms. "Yeah, because you know me so well."
"I do. I know exactly who you are and what you're made of."
"Yeah, well I know where you came from too."
Brick closed his eyes and shook his head. "I love our little talks."
"Maybe we shouldn't talk, then."
Brick took a long breath looking at her. "Agreed."
She ripped the page out of the notebook and slid it to Brick. The subject of Mojo was dangerously proximate to the subject of Brick's other parent. Blossom had always wondered about the source of the nanobot swarm that plagued Townsville when she was in kindergarten. HIM was certainly powerful enough to create it.
He took a look at the list and nodded. He slipped it into his notebook and packed it into his backpack. They both got up to leave.
Blossom stopped herself from opening her mouth. They had a ceasefire, and she didn't want to break it. They would have to work together for an entire school year. Still, she needed to ask. The city could have been at risk.
"That monster," Blossom said, lowly. "Do you think HIM sent it?"
Brick looked at her with a slight glare that softened suddenly. "No."
"Why not? He is certainly capable of it."
"Sending a monster isn't his style. Besides, he wants something specific."
"Doesn't he control you or own your soul or something?"
"Is that what you think?" Brick rolled his head on his shoulders. "We sold him our souls and became demons? He can't control us any more than he can control you."
"He took you with him the day you came back. How'd you escape?"
"You've been to Limbo. The same way you did."
Limbo, the Chaos Realm. HIM's ever-changing playground. Blossom and her sisters had been trapped there once during their sleep. Blossom remembered the evil version of Ms. Keane and the disorienting terrain.
"What does he want?" Blossom asked.
"He always asks for the same thing, and it doesn't matter, because I'm not giving it to him."
"What is it?"
Brick looked at her, but said nothing.
Brick poured a can of soda over ice. It bubbled to the top as he carefully filled the glass. He took a sip and set it on the table next to his work chair to let the foam settle. He had several analyses on Plato's Republic open on his laptop.
This was more Philosophy than History and usually it would be outside the scope of the class. But Luzinsky had a hard-on for Ancient Greece and Brick needed to keep his lead. Brick himself despised the material. The central question, 'what is justice?' struck him as profoundly naive. Of course Plato didn't have the benefit of 2,300 years of philosophical progress to render the question meaningless.
He reached out for his glass of soda without looking, but his fingers didn't grasp anything. A quick glance at the table confirmed it was four inches from where he had set it.
"Go away."
"Brick, Brick, Brick," came a disembodied voice. "Is that any way to speak to your father?"
The words hit like a punch to the chest. "You are not my father," Brick growled.
A cloud of purple smoke gathered and formed into HIM. "Of course I am." He spun around, trying his hardest to get Brick's attention. "I did correct all of those little errors involved in your creation and return you to life after all." Brick kept his attention on his laptop. "Don't I deserve a little paternal involvement?"
"What's it been, five months?" Brick took a gulp of his soda. It was finally reaching the perfect temperature and dilution point. "I told you when we first met. You can't control us."
HIM crossed his arms. "I never wanted to control you. I'm just making suggestions like any good parent would. Is that so wrong?"
Then why do you only ever show up when you want something? Brick didn't ask the question aloud. He went back to his laptop, wondering what Plato would say about HIM, justice, and whether his association with chaos really makes him happy.
HIM tossed the end of his boa over his shoulder. "I heard you and your brothers have given up your life of crime and become..." He sneered to himself. "Superheroes."
Brick didn't look up. "Is that what you call fleecing this city for all it's worth?"
"It isn't wholesale slaughter, but it does have an elegance to it that, I will admit, makes me proud." HIM clacked his claws with a sadistic smile.
"That's why I did it, to make you proud." Brick took a long breath, he wanted to get the conversation over with.
"Fine. Fine." HIM waved off Brick's sarcasm. His placid expression slowly became barely restrained rage. "I saw you... with her," he hissed.
"Still out to destroy her? That's the thing I love about you. You never change."
"Get to be as old as I am and see if you don't find yourself set in your ways." HIM stalked across the carpet. His gaze never left Brick. "I want you to kill her."
Brick rolled his eyes. "No-"
"Kill her and I'll give you whatever you want."
"Oh good, I didn't want to face any challenges in my life ever again. That won't get boring."
"You are the only one who can."
"Then I don't need to kill her in order to prove it."
HIM crossed his arms and pouted. "You kill monsters all the time. Kill this one for me!"
Blossom characterized as a monster, interesting take. "No."
HIM came really close to him and growled in his face. "You really are my greatest disappointment," he hissed before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
Finally left in peace, Brick could go back to Plato.
The chunks of metal finally made it to the surface of the sun. Silico's nanite swarm went with it. One by one every last signal went to static. He took one final breath to lament the loss of his nanites. It had taken ten years for the last one to rebuild its brothers. With that material, Silico would have had a swarm capable of consuming the entire world.
Channel 5 news was doing an evening recap of the events. "Another monster attacked Townsville today, marking the 30th this year. It was defeated by Townsville's resident monster-destroyers, the Rowdyruff Boys." Beside the anchor's head was an image of the three of them beating against the lead artifice.
"Brick, Boys, We could have been such friends," Silico mused to himself. Brick had been more cunning than Silico had anticipated. Powerful as well, even more powerful than any of the Powerpuff Girls. The ability to do anything with the intelligence to do it right. It was quite impressive.
The anchor continued. "This time, though, our Boys were assisted by long-time crime-crushers, the Powerpuff Girls." The image changed to Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup using their powers on Silico's creation.
Silico tapped his fingertips together. "But now you've aligned yourselves with those females."
The anchor turned to his female companion. "Could this be the first sign of a superhero team-up?"
"I think the Girls are doing just fine on their own," she said, condescendingly. She turned to the camera. "Later this evening, Powerpuff leader, Blossom Utonium, uncovered a fraud scheme allegedly led by real estate developer, Winthrop Mangrove..."
No, it would never happen. The Rowdyruff Boys had sinned against him, especially their leader. Brick had to die.