PPG: Reckoning Chapter 1, a powerpuff girls fanfic

Powerpuff Girls & All associated trademarks are property of Turner Entertainment

I claim no ownership of anything.

I am making no money from this.

Chapter 01

During their childhood the Powerpuff Girls had not only been a force to be reckoned with, protecting and saving countless lives on countless occasions over a period of many years as they fought off all manner of threats from simple natural disasters and petty but determined criminals to alien invasions, nightmarish monsters that towered above the skyline and evil geniuses determined to bend the world to their own wills and desires but they had also been a symbol, a beacon of hope that allowed the people of not only Townsville and its' surrounding areas but the world as a whole to go on, the solace that came with the assurance that the trio of super-powered girls would be there to hold the seemingly endless tide of crime and horror at bay giving the citizens the courage to not only continue, but to rebuild and thrive time and time again.

And then that had changed; shortly after their sixteenth birthday the Powerpuff Girls had disbanded.

The truth of the events that had seen an enormous tidal wave sweep away much Townsville's coastline following the complete and utter destruction of what had been known colloquially as Monster Island were a well kept secret known only to a select few outside of the girls themselves, what was a matter of public record however was that a being or weapon of near incalculable power had been unleashed on the island whose terrifying denizens were nigh impossible to contain within any sort of military blockade or quarantine zone and the fallout of such a monumental attack had resulted in a tsunami that the Powerpuff Girls had been pushed to their limits to try and combat, with casualties being recorded in their hundreds despite Blossom using her signature ice breath to freeze a section of the incoming wave several miles across before it could impact. The Mayor, a well loved and respected individual throughout the city as a whole who had won in landslide after landslide and been a personal friend to the girls had perished, his heart failing him at the sight of what had become of his city and was often said that this was the final straw and the blow that had finally broke the Powerpuff Girls.

That had been three years ago.

It was, if not confirmed by those in question still an accepted fact that Blossom and Buttercup Utonium were not on speaking terms and had not been for the duration of those three years with the most famously belligerent of the trio departing to nearby Citiesville, a place famous for both its' naked and open corruption and the hostility with which its' local government treated super-heroes of any calibre, the latter being a by-product of the former no matter how the truth was distorted. Buttercup had chosen to lay low and avoid the public eye for a while, carving out a life and a niche role for herself within the fearsome cesspit of a city where had hoped to do some good for its' people despite everything that had happened and everything that was mounted against her.

Blossom had similarly thrown herself into her career as a superhero though in a far more spectacular and public way, over the years the Powerpuff Girls had worked with many other heroes when the situation had called for it with one such ally being Dex-Star, a genius inventor and scientist whose creations allowed him to overcome a lack of inherent superpowers; the young man had been an acquaintance of Major Glory, the worlds' foremost protector and head of the Super Friends, the international body which governed and organised heroes whilst giving legitimacy to their actions. Through this connection Blossom Utonium had joined Dex-Star in becoming a member of the Justice Friends, leaving her sisters and relatively humble beginnings to step onto the world and indeed interplanetary stage and over the course of three short years had risen to prominence.

Life had been more simple for Bubbles Utonium.

The third and final member of the Powerpuff Girls had not been at the centre of the rift between her sisters and had on several occasions tried to convince them to reach out to one another, whilst she had failed in this endeavour she had at least managed to convince the two of them to remain in contact with their father whenever possible, as infrequent as that was. Whilst there was nothing but love between Bubbles and her father, along with his wife and the Powerpuff Girls former teacher and the son that the pair had raised together, the now eight year old Ken; Bubbles, feeling that it was no longer fitting for her to operate as a superhero out of her bedroom had left the Utonium family home and sought out her own place in the world.

That she had taken up residence in the abandoned, volcano straddling lair of Mojo Jojo had caused something of a stir.

The enormous, domed observatory had gone unused and uninhabited for several years after a truly bizarre series of events where in Blossom and Dex-Star had been beset by the combined forces of their respective nemeses only for Mojo Jojo and Mandark to find that they loathed one another so intensely that they had sworn off of all other crime and villainy in order to devote their intellect and resources to defeating one another, with the sentient gorilla leaving Townsville in order to take the fight to his new rival.

In another baffling but auspicious convergence of events Bubbles had made this decision to make a home for herself at almost exactly the same time Boomer Jojo, one of the trio of super-powered boys created by Mojo Jojo specifically to wage war against the Powerpuff Girls returned to the city. After a truly farcical legal battle wherein the supervillain had lost custody of what he considered in equal parts his masterpiece and his progeny the Rowdy Ruff Boys had been placed in foster care only for two of them to immediately vanish, with their whereabouts still being unknown even several years later though Boomer; almost the most gentle and arguably stable of the three had chosen to give the system a chance, eventually being raised on a farm by a loving widower by the name of Eustace and her dog, a perpetually skittish thing with the hilariously incongruous name of 'Courage'. Bubbles and Boomer had met whilst trying to apprehend the same criminal and had found that they worked incredibly well together; the two of them continuing to team up and find excuses to meet one another outside of work and becoming first friends and then an item as they slowly realised that they had fallen in love with one another somewhere along the way until the point where the two of them laying claim to Mojo's base of operations together, which Boomer now legally owned had seemed to be the most natural and sensible thing in the world.

Which was it baffled an admittedly sleepy Bubbles that Boomer wasn't there right now.

"Huh?" the slurred and barely coherent word escaped the blonde teen as she slowly blinked her eyes open and tried to pull her partner in all things into a hug only to find nothing but empty space beside her, at which point she tried to rise out of her bed and promptly collapsed in a tangled mass of blankets, pillows and upended bowls which were fortunately no longer filled with snacks. Righting herself Bubbles gazed around, mind still lagging somewhat and realised with a small grin that she and Boomer had in fact never made it to bed the previous evening, instead after patrolling and stopping several robberies including an almost laughably poor attempt at stealing an Anubis head artefact from the nearby museum the pair returned home in the early hours of the morning and chosen to unwind by watching anime in the comfort of a blanket fort which they had clearly fallen asleep in.

"Boomer!" Bubbles called out cheerily, rubbing her eyes once again as she extricated herself from the blankets and began searching the spacious home and base that the two of them shared. At nineteen years of age Bubbles Utonium was tall with a lean and athletic build that boasted the defined muscles one would expect of a superhero without her being overly bulky, her naturally pale skin had a healthy tan and her impossibly bright, almost glowing electric blue eyes were highlighted by a faint dusting of freckles across her nose whilst her golden blonde hair was currently a somewhat dishevelled mess, its' vast volume conspiring against her as she wandered around clad in the sweatpants and baggy graphic t-shirt she had slept in.

"Boomer come on, whatever you've got planned it's not cute or funny!" she called out again as she made her way into the kitchen where she had almost expected to see her team-mate and boyfriend making breakfast "Boomer it's a Saturday and it's….Oh my gosh it's late, we're running late and I told Dad we'd come and-"

The ground shook.

"Nani the heck?" Bubbles muttered, mannerisms that she often attributed to being able to learn any language almost instantaneously but were in truth more the product of her tastes in pop culture and media becoming apparent whilst senses far sharper than those of any baseline human and instincts honed by over a decade of combating the stuff of nightmares coming into focus as she dropped into a crouch and placed a hand against the ground, allowing the vibrations from whatever had caused the ground to tremble faintly a moment ago to travel along her arm whilst her ears strained to pick up any sounds beyond the ambient buzz of the city. Within moments she felt another rumble and heard the screams of scared civilians somewhere in the distance.

Now she knew where Boomer was.

"Aww, you were gonna let me sleep in….ya big goof" she grinned before forcing herself to focus again and try and discern anything useful form the limited information available to her. Fuzzy Lumpkins was dead and gone, felled by a curable illness as he refused to allow paramedics onto his property and even if the strange creature were still alive the thunderous reports she was hearing and feeling could not have come from one of his many guns. With Mojo Jojo no longer unleashing mechanical war machines on the populace and the destruction of Monster island vastly limiting the amount of Kaiju attacking Townsville there were truthfully very few possible candidates, though something twisted and plummeted inside of Bubbles at the thought of the return of the truly colossal, fiery orange scaled beast that she and her sisters had never managed to defeat; a monster with no name beyond simply 'The big one' she was shocked back into the present moment by yet another tremor however and her features morphed into a rictus grin of grim determination as he eyes shone and the air crackled with palpable, thrumming power around her before she burst into a blur of motion; seeking out a spare uniform before streaking out of her home in a surge of azure light.

She could not be expected to save the day in pyjamas after all.

Blossom Utonium had become more than she had ever expected of herself, a truly herculean feat considering both what she had already accomplished with the use of her superhuman powers and the impossibly high standards she had always held herself and those who worked alongside her to.

She had become Major Glory.

After working alongside some of the greatest heroes in the world even as a child with her sisters Blossom had been inducted into the ranks of the Justice Friends alongside Dex-Star, though in hindsight she should have seen that requiring such connections and friendships in order to be recognised for her efforts for the red flag that it had proven itself to be. In almost no time at all Blossom had come to realise that as heroic as those she now called her peers might have appeared the harsh and painful reality was that to almost each an every one of the heroism was a business and a profession rather than the duty that she had always considered it to be; where before they had been idols and titans in her mind, now that she knew them they were nothing more than men and women using their powers for profit, sidekicks being used as simple tools to boost ratings and sell merchandise.

Things had changed however when Major Glory, first among the worlds' heroes had chosen to retire from his role almost a year ago.

Blossom had been named as his successor, above even his own sidekick and the ever reliable Dex-Star whose rise amongst the ranks of their peers had been meteoric in a surprising decision that had irreversibly changed the relationship between the her and the genius she had long considered amongst her closest friends, even if their brief relationship had been an utter travesty. The news had been announced during a press conference issued from the directly in front of the White House with superheroes from across the world, including former members of the Justice Friends such has Crunk, Val-Hallen, Rat-Man, the Living Bullet and White Tiger present and the eyes of the entire planet watching as Major Glory had unmasked himself; revealing the plain and ordinary face of a man to countless millions of viewers before handing his iconic golden and eagle winged mask to Blossom Utonium who stood flanked by all but one of her family, the unbridled joy she felt at that moment almost completely overshadowing the sting that came with knowing that Buttercup had chosen not to come; the differences between them still seemingly too great to overcome, her sister likely believing that Blossom was unfit to take up the mantle and still thinking her to weak to do what needed to be done.

It was that same mask that she wore now as she tore though the sky with a contrail of neon pink in her wake.

Blossom's costume was no longer the pink dress she had worn as a child, though nor was it the overtly patriotic, almost jingoistic affair that her predecessor had used to cement himself as a fundamental part of American culture; instead she wore a suit that she felt embodied the values she had spoken of during her acceptance speech where had proclaimed that she was not just America's hero she was the world's hero. Her tall and slender form was enveloped in a material that resembled spandex but behaved more like a form of armour and granted her an additional layer of protection beyond that of her own superhuman physiology, the costume being almost entirely pristine and brilliant white with boots and gloves that were a deep fuchsia that she felt was more fitting that the candy pink she had previously sported whilst the blue, central chest piece of Major Glory's costume had been replaced with a glossy midnight black and the stars that bared only a passing resemblance to the American flag had bee removed and replaced with an image of the Earth, a united nations emblem in pink and burnished gold. She wore no cape, she'd experimented with the accessory and found it impractical instead all that flowed behind her as she flew was her own deep auburn hair which had grown long and wavy and was no longer held back by her once signature bow; despite temptations she had made no changes the golden mask she wore besides having resized and even now she questioned it the image of a stylised predator was one she wanted to send as her unnatural pink eyes peered through its' eye slits and her jaw set in a determined scowl, the lower half of her face visible revealing angular, drawn features and a complexion that was perhaps a little too pale after the pressures of her new role kept Blossom away from almost any form of relaxation for far too long.

A concern that Blossom forced aside and chided herself for entertaining as she neared her destination.

"Almost there, almost there….If it hadn't been for Facebook he'd still be in Nevada" she grumbled under her breath, the words managing to sound commanding and authoritative even in such a context as she continued to soar through the air in search of what she knew she would need for the task at hand.

Under her predecessor there had been a protocol.

Terrorist threats had been delegated to individuals like the almost mythical Action Hank or counter-insurgency groups such as Codename KND whose work against agitators who had instigated an attack on the Capitol building had been exemplary and something Blossom had lauded publicly whilst matters of the magical or otherwise arcane could be passed on to the Grim Reaper himself through a young woman known simply as Mandy whom Blossom would freely admit was utterly terrifying; any of the few Kaiju left in the world could be stopped by any number of specially trained and equipped mecha pilots belonging to a small and elite corps whose members included Dynamite Diva, none of than Dexter's older sister and some of the child genius's former acquaintances from a brief stint in Japan as an exchange student. The idea of this was that superheroes would be left to deal with what they deemed 'fitting' work, for example Blossom would be called to action if the Power-Punk Girls were to breach the barriers of reality and attack this dimension again. In truth this protocol was largely based around giving career-minded heroes the kind of eye-catching derring-do that would allow them to garner more attention and Blossom had found this idea simply revolting to its' core, instead she had chosen to lead the team to the immediate aid of all who asked for it, appearing in person and without reservation wherever the danger was greatest until the image of Major Glory, surrounded by flames and debris with her suit dirtied and tarnish and her hair fanning out dramatically behind her had been etched into the minds' of all who saw her.

There was no denying however that the current problem would have been one that required her attention, even under the old system.

"There you are" Blossom finally sighed, the air warping and displacing itself around her as she slowed to an almost immediate stop in a show of control and skill that would have cost a normal human being their life whilst righting herself from the horiontal position she flew in; gazing downwards she saw what appeared to be a vast expanse of open farmland, an endless stretch of green fields where the occasional flock or herd could be seen grazing however Blossom saw the ruse for what it was and knew exactly what lay beneath.

At some unknown signal, likely her own arrival which had certainly been detected long before she had neared this place regardless of how fast she flew one of the fields shifted, its' entire length and breadth moving as a single plane which lowered out of view and slid away to reveal that this entire region and the farmlands that covered it were in fact nothing more than cover for a series of hangars, warehouses and other storage facilities designed to hold all manner of weapons and equipment that required that utmost security and secrecy along with several individuals whose nature or abilities had left them incapable of living a normal life and needed them to be contained for their own good regardless of any crimes that they may or may not have committed. Blossom stared down at one such individual with fondness as she was reminded of more innocent times by the impossibly vast mass of fawn coloured fur that blinked up at her and cocked its' head silently.

"Hey there buddy" Blossom murmured as she flew downwards, speaking much more informally though just as gently as she would to someone she had rescued before folding her arms across her chest and pondering whilst muttering under her breath "Now….how do I safely get you to the moon?"

Buttercup Utonium was perched on a spindly aluminium stool positioned in front of a nightclubs' bar despite the fact that the venue would not be open for several hours and privately wished she could attribute her current pulsing headache to her seedy surroundings rather than being shot in the head with several dozen high calibre bullets less than twelve hours previously.

As it was Buttercup looked a sorry sight with one vivid green not opening fully and surrounded by a mass of puffy purple bruises that her accelerated healing would attend to in a matter of mere hours however she was certain that if her sisters' or worse yet her father were to see her in such a state there would be an endless stream of questions that she had no real inclination to answer. Beyond the injuries that were little more than an inconvenience to her Buttercup would be almost unrecognisable to anyone that had only known her as a child; she had grown tall like her sisters yet had a more broad shouldered and visibly muscular physique with powerful arms that were left bare by the faded, loose fitting tank-top she currently wore and were littered with incredibly intricate sleeve tattoos which displayed jet black renditions of the battles she and her sisters had fought against countless monsters throughout their childhoods. Her hair had been shaved to almost nothing at the back and sides whilst a mess of stylish, swept forward and raven coloured spikes atop her head gave her a distinctly fierce appearance that was complemented by her choice in attire, artistically ripped black jeans held up by several heavy duty belts and well-worn deep green sneakers whilst strewn across another nearby stool was a hoodie in a matching colour which was now ragged and torn after being shredded by gunfire and a sleeveless leather jacket adorned countless silver studs lining its' collar and shoulders and dozens of badges and patches littering its' chest which had mercifully been spared the same treatment.

She would have looked intimidating, especially in the harsh and sickly strobe lighting of the nightclub, were it not for the presence of the individuals currently flanking her.

To her right and currently leaning against Buttercup's shoulder whilst barely clinging to consciousness was the tanned and freckled form of Princess Morbucks whose mane of curls had fallen in front of and obscured part of her face until Buttercup pushed it aside, drawing a confused and startled sound from the young woman. The former Morbucks heir wore simple clothes that were more in keeping with her current financial and social strata, that being of a disinherited and disenfranchised young woman in her late teens who worked in a nightclub whenever she was able to. Princess had been cast out of her family and publicly denounced by her billionaire father after her final attempt to outshine the Powerpuff Girls had resulted in catastrophe; in truth the life of villainy that she had found herself spiralling into even from a young age whilst being enabled by those around her had never been her goal, she had always wanted to help the world and use her fortunes for good but lacked the knowledge and understanding of how to do so and that, combined with her jealousy towards the super-powered sisters had led to her decision to do what the Powerpuff Girls never could and solve one of Townsville's greatest problems once and for all.

By destroying Monster Island and inadvertently causing a tidal wave along with the rift that had broken the Powerpuff Girls apart.

On Buttercup's left was was a tall and broad shouldered but somehow still gaunt and unhealthy looking man perhaps a few years older than the two women whose skin had a sickly yellowish cast to it and whose hair was a shorn and barely visible dark fuzz atop an unfortunately blocky and angular skull offset by a dark and prominent monobrow beneath which were a pair of glassy and almost perpetually unfocused eyes. The Young man was clad in loose jeans and a simple, dark green jacket with a striped hoodie beneath it, all of which were stained and torn.

This was Ed, another young would-be hero who found themselves gravitating towards Citiesville and sucked into the orbit of the crime that plagued the bleak metropolis.

When the differences between herself and Blossom had become impossible to reconcile Buttercup, not wanting to subject her family to any more hostilities had left and sought out the most hellish and unforgiving place that she could think of to first lose and then remake herself, she had been in Citiesville only a few short months before she had been approached by Princess who, despite being cast out for the good of the fathers' company name still had access to the suit which gave her the illusion of powers and the pair had settled into an alliance that had been uneasy and untrusting at first but had slowly developed into first trust and friendship and then something more. This had continued for some time until the inevitable had happened and Princess's suit had been damaged beyond her ability to repair during battle at which point that had become acquainted with 'The Eds' a trio of young men from a small, seemingly normal suburb like countless others across the country which had in truth been a highly controlled testing ground in which they, along with their peers had been given experimental drugs in an effort to create artificial super-humans; these drugs had been administered in the form of highly addictive candy, specifically jawbreakers. The trio consisted of Ed, the only member of the group for whom the process had been a success and who used the codename 'Jawbreaker' when fighting organised crime with the aid of his superhuman strength, resilience and a constitution that allowed him to consume almost anything, Edd or 'Double D' as he was more commonly known; a rake thin and erratic yet perfectionist and obsessive genius who served as the groups' scientist and engineer and finally Eddy, a short, squat and slick-talking young man with a penchant for offensively vibrant attire, fake gold jewellery and surrounding himself with dubious individuals seemingly by habit who had founded the nightclub in which Buttercup and her team-mates now sat.

Whilst Buttercup, Princess and Ed worked as an unofficial superhero team within the city, often derided as vigilantes and receiving no support or recognition from sources such as the Justice Friends and operating without any real air of legitimacy and Double D manufactured and maintained any equipment that they might need within his basement laboratory and workshop which he had dubbed the 'Editorial suite' Eddy fulfilled an equally important role, that of an information broker and intermediary; the professional swindler and all-round rogue had a certain undeniable charm about him and his nightclub was considered a neutral ground between gangs in the city which had led to many truces and peace talks between rival factions being held there whilst those same criminals equally regularly betrayed one another by giving information that would send the resident vigilantes after them.

However business was business and Eddy would not have people propping up his bar without buying drinks, the fact that it was not yet noon being completely unimportant.

"Monobrow look alive buddy, order something! What about you Buttercup? Come on if I've gotta be here keeping the lights on then I'm getting paid for it, that's how this works" his voice grated on raw nerves and the former Powerpuff Girl turned her gaze his way, the fact that her right eye was still unable to fully open doing nothing to lessen the effect and Eddy quickly found himself stammering incoherently.

"Babe….shut him up for me" Princess grumbled, even whilst barely awake her voice managed to have a commanding edge to it whilst Ed merely snorted and flopped forward onto the bar with a thud.

"Buttered toast" he grumbled "And bacon….I'm starving"

"No change there" Eddy remarked only to cock his head to the side and pause before asking, in a much more sincere tone "Are you guys okay? You look a mess-"

"Lousy information" Buttercup snarled, the air crackled around her as she spoke "Le Quack had his people bringing a shipment from out of state, we were told it was counterfeit electronics-"

"That sounds like his kinda thing" Eddy nodded sagely, Le Quack, a career criminal who was not one of the clubs' regular patrons was considered something of an expert in all things counterfeit or fraudulent and ran various smuggling operations along with simple theft and extortion rackets; the fact that the French speaking villain was also a sentient duck might once have been considered strange but by now Eddy was simply used to it.

"Yeah but there's not a phone in the world that can do this" Buttercup indicated to the bruises marring her face and the shredded clothing that both she and Ed wore.

"I mean maybe a Nokia" Eddy shrugged glibly before pondering allowed "So he's gun-running now….that's gonna get messy….Who did you get that information from?"

An answer came barely a second later from a voice that matched Eddy's own perpetual devious smoothness, yet held a more immediately dangerous edge to it.

"Brandy no chaser Eddy….damn, you three look like shit, rough night?" the speaker was a six and a half foot tall, slender man with black hair that hung about his face in sleek curtains whilst stubble littered his chin, his eyes were covered by heavily tinted sunglasses and his clothes were designer and yet still ill-fitting as if done so deliberately; all of this however was less noticeable than the fact that his skin was a foul, rotten shade of green.

Ace, head of the Gangrene Gang was a regular at the club and a regular dealer in information and other useful necessities; though that did nothing to prevent him from being subjected to Princess's ire.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" the olive skinned and freckled young woman was awake and alert in an instant, streaking across the nightclub with rage-fuelled speed that left the gangster thinking that she was still wearing her powered suit for a brief moment before all thoughts were knocked from his mind with a painful thud; Princess slammed Ace in to the nearest wall and dragged him down to her eye level by the front of his jacket as she vented her spleen

"YOU SAID LE QUACK WAS BRINING IN SOME FAKE IPHONES, YOU SAID HE WAS GONNA SET UP AN INSURANCE SCAM AND WAIT UNTIL THEY ALL SET ON FIRE BECAUSE OF CHEAP PARTS! HIS GOONS HAD AN ANTI-TANK RIFLE!"

"Holy shit" Ace whispered, some of the unnatural colour leaving his face "You guys are good though right, we're still good?"

"That depends" Buttercup growled as she appeared at Princess's side, gently convincing her to release her helpless victim "Put him down babe, he breaks easily….Did you set us up Ace, cos I got shot in the fucking face last night and I really wanna take it out on somebody"

"Come on, I've got some class. If I wanted to set you up that's not how I'd do it and I wouldn't be dumb enough to come here unless I was sure that it'd worked" he croaked out and something about the answer, likely that Ace had not tried to deny exactly what kind of person he truly was managed to convince Buttercup that he was telling the truth.

"So why are you here?" Princess demanded, grinding each word out through clenched teeth

"Helping us both" Ace replied, lowering his sunglasses a fraction and winking as his customary smugness reasserted itself "Some of my guys were….well we'll just say visiting-"

"Cut the crap Ace"

"Okay, some of my guys were hustling near the docks and they got moved off of their spot; Le Quack's people showed up….I didn't know they were moving like that but now it makes sense, word is there's a big shipment coming on on a ferry tonight, word is that he's gonna be there in person-"

"So it's gonna be more guns….maybe something even bigger" Buttercup surmised, eyes shining with sudden determination as the importance of the situation became clear; the mob could not be allowed to become more heavily armed than they already were and as she and Princess shared a look it was clear that her parter felt the same way.

"We need details, everything you know" Princess noted coldly before turning to where Eddy was polishing the bar, working around a now sleeping Ed "Looks like we're all ordering drinks….Ace is paying"

The sight of Boomer Jojo fighting crime, halting disasters and otherwise protecting the people of Townsville had been a strange sight for the citizens during the early days of his career as a Superhero, though now after several years his presence was an accepted and welcomed fact, with few people ever even mentioning his former role as a weapon to be used against the cities' previous defenders.

Boomer's costume was very much inspired by the attire had worn in his youth, though stylised to be more fitting of his role; a form fitting suit of a reinforced, spandex like material in a deep royal blue a single black stripe running horizontally across the chest with a gold trim adorning it, the same black and gold detailing, this time decorated with golden chevrons ran along the length of his arms and led to a pair of black fingerless gloves whilst his feet were covered with black, armoured boots. The outfit accentuated Boomer's build which was, like any of the other artificial children born of Chemical X strong an athletic though perhaps more willowy than one might have expected. Boomer's face had a boyish charm to it, prominent cheeks and shining blue eyes complimented with blonde locks that formed natural curls and reached his jawline.

Whilst Boomer and Bubbles were the premier crime fighters within Townsville they were not its' only defenders; Sedusa and Femme Fatale, now operating as a duo found themselves on both sides of the law on a regular basis, saving lives or committing crimes based entirely on their own code of ethics or whims at any given moment though their preferred targets in both instances tended to be wealthy or corrupt men. There was also Elmer Skloo, a young man and old school friend of the Powerpuff Girls who had been often teased for his habit of eating glue until a contaminated batch had given the boy mutagenic powers, allowing him to become a towering and protean monster with a body that endlessly shifted and recovered from any damage done to it whilst also holding any opponent firmly in his grasp. It had been Elmer, or Pastetriot as he was known within the hero community who had enlisted the help of Boomer and he was currently sprawled on the ground in his human form glasses cracked and barely able to move after receiving a thorough thrashing from one of the few remaining super-villains to actively plague the city.

Roach Coach.

There were almost no giant monsters left and giant robot attacks were greatly reduced yet Roach Coach, the sentient and genetically modified cockroach who sought to purge humanity from the surface of the Earth so that his endless tide of similarly modified insect followers could inherit the planet had persisted with all of the tenacity one might expect from a creature capable of surviving a nuclear fallout. Currently and for reasons known only to himself as he had not chosen to share them Roach Coach was attacking a commercial area in the midst of the city that, due to it being a Saturday had been bustling with pedestrians when the assault had begun. The insectoid villain appearing, as always within one of his mechanical human bodies to disguise his presence until a swarm of countless millions of cockroaches had swarmed around him to form a single, horrific gestalt being which stood at several stories tall and resembled some terrible insectoid centaur; the body stood on four segmented legs which were joined to a rounded and bulbous abdomen which was in turn connected to a bulging thorax from which a pair of arms which ended in three clawed digits sprouted. The head of the gestalt was insectoid and bore a pair of gnashing mandibles, their snapping punctuating the grating, rustling sound of countless bodies piling and rushing over one another to give the entire combined monster and blurred and hazy appearance.

More importantly, through some genetic oddity the gestalt could breathe fire; which Boomer learned as they were forced to weave through the air to avoid a jet of flames.

"Oh wow you really have evolved!" he called down in a cheery and conversational tone as a mid-air somersault brought him to safety "The bugs have brought their own can of raid….good thing I brought a can of whoop-ass!"

"Talkative bipeds, the most annoying of all! Stand still and be swatted!" Roach Coach's enraged roar sounded from the mandibles of the gestalt monster, distorted into a buzzing and echoing sound that tore at the air before the monster lunged and swiped at the space Boomer had occupied only a moment before. The counter-attack came a moment later as Boomer, who had flown around the savage slash of his enemies' jagged and segmented claws first flew back to give himself enough space to create momentum and then sent himself hurtling towards Roach Coach, a burst of speed turning him into a shining azure comet.

The air and ground trembled beneath the impact as the two collided.

Roach Coach sensed the incoming attack and thrust forwards with both clawed arms, protecting the thorax of the gestalt as they met Boomer's attack head on and the former Super-villain was taken aback for a split second as his own tremendous force was met and equalled; the tiny opening being all that Roach Coach needed and the young man had no chance to react before a wave rippled through the entire body of the roach monster with each of the countless bodies that comprised it acting in perfect unison to create a concussive shock-wave which sent Boomer hurtling backwards and down, hitting the ground with enough force to tear chunks from the asphalt before his collision with an abandoned bus brought him to an impromptu halt.

"And now you-" whatever final declaration Roach Coach had intended to make from his position of towering over the dazed superhero went unfinished as the head of the gestalt exploded into a cloud of buzzing and droning fragments as a streak of electric blue light ripped through it before arcing through the air and landing at Boomer's side.

"Seriously, you started without me?" Bubbles laughed with a teasing pout as she pulled Boomer to his feet "Oh hey Elmer, you okay over there?"

"Well it was my turn to take the trash out" Boomer chuckled as he gestured to the still standing remains of Roach Coach's gestalt monster whilst keeping his eyes solely on his partner.

Bubbles's hero costume was similar to his own, featuring an electric blue, sleeveless one piece and skirt made from the same resilient but flexible material with a black stripe, trimmed with white running across her chest, her fingerless gloves reached to her elbow and were also trimmed with white whilst in place of black boots she wore armoured white high-topped sneakers and matching thigh-high socks all of witch were complimented by a pale blue bow around her neck and her mane of golden hair being tied into a pair of pigtails which trailed behind her. Overall the two heroes had a shared aesthetic that clearly identified them as two halves of a pair whilst catering to each of their personal tastes.

"Cute one liners are my thing" Bubbles pouted "Think he's actually finished"

"You think I'm cute?" Boomer replied, feigned utter shock as if this were some kind of revelation to him "And nah"

"It's not like I like you are anything baka-"

"ENOUGH TALK BIPEDS!" Roach Coach roared, the cranium of his gestalt monster; in truth an entirely redundant component reformed as the swarm of insects that formed it reconfigured themselves, an instant later the clawed forelimbs of the giant beast came thundering down upon them yet the speed and strength of two heroes was unrivalled, with both Bubbles and Boomer launching into action and each smashing a limb aside with earthshaking impacts that left the limbs twisted and slowly reforming.

"He's in the thorax!" Boomer called out before continuing his own attack, the deep blue irises of his eyes beginning to glow as if lit from behind whilst specks of shimmering brilliance swirled and gathered within them like miniature galaxies and constellations; accelerating and converging in a matter of mere moments until twin beams of blazing light erupted from his and burned through a swathe of the gestalt, tearing the left arm from the monster and incinerating countless thousands of Roach Coach's minions yet even then the insect revolutionary would not be denied and his swarming titan unleashed another jet of fire from its' maw and forced Boomer to cease his attack and evade once again.

"I'm on it!" Bubbles called out, flying passed Boomer only to be halted by the gestalt rising onto its' segmented hindlimbs, the forward pair of legs kicking out like mule and sending her streaking backwards with a pained yell before a booming crash somewhere in the distance announced her collision with a building.

"BUBBLES!" Boomer's momentary distraction saw him smashed into the ground, the gestalt delivering an overhand blow and unleashing another vibrating shock-wave that left the blond boy laying in a crater and spitting out a mouthful of blood as he struggled to rise to his feet.

"Prepare for extinction, biped….any last words to be recorded, there will be museums about the failures of your species-"

"Now you messed up" Boomer chuckled darkly, wiping blood from his chin as he stood up, shoulders sagging

"You think you will-"

"Not me" Boomer chuckled again before gesturing behind him "You messed with Bubbles and she….Oh she's hardcore"

"OMAE WA MOU SHINDEIRU YOU JERK!" a shrill, echoing battle cry split the air apart and was followed by the sound of something screaming towards them at impossible speeds; giving the gestalt roach monster enough time to look directly ahead and nothing more before it was destroyed completely. Bubbles hurtled through the air with a contrail of light in her wake before crashing into the thorax of the monster, her fists glowing with stored power that shone like a pair of cyan suns and crackled with lightning before she flung her arms out to her sides and split the insectoid horror in half, sending the robotic body that Roach Coach himself was piloting and leaving an after image of neon blue arcing through the air around her like a cartoonish grin.

"I call that one the smile bomb!" Bubbled yelled triumphantly, Boomer merely let out a resigned sigh before calling up to her.

"You're gonna get us sued!"

"Meanie" Bubbles called back, playfully sticking her tongue out at him before flying down to the ground and landing directly in front of her partner, wiping lingering drops of blood away from his face as she stepped close and leaned into him with her forehead resting against his whilst his arms found their way around her waist.

"Stop getting hurt" she admonished gently "And stop rushing in without me"

"Stop getting thrown through buildings" Boomer retorted with a grin before adding, more quietly "I knew you were tired so I thought I'd handle this, make breakfast and tell the Professor that this is why we were late, we both need a shower-"

"You're sweet" Bubbles beamed, planting a gentle kiss on his cheek only for the moment to be ruined by the sound of a throat being loudly cleared; a particularly unpleasant phlegm-laced sound.

"So are we finishing the job off or just letting him get away?" Bubbles and Boomer turned and saw that Elmer Skloo was once again on his feet, though clearly in pain; in his regular form he was largely unremarkable, small sickly and pale and wearing thick glasses.

"We? You were asleep on the job when I got here" Boomer joked.

"But he's right, let's go get him" Bubbles sighed and with that Bubbles and Boomer, Townsville's premier super-heroes joined Pastetriot in preparing to apprehend Roach Coach. The humanoid robot he was piloting had been utterly mangled by its' fall and Bubble's impact, the results being a level of dis-figuration and damage that would have sickening if there had ever been flesh and blood beneath its' rubbery skin; as always and for reasons that nobody knew the robot once again resembled a middle-aged, rotund and balding man and Bubbles promptly flipped the machine on its' back before reaching down and tearing its' faceplate away

"Okay you're under-huh?" she quickly came to a halt and was left blinking in confusion by the complete absence of both Roach Coach himself or any sign of the usual cockpit setup within the mass of wires and blinking lights that greeted her.

"Stupid biped!" the familiar voice of her insectoid foe sneered, the minute speakers it sounded from giving it a tinny and low quality feel "You thought I planned to play your silly game forever, no! Your hive of worthless meat-bags was bait to lure you here, now prepare for a taste of the fires I will burn your world in!"

"MOVE!" Elmer almost screamed as he shoved Bubbles and Boomer aside, his body rippling and squelching as it morphed into a mass of green-tinged white sludge before he leapt onto the remotely-piloted robot a moment before it exploded, the blast warping and distending Elmer's body only for it to reform; smoking but ultimately unharmed as he rolled over and revealed that nothing but ashes and fragments remained of Roach Coach's robot.

"So he's learned to extend his control further….or he's gotten some new equipment to do it?" Boomer asked cautiously.

"No idea, shame there's not really anything left to examine" Bubbles murmured before turning to Elmer "You didn't have to do that"

"You can take the blast, I didn't wanna risk it hurting anyone else"

"Thank you" Bubbles nodded "So….now what?"

"Well I was the first one on the scene" Elmer sighed "Which means I get to deal with the paperwork"

"Which means we can go get changed" Boomer grinned brightly "Later Elmer, we've got plans" with that he soared into the sky, only for Bubbles to take to the air with her own contrail of light spiralling around his as she showed off her acrobatic abilities before halting in front of him and leaning in for a kiss which Boomer readily accepted.

"Last one home fixes the blanket fort" she said as she paused mere inches from his face, sticking her tongue out before vanishing in a blur of motion.

Boomer simply wondered how his life had turned out this well considering his beginnings.

Humanity had ventured out into space and there was now a fully-fledged and prospering city based on the moon, a fact which Dexter McPherson, the child genius turned super-hero also known as Dex-Star had mixed feelings about. On the one hand seeing the species that he had done so much to see step forward and achieve the greatness that he believed humanity to be not only capable of but ultimately destined for had been a moment of pure, joyous vindication where he saw his faith in humanity rewarded.

On the other hand this city had been founded by his former rival and arch-nemesis, Mandark.

Dexter's fellow child prodigy and grudgingly-accepted rival had changed the course of both his own life and human history when his ill-fated partnership with the villainous gorilla Mojo Jojo had left the two so embittered and hateful of one another that they had each dedicated their existences to the defeat of the other. Neither intellectual titan would be satisfied with something as simple or crass as a defeat in battle, the two of them forgoing direct violence and using their resources and abilities in an effort to prove themselves the superior mind which had, in a bizarre twist of fate improved countless millions of lives as they had developed medicine, ended famines, improved communication networks across the world, solved other logistical problems and allowed hospitals to be built within a matter of days and, in Mandark's crowning achievement colonised the moon and laid the groundwork for other such settlements on other worlds.

The fact that the moon city was currently being invaded by aliens presented only a slight obstacle to those plans.

Dex-Star had been a member of the Justice Friends for some years now and with its' membership changing since his recruitment the young man was considered one of its' more prominent and experienced members and had been manning the satellite that the organisation kept in orbit above Earth, meaning that when the distress call had come from Mandark's city, it's genius founder having already moved onto other projects it was Dexter who had answered, with no small amount of satisfaction. The current invaders were the Broccoloids, a species of plant based aliens who had attacked Earth before though during that encounter they had attempted to use mind control rather than direct force before being defeated by the Powerpuff Girls; their bodies largely resembling anthropomorphic broccoli with the weapons, vehicles and beasts of burdens they brought to battle all having similarly vegetable-themed appearances. The star-filled sky of the city, encased within a series of domes was filled with smoke and flames that were sucked and filtered away as fast as possible with fresh air being pumped into the artificial atmosphere to replace it and flashes of laser fire as the invaders and defenders engaged one another in scores of skirmishes whilst Dex-Star watched from above, soaring through the air and surveying the situation so that he could find the perfect place to strike.

Civilians were being escorted to safety by droves of automatons that he had brought along for just such a task, the robots shielding people and, Dexter noted with a smirk vastly outclassing Mandark's own robots all whilst being led by a now fully-automated robotic bear that he had once used as part of an expedition to track down a mythical creature. Beyond the domes the protected the moon-city his fellow hero and veteran of the Justice Friends 'Miss-Spell' was hovering in the thin atmosphere, a magically sustained bubble of air around her as she tore alien vessels from the sky with bolts of emerald green fire and lightning. Disturbingly fleshy war-machines that had opened fire on several key buildings found themselves crushed to pulp and shrapnel and another hero who had mentored Dex-Star arrived, Capitol G; a man capable of growing to tremendous size. Elsewhere squads of Broccoloid shock troops were set upon and cut down by lightning fast and ruthlessly precise strikes from Sugar Glider, the sidekick of the now retired Rat-Man and Monkey, Dexter's own former pet who revealed himself to be a secret agent deployed to watch the young genius before becoming a hero in his own right.

It was when Dexter saw Fatboy, the sidekick of his former idol Major Glory that he knew his skills were required.

The burly young man clad in a suit of yellow with blue gloves and boots, an orange triangle of armour adorning his chest was the peak specimen of physical excellence despite being far more portly and rotund than one might except of someone in his capacity, a fresh, freckled face partially covered by a yellow cowl was now spattered with blood, dust and other detritus from a battle with what looked to be the head of the Broccoloid force and whilst Fatboy wielded his weapons, an enormous halberd and trident styled to resemble a knife and fork with his customary grace and expertise it was clear that he was simply outmatched and had no answer to his foes' ability to regenerate.

"Engage dodge-ball protocol" Dexter murmured to himself as he soared downwards, his own suit rushing to comply as he did so. As Dex-Star he was clad in midnight black and deep purple with golden gauntlets, his costume featuring a cowl which integrated a pair of wickedly curved and imposing purple lenses which protected his eyes whilst allowing his hair to blow freely and a cape which served to give him a more intimidating appearance, countering his diminutive stature whilst also hiding the many gadgets and tools at his disposal.

The silver wings currently retracting from view were one such tool, the dodge-ball protocol was another.

"Fatboy, fall back" Dexter instructed as a mechanical chassis unfurled itself, lengthening his limbs and forming an armoured frame around his body. Spitting out a slew of what were no doubt vile curses in their native tongue the aliens came leaping at him with their weapons at the ready, their bodies being crushed and sundered with an unnerving calm and silence as Dexter waded into battle, limbs and weapons of his suit acting as extensions of his own will. Yet through it all the Broccoloid leader, mounted on a steed with a snout that resembled a carrot simply let out a stream of rasping laughter; fixing the newly arrived hero with a hateful stare, yellow eyes filling with glee as it spoke, revealing that it understood English.

"You're surrounded. Now for….second helping" hearing these words, Dexter whirled around; covering the injured Fatboy with his armoured suits' presence as much as he could yet realising that it was hopeless as countless hundreds of the Broccoloid force had used the distraction to line the streets around them, a fact made more troublesome still by the fact those Dex-Star had already defeated began to rise, their bodies steadily reforming from the mush they had been reduced to.

Now it was Dexter's turn to laugh.

"Good, I was hoping you wouldn't make me chase you all. Disable dodge-ball protocol, Engage label gun" the Broccoloid General spat out several orders in its' native language yet no attacks came as Dex-Star's mechanic battle suit collapsed and retracted beneath his cape, the aliens treating him with a modicum of cautious apprehension as he reached into the seemingly bottomless folds of the fabric and produced what was clearly a weapon; some monstrous hybrid of a sniper rifle, grenade launcher and rail-gun that promised a painful end to anything it was aimed at.

"This is far from my greatest creation" Dex-Star mused in a taunting tone, sweeping the barrel across the gathered forces "But on short notice it will suffice"

Then he fired.

The Broccoloid to be struck with the round staggered back several paces and dropped their weapon as they coughed and sputtered before righting themselves and letting out a series of menacing vocalisations as they postured as if to show that they were unharmed; then the effects of the shot took hold and the alien collapsed to the ground gasping and convulsing as its' body began to rot and wilt from the inside, being reduced to a dessicated husk in mere second.

"What the hell is that?" Fatboy whispered, nodding to Dexter's weapon with open fear and revulsion.

"Herbicide rounds, a few timely modifications" came the cold and aloof reply before Dex-Star took aim and prepared to shoot the Broccoloid General in the face, being prevented only by another of the aliens leaping in front of it's leader and being felled instead; from the moment is' body struck the ground with a dry, cracking thud chaos was unleashed as the tide of aliens came barrelling towards the pair of heroes from all sides.

"You couldn't think of a better delivery system?" Fatboy demanded as the realisation that they would not be able to stop all of the Broccoloids before they closed the distance set in and that Dex-Star's appearance would ultimately be a meaningless sacrifice set in.

"I had my reasons and time restrictions" Dexter replied, never pausing as he unloaded shot after shot into the green tide, each determined effort to gun down the enemy General and tear its' body from its' steed being turned aside by a footsoldier willing to fall in its' place.

"Yeah, you wanted to be the bad-ass and make an entrance" Fatboy snapped as his blades cleaved through the first alien to reach him "I hope it was worth it"

"Rest assured that it will be when-" Dexter trailed off as a shadow fell over the battlefield that the streets of the moon-city had become the new presence bringing the Broccoloids collectively skidding to a halt and staring up first in confusion, then awe and then terrified recognition.

"Now that's how you make an entrance!" Fatboy laughed heartily.

"Because of course, nobody else's capabilities could possibly be enough to save a single city" Dexter grumbled to himself as he holstered his weapon, the fact it was no longer needed being all to apparent as he stared up at a lone figure clad in white, face hidden behind a golden mask with auburn hair trailing out behind her as she held what appeared to be an entire warehouse unit aloft in a single hand.

Major Glory had arrived.

"Citizens of New-Selene" Blossom Utonium called out, voice echoing throughout the moon-city "The day is saved! Thanks to the Justice Friends!" with that she released the help she had sought from the secure and secret location disguised as a farm that she had visited on Earth; the impossibly vast contained open with a cacophony of screeching metal and from within it leapt a truly colossal mass of fawn coloured fur, the moon trembling beneath its' bounding leaps and its' ears rising high into the air as it searched out its' food, everything about its' existence beggaring belief.

Blossom had unleashed a giant rabbit.

The genetic aberration, larger than a house thundered towards the battle lines of Broccoloid artillery and promptly began gorging itself on the massed tanks, sending the alien forces screaming in terror as they fled and after a moment of staring at the unfolding situation in abject fear the enemy General howled out what could only have been an order for a full retreat, the invading hordes sprinting towards the various points that they had arrived into the city through. Blossom, or Major Glory as she was now in the midst of heroism came racing towards the ground at incalculable speed and landed in a crouch directly in the path of the fleeing General and its' steed; rising to her full height she locked eyes with the invader and in that moment the Broccoloid knew that its' time was over.

Blossom exhaled a breath of freezing winds that froze the sentient vegetable and its' steed alike into a solid mass which she then reduced to shattered, infinitesimally small fragments with a single blow.

"And that's how you take a bite out of-"

"Fatboy, help Monkey and the others evacuate and shelter the public….and see a doctor as soon as possible" Blossom's voice came out more stern and biting than she had intended yet her fellow superhero and the sidekick of her predecessor simply nodded in undertsanding before striding away, stowing his weapons and patting Blossom on the back as he left; once the two of them were alone the former Powerpuff Girl turned her attention to her partner, fellow hero, ex-boyfriend and one time confidant with her pink eyes glowing with sudden fury.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she hissed, the air misting and freezing around her "A biological weapon Dexter….is that who we are? War criminals? You made them decay while they were alive and conscious!""

"I don't recall the Geneva convention applying to vegetables, if it did vegans would be even more insufferable" Dexter retorted, cape drawing around him as his arms folded across his chest; the effort to appear imposing being undercut by charismatic presence that Blossom exuded

"At least my method was somewhat efficient" he continued nodding towards the giant rabbit continuing its' oblivious rampage "Eating the enemy alive just seems gratuitous-"

"Do not try and make this a competition with me Dexter, I'm not Mandark I won't be dragged into it" her voice was pure steel and she spoke with calm authority, the expectation that her orders would be heeded faltering only when she remembered exactly who she was talking to a moment before the shorter hero retaliated with his own barb.

"Then don't try and moralise with me to justify your own choices" Dexter spat, sneering as he added "I'm not your sister"

"That was uncalled for" the words fell from Blossom in a hoarse and cracking whisper, all of her previous commanding aura falling away as her eyes were cast downwards and a slow shaky breath escaped her; it was this however that did what her stern demeanour could not and made Dexter pause, the young man audibly swallowing thickly and looking anywhere but at Blossom, utterly shamefaced as he realised the line he had crossed for the sake of petty point scoring.

"I apologise" he muttered "I didn't mean-"

"Yes you did" Blossom interjected "This is who you are, this is who've you always been-"

"So are we going to have this discussion here, this is the time and place?" Dexter's ire began to rise again until Blossom silenced him with a shake of her head, auburn locks fanning out around her.

"No. It isn't and there's nothing left to say" her face became a determined grimace "We need to push back the remaining Broccoloids, we'll make sure that they haven't infected anyone to act as a sleeper cell and then we handle the clean up and begin releasing official statements after I report the UN and to President Bellum….We do our jobs and I'm trusting you to not make things needlessly difficult, despite everything I still trust you that much"

"Understood" Dexter nodded curtly, ensuring that he had the last word by deploying his jet-pack and taking off; leaving Major Glory on the ground surrounded by the devastation of war. As she took it all in Blossom Utonium found herself wondering if she was doing enough to protect people, if she could possibly do enough by only reacting to dangers as they arose or if possibly Buttercup had been right when she had sided with Princess Morbucks, arguing that a more decisive approach was needed.

It was a question she was no longer sure she had, or even wanted the answer to.

As the only member of her unnamed and unofficial faction of vigilantes without any inherent superpowers Princess Morbucks was the only member of the Citiesville trio to require and thus to still wear a superhero costume of any kind.

The former heiress was currently clad in the latest iteration of her often repaired battle suit which was in a near constant state of improvement and modification courtesy of Double Dee; the outfit was a mixture of spandex-like material and solid but lightweight metallic armoured carapace in a mixture of gleaming gold and glossy black; the overall appearance of the battle-suit was intended to evoke the attire worn by the Powerpuff Girls, or more accurately a more sleek and fearsome variation of it. Princess's chest was encased in sturdy golden armour with a black lightning bolt zigzagging horizontally across its' centre with armoured side-skirts hanging from her hips with small directional thrusters hidden within them; her limbs were covered in midnight black adorned with golden, armoured boots and gauntlets filled and the latter were lined with hidden compartments filled with various tools and implements. The streamlined look of the suit would have compromised by the gleaming backpack she wore were it not for the angular and swept back wings that extend from it slightly even when not in use whilst the olive-skinned young woman kept her mane of scarlet hair tied back into a loose bun from which her curls were already escaping and a mask over her face; its' surface being a single sheet of translucent and purple-tinged protective plating upon which dozens of readout could be displayed, the edge of the panoramic visor being lined with gold which lead up to a three pronged, streamlined and swept back crown like ornament.

Buttercup couldn't help but think that her partner looked simply incredible.

"Okay, we're all ready?" she murmured, adjusting her studded and patch-ridden sleeveless leather jacket as she, Princess and Ed; wearing a scarf around the lower half of his face and a lightweight tactical body armour over unremarkable civilian clothes in his alter-ego as the hero 'Jawbreaker' shared nervous glances amongst themselves. Night had fallen over Citiesville and after managing a brief, fitful rest and several hours of hectic but meticulous planning the three of them had reached the freight docks and silently crept through the maze of stacked shipping containers which seemed to stretch out for miles; using the information that Ace had managed to glean from his own underlings along with what Eddy and Double D had managed to discern by combining their own dubious intelligence gathering skills to find out exactly where within the sea of rusted steal Le Quack and his small army of armed thugs would be collecting their latest shipment of arms from. Their progress had been inadvertently aided by the avian mobster himself as the security cameras throughout the dock had been disabled, allowing the trio of vigilantes to draw near without being seen, foregoing the use of their ability to fly and contending only with a few easily silenced and incapacitated scouts and sentries whose absence would hopefully not be missed for some time.

Now all that remained was to deliver the finishing blow, whether that was to hand Le Quack over to one of the few honest and decent individuals within the police or simply to dispose of him themselves for the good of the city remained to be seen.

"We know they're better equipped than we thought" Buttercup continued, seemingly bracing herself as much as her friends "If either of you want to back out and let me handle this I'll-"

"Don't even say it" Princess barely contained her natural inclination to raise her voice, her long-held desire to be taken seriously, to be able to stand as an equal with the heroes whom she had admired as a child meeting and colliding with her unflinching refusal to let her partner put herself in danger on her behalf and forming a fiery determination that was more than the sum of its' parts.

"We're staying" Ed grunted from beneath the scarf that covered his face as he slouched against the nearest shipping container "We made a plan, we'll stick to it"

"Okay" Buttercup breathed out a sigh of relief, before pointing to an enormous overhead crane intended to lift containers on and off of trucks that rose above the piles of steel only a short distance away "Princess, that would make a great vantage point for you. Once me and Ed give you an opening-"

"Get up there and start firing, non-lethal force for as long as possible" Princess reiterated, flexing her wrists and deploying a pair of pulse weapons that crackled with amethyst light from her gauntlets; the vigilante trio had developed a simple code of conduct and ethics that stated that whilst it was better to kill one villain than let them harm countless people it was better still to not kill at all wherever possible and the concussive blasts that Princess's weapons fire, whilst non-lethal would certainly leave an opponent unable to fight as they cracked bones on impact.

"Jawbreaker, flank 'em and try and give me a big enough opening to tag Le Quack"

"You've got it" the towering and largely taciturn young man nodded

"Okay then let's move" Buttercup finally nodded, the sense of coiled, electrified tension in the air abating only slightly as Princess pulled her into a tight hug, the visor covering her face making a kiss impossible. Then her team-mates split up and fanned out to the sides and Buttercup was left alone, taking deep breaths to steady herself as she prepared to use a more direct approach to make her own entrance; a technique she developed during a rebellious phase of her childhood and promptly discarded only to find much more use for it in her current lifestyle.

Her shadow form.

Buttercup's eyes began to glow, their green colour becoming something acid and almost painful to behold as the light that spewed from her irises erupted into twin trail of poisoned fire and the shadows that the light cast lengthened and deepened, spilling out like a river bursting its' banks and beginning to course and run over her entire form until the former Powerpuff Girls was enveloped in a veil of pure, tangible darkness; her movements entirely silent and her body becoming less strictly governed by the laws of physics. With the transformation complete she moved forwards, still tentative and stepped directly into the side of the nearest shipping container, her body melting and running through the minute gaps in its' rusted shape and the various minute gaps where it was bolted together; she repeated this process several more times and crossed the distance between herself and her quarry in a straight line until finally she was hiding behind a final sheet of rusted metal and peering through a tiny slit of an opening to make final observations and wait for whatever signal Ed chose to give her.

Ace had been right and Le Quack was here in person.

The obviously genetically aberrant duck boasted both a bill filled with disturbingly human teeth and short, stubby wings that in a flagrant violation of nature were tipped with rudimentary fingers and opposable thumbs; further to this the avian mobster had a mess of unnaturally blue hair with a single curl falling in front of his hard, calculating eyes; the colour complimented by the bow tie he wore along with his three piece tuxedo that was likely worth a small fortune. Flanking the doctor turned thief, turned successful mob boss were over a dozen men, women and bipedal animals carrying a variety of shotguns, machine guns and worryingly high-powered lasers milling idly around a truck which Buttercup was furious to see bore the logo of one of the Morbucks Corporations' many subsidiaries.

Forcing herself to focus she saw that this meant the arms shipment was yet to arrive, giving her team a small window of opportunity; though they would have to act fast.

"Qu'est que c'est?" the sentient ducks' distinctive accented voice rang out and the gangsters under his command readied their weapons, sweeping the area in search of whatever it was that Le Quack had heard whilst Buttercup waited with baited breath, certain that the sound of her heart hammering in her chest would give away her location until finally, just as it seemed that the ducks' paranoia had gotten the better of him a wordless, animal roar echoed through the night and Ed came charging into view; gunfire shredding his clothes but pattering off of his nearly invulnerable skin, the artificial superhuman would likely be a mass of purple and yellow bruises in the morning but it was far from enough to stop him as he went barrelling into the truck, its' chassis crumpling and its' wheels being lifted from the ground as he slammed a shoulder into its' side.

Giving Buttercup the opening she needed.

The former Powerpuff Girl burst through the final barrier between her and the gangsters, charging through their midst in an effort to reach Le Quack himself; the first grunt to rush at her in a fit of misguided bravery found themselves crashing to the ground missing several teeth as she unleashed a devastating but carefully measured backhand, enough to leave her opponent unconscious whilst still being aware of just how fragile a human body was in comparison to her own; the next opponent was a bipedal cat wielding a shotgun who was sent sailing back through the air with a bone-rattling kick and despite their feline nature the thug did not land on their feet. Bullets rattled against Buttercup's body, the small arms utterly useless as barrage after barrage fell way like rain until finally the onslaught was stopped entirely as a wave of faint amethyst light rippled and distorted the air with a low, pulsating bass note that announced that Princess had flown up onto the crane and was now firing concussive blasts down into the rapidly thinning ranks of the mob.

"La petite fille, on the crane!" Le Quack snapped as he gestured up at Princess "She is the weak link, bring her down!" at his command two of the remaining gangsters took aim and levelled their weapons, brining Buttercup skidding to a halt; her mind racing yet unable to keep pace with her actions as her eyes glowed once again yet rather than the ethereal fire they had blazed with before it was now with a pair of emerald suns as she unleashed her optic blasts, the ammunition in the weapons detonated and the metal began to glow with heat with devastating results; the pair of gangsters fell to the ground screaming with ruined hands and severe injuries as shrapnel from exploding bullets tore into them.

Then a gun cocked ominously loudly.

"Ah Buttercup, la crème de la crème of this little operation….Au revoir" Buttercup turned, any rational sense of fear utterly absent from her as she stared down the barrel of the oversized and ornate handgun the duck held in his pudgy, malformed grasp; she had been shot countless times and had no reason that this would be any different or that the mobster was offering anything more than a futile, final gasp of resistance for the sake of his own self respect and so she shifted her wait, preparing to leave the ground entirely and disable him with a flying tackle. Le Quack saw this and let out a final derisive scoff and the moment Buttercup began to move he pulled the trigger.

Immediately she knew that something was wrong.

Cold, impossible pain flooded through Buttercup and the breath left her body as ice and agony flooded out from her right shoulder, bringing her skidding to a halt as the entire battle seemed to dissolve around her; all that was important at that moment was that despite everything that she was the bullet had torn through the point between her shoulder and clavicle and exited from the top of her shoulder-blade, leaving blood, more of her own blood than Buttercup had ever seen spilling out onto her clothes and dripping onto steadily onto the ground at her feet whilst her vision blurred and the taste of copper filled her mouth.

"How?" she raised her hand, a feeble motion that caused her indescribable pain only for another gunshot to ring out as Le Quack squeezed the trigger again and fresh blood was painted across the ground as the bullet ripped though Buttercup's upper arm and cracked bone in the process; with that she toppled, almost in slow motion to the ground as her breathing reached a shallow fever pitch and her senses became all but useless to her.

As the world became a blur Buttercup had vague, incoherent flashes of vision including the ground beneath Le Quack erupting and flinging the mobster high into the air, several armed goons being smashed into every available surface and the truck they had brought with the being hurled through the air. As the world span around her and she became aware of a shadow falling over her she forced herself to speak, words falling from bloodied lips in a pitiably weak voice.

"Blossom, get Blossom…..she-" and then she lost consciousness.

The last thing she remembered being lifted from the ground and Princess's voice desperately trying to assure her that she would be okay as the soared into the air.

Bubbles and Boomer had made it to the Utonium household far later than they had initially planned though the nature of the delay had made it difficult for any complaints to be levelled against them.

Even with their fellow hero Pastetriot taking charge of the mercifully relatively small clean-up operation in the wake of Roach Coach's attack, which would be carried out by a team of specially trained and unfortunately highly experienced individuals drawn from the emergency services, government agencies and several trades and handling both the press and official briefings to inform those who needed the information of the insectoid villains' newly improved technology it had still been mid-afternoon by the time Bubbles had arrived at her childhood home with her partner and boyfriend at her side, remembering to actually knock on the door instead of simply flying through the window of a bedroom that was no longer her own and pulling her father into a tight hug as soon as he answered.

The years had been kind to Professor Drake Utonium despite the understandable stress that came with being the father of some of the most powerful individuals in the world; his appearance was much as it always had been with only a few more lines and wrinkles creasing his features and liberal streaks of grey painting his still immaculately styled hair. Some of that health could be attributed to the fact that he had stopped smoking several years ago, though he had kept his signature pipe and it could often still be seen in his mouth out of habit whilst a great deal more of that continued well-being was a product of his relationship and eventual marriage to Sandra Keane, now Utonium; the kind-hearted school teacher who had awed the Professor with her bravery, resilience and towering intellect, all of which had been showcased regularly when she had taught his daughters.

That marriage had also produced Ken Utonium, an eight year old boy whom Bubbles considered her brother with the differences in their origins being entirely disregarded. Bubbles knew that Blossom shared her feelings on the matter but was regrettably too absorbed in her duties to be more than an irregular, fleeting presence in Ken's life whilst Buttercup; difficult to reach and on strained terms with everyone besides Bubbles had not seen her brother since she had left Townsville to the best of the blonde teens' knowledge. Ken himself was of an average height for his age and resembled both of his parents, with jet black hair and pale blue-grey eyes; he also had a mind that raced far ahead of his peers, leaving both of his parents proud and overjoyed with each new accomplishment that proved that he was likely to be yet another scientific or technological genius; even if he did still view the world through a carefully maintained lens of childhood innocence.

Which was why Bubbles and Boomer found themselves giggling as they watched a science fiction movie with the boy that was likely unsuitable for his age that, rather than frighten Ken had simply managed to irk him.

"But why did they give the explosion a sound effect?" he demanded incredulously "They're in space, there are no particles for the vibration to travel through; that's not how any of this works"

"Oh wait until you see laser swords, they say they run on plasma" Boomer snorted drawing a round of amused chuckles from those around him which only intensified at the sight of the eight year child looking utterly affronted at the sheer absurdity of what he was hearing. Afternoon had passed into evening and then night and the Utonium family, those of it who were present were currently gathered in the living room with Sandra leaning comfortably against the Professor who wrapped an arm around her waist whilst Bubbles and Boomer sat on a separate sofa with Ken wedged between them, the two blondes far two bashful for any displays of affection in front of Bubbles's father and step-mother and especially not when the merciless teasing of a younger sibling was a credible threat.

"I still think the worst offenders in terms of bad science are movies about time travel" Sandra noted, her voice equal parts amusement and utter scorn for Hollywood and its' nonsense

"As someone who's actually been to the future, not something I wanna watch for fun" Bubbles murmured with a slight shudder as she remembered the timeline where the heinous entity known simply as 'Him' had been victorious; the being had not been seen for some years with magically inclined individuals theorising that with many of the various super-villains operating within Townsville having either retired, perished or simply abandoned the city their wasn't enough terror or hatred left in the vicinity for the demon to maintain his corporeal presence. Even if it seemed unlikely that the future she had witnessed would come to pass Bubbles was still troubled by the memories of what she had seen.

"I remember that" the Professor murmured, the movie being forgotten for a moment "It kept Blossom up for weeks, she stayed up nights trying to prove multiverse theory"

"You used to be cooler, you don't let me stay up all night and test multiverse theory….or build a mecha" Ken pouted "And if Blossom understands time travel then why can she never make it on time?"

"Your sister is very busy" Sandra sighed, trying to be understanding whilst also trying not to crack a smile at what was an admittedly funny comment from her son.

"And I think Blossom and I are both still cool" Professor Drake chimed in, with Ken and Bubbles sharing a look but neither having the heart to answer

"I think you're pretty cool" Boomer beamed, flashing a winning smile before the moment was ruined by the sound of a phone ringing somewhere in the house.

"I'll get that" the Professor said before rising to his feet and leaving.

"Does anybody else think it's weird that with everything he can do Dad still can't use a cellphone?" Bubbles asked in a stage whisper

"Oh he can use a phone" Sandra answered "He just turns it off at five pm, office hours have ended and any business can wait until the morning….it's strange for people to be calling this late"

"Must be nice to have regular hours" Boomer grumbled with a yawn "Still at least we work locally and don't have to commute to the moon-"

"Is that where Blossom is?" Ken asked, eyes suddenly wide with childlike wonder

"You didn't hear it from us" Bubbled grinned, she and Boomer both falling into the role of cool and admired older sibling with ease "But we heard it through hero sources that the Justice Friends stopped an alien invasion earlier today, there's gonna be a statement about it in the morning"

"Oh my, I hope everyone's okay" Sandra gasped, hand flying to her mouth.

"Blossom's gonna be fine Mum, she's as strong as Bubbles….and she's Major Glory; she would have had Dex-Star with her, he's awesome….it's a shame they're not friends any more" there was an awkward silence left hanging in the air after that comment from Ken, with none present truly wishing to explain the complications of the absent Powerpuff Girls' relationship with her fellow superhero, especially when none of them knew all of the specifics themselves.

The silence was prevented from becoming to oppressive by the return of the Professor, though when he entered the living room it was obvious that something was terribly wrong.

"Dad….Dad what is it? Bubbles asked slowly, concern filling her features at the sight of her fathers' stricken and ashen, bloodless face and the way he seemed to need to grasp any furniture nearby as if his legs were no longer willing to support him.

"It's Buttercup" he croaked the name out in a hoarse, cracking whisper "She's been shot"

"She lives in Citiesville, she probably get shot every-" Boomer's joking comment trailed off as the Professor sank into a chair, head in his hands and bearing the look of a man whose entirely world had come crumbling down around him whilst Bubbles felt the blood from face as her pulse buzzed and thundered in her skull and left her ears ringing, the feeling of shock leaving her numb as she tried to process the fact that something so seemingly mundane could have befallen her sister; several attempts to speak failed and left her jaw working silently until she finally managed to form words.

"How is that even possible?"

Author's Notes:

So basically this entire project exists because of spite and my inability to know when a joke has gone far enough.
We all saw the leaked scripts from the CW Powerpuff Girls show and we all rightfully laughed at them because they are the worst kind of trash, that being said I am a firm believer in "If you know better then do better" and I firmly believe that I can do better. The leaks made me remember being in a group chat several years ago where someone saying the phrase "Life has many doors bitch boy" started a conversation about a mature reboot of the Cartoon Cartoons, including the Powerpuff Girls and I had plenty of ideas for it; after seeing the leaks I found some of those old ideas and put them on Tumblr and the amount of positive feedback they got actually convinced me to start writing this story.
This is largely a Powerpuff Girls story but as you've already seen characters from plenty of the other Cartoon Cartoon shows will be present and I'm even drawing from Powerpuff Girls Z a little.
This is how you do a mature re-imagining, it doesn't need to be sex drugs and bad dialogue….Although there will definitely be blood and violence, much like the original show when monsters were routinely stabbed in the neck with their own fangs. Think of this as more like Invincible that superpower Riverdale.
Also, this story is my side project; I update my main project on a weekly basis but honestly I think I'm gonna aim to update this every two weeks at the most.

But anyway let's summarise shall we?:
Just off the bat, God I had to do a lot of exposition this chapter; things will hopefully flow a bit better from here on out but I needed to properly set the scene.
So to start off with, the Mayor is gone, Monster island is gone and the girls aren't a team any more; that's our starting point.
The girls are all still heroes and have their own teams but are all different flavours of hero; Buttercup is basically a vigilante, Blossom has gone full Superman and Bubbles is still the local hero.
The Professor and Miss Keane are a thing and yes I know I had to mangle the family tree a little bit because the Professor in Z is actually the son of the Professor but oh well, Ken Utonium is canon now.
I needed a way to remove Mojo Jojo from the picture for a while without doing anything permanent and the idea of Mojo and Mandark teaming up, only to absolutely hate each other was just too perfect….although he absolutely has reason to hate Dexter as well, which we'll deal with later in the story.
So Brick and Butch are still out there, but nobody actually knows where; Boomer lived on the farm from Courage the Cowardly Dog for a few years.
Also yeah, Bubbles and Boomer are a thing because it's cute.
The Anubis Head…..from that one episode.
"Nani the heck?" is immediately better dialogue than the leaks but it gives me a chance to explain myself about something; remember that one episode where girls basically reinvented themselves based on comics that they were reading? Bubbles reads manga and I took that idea and ran with it, because weeb/work Bubbles is a great concept and I'm gonna have fun using it in conjunction with another character later in the story.
Fuzzy Lumpkins was absolutely an Antivaxxer.
There are still a few giant monsters left, including the giant orange one that the girls never actually managed to beat.
Blossom taking up the mantle of Major Glory just works as a concept and as my way of not allowing the story to become dark and edgy for its' own sake; Major Glory in Dexter's lab was obsessed with his image rights and in Powerpuff Girls he was a fraud, I've played with that idea and made him something like Homelander from The Boys but not anywhere near as bad, Blossom is the real deal with her heroism.
Those were actual names of Justice Friends members, I checked the wiki and there is no way that a superhero called the Living Bullet could happen in 2021.
Blossom and Dexter are ex's.
If it hadn't been for Facebook he'd still be in Nevada….Yes that was a joke about storming area 51.
Okay we've all seen the meme about "The Delightful Children From Down the Lane" being what young Conservatives look like, well I took that to its' conclusion; Codename KND acted against the January 6th failed coup.
Dee-Dee is a mecha pilot.
Of course some of the stuff the superheroes have to deal with gets saved for later use, that's just being practical.
The girls might be tough, but they can get bruised and bloodied.
Of course Buttercup is a tatted, bad-ass punk lesbian with a leather battle jacket.
So Buttercup and Princess are an item and it was Princess who destroyed Monster Island, inadvertently causing the rift between the girls but all Princess ever wanted to do; even from her first introduction was be like the Girls.
Okay the Ed, Edd & Eddy situation….First off let's just say it, there was absolutely something in those jawbreakers; so I'm using that as an explanation for all of the nonsense physics in the show, things like Ed being clearly superhuman and the fourth wall breaks (Including the time they showed up on Nickelodeon).
The vigilante team is Buttercup, Princess and Ed/Jawbreaker with Eddy being their info guy and Double D being their tech guy (The Editorial Suite is a great name and you can fight me) and I was debating throwing in one of the Kanker sisters as well.
Yes I am actually writing Le Quack as a real and credible threat.
"I mean maybe a Nokia" oh come on, if I didn't say it you would!
Ace is still a criminal, still a gangster and a more successful one now; but he's on at least passable terms with Buttercup's faction because he can't afford not to be.
Boomer and Bubble's suits are a mix of their original suits, Z suits and generic superhero/magical girl elements.
I was actually gonna have Ace mention Sedusa and Femme Fatale along with a few others but that scene was running long enough; I was also gonna have Elmer and Boomer casually chatting in the battle and mention that Elmer sometimes works with Supercow from Cow & Chicken.
Pastetriot is a great pun and I'll die on that hill.
Roach Coach did the gestalt Kaiju thing in the show right?
Realistically this chapter could have been broken into two or three parts and I could have had fun with the fight against Roach Coach but he's not the main villain of this first little arc to set the scene; the first three chapters are actually gonna about Le Quack and what's going on with him.
Gotta love the trademark superhero witty banter.
Bubbles is hardcore…..she took the laser all the way to eleven; and of course she makes anime references when she fights.
That explosion wouldn't really have done anything but still a nice save from Elmer, more importantly Roach Coach is the first villain we see with improvements.
Mojo and Mandark's rivalry is basically what happens if you get two Tony Starks and tell them to ruin each others' day without direct violence; they're basically using their inventions as the focal points of a social media campaign against each other and it's actually made them "Sort of" heroes because it's improving the world.
I watched Invincible recently and the Broccoloids are the Flaxxon equivalent, just disposable alien bad-guys.
The other heroes, the robot bear, the dodge-ball suit, Dex-Star's suit and the label gun are all based on things from episodes of Dexter's lab.
Fatboy is basically Fat Gum from MHA in this story.
Well that's one way to stop the enemy from being able to regenerate.
Getting a little insight into Dexter, this is a guy who as a kid managed to solve world hunger and get world peace even if, for whatever reason those solutions never stuck; as well as everything else he did….But it is all absolutely done for the recognition it gets him.
Your lucky I didn't give the moon-city a name that was a Sailor Moon or Avatar joke.
The leaked scripts mentioned a giant gopher and I can't remember it being in the show, but yeah have a giant rabbit instead….because there is no wat the girls would blow it up.
Freezing the alien solid also works.
See the conversation between Blossom and Dexter, as well as being two ex-partner taking shots at each other is also the conversation she wants to have with Buttercup and it works as a better central theme of the problem between the sisters that what the CW gave us, essentially it's an issue of "When is the greater good not a good enough reason? Can we take lives to save lives? Is stopping the problem enough if we can prevent it?".
Also, President Bellum.
Princess's suit looks kinda bad-ass in my head, it's a shame I don't have the artistic skills for it.
Bubbles and her team will absolutely make a hit on a villain before they launch an attack and they will kill if they need to, but they're not the Punisher.
Yeah I brought back Buttercup's Spawn parody from the same episode as manga Bubbles.
The mob has random sentient and anthropomorphic animals in it because they're just a thing in this universe.
I had to throw in a "Qu'est que c'est?".
I mean Le Quack is right, Princess is easily the weakest of the three.
Buttercup reacted exactly the way experience has taught her to, she's bulletproof, she's always been bulletproof….And yet.
So, Blossom….this is gonna be fun.
A little peek into Utonium family life….And do you have any idea how hard it was for me to find Miss Keane's first name.
Ken Utonium was apparently a genius in Powerpuff Girls Z but I'll be honest I've added him to the story and I'm not even sure what I'm gonna do with him….So in the meantime have him being the voice for some of my pet peeves in sci-fi.
Him isn't attacking Townsville any more and the working theory is that the city just isn't fucked up enough for him to materialise within it now.
Let's be honest this entire scene was mainly just set up for those last few lines, now the rest of family knows about Buttercup and Blossom will find out soon enough.

As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.