Like a good communist, I own nothing.

"Gauntlet: Lies"
Part 6

May 9

Professor Utonium carefully examined the vial.

"This will do nicely." He cocked his head, watched as the white acid inside swirled back and forth. "Very nicely, actually. It looks one hundred percent pure."

"We were fortunate. The remains of the monster are almost completely gone, due to both rapid decay and the blood itself eating away at the body."

"I only wish we had a sample from the last one..."

"Or the one before that?"

The Professor thought about that. "Yes, that one too, I believe."

"Why are you suddenly so concerned, John?"

"I dare not say until I am sure." The Professor slipped the vial into a small indentation in the open pocket book he had brought with him. The indent would ensure that there was no chance of the vial being broken in transit. Closing the small case, he dropped it into his left breast pocket, and patted it down.

"You will, of course, forward me any important information..."

"As always, Sarah, you have my complete cooperation." Professor Utonium gave her a half smile. "As per our agreement."

"You always were a sharp one, John. And a tremendous asset to Townsville." Miss Bellum smiled back, her eyes sparkling. "How about some lunch before you head home?"

The Professor checked his watch.

"I've got the time if you do."

He drank his coffee slowly, savoring the bitter taste that he had acquired long ago, when he was someone very different, almost indistinguishable, from what he was now. He had picked it up during high school, as a young man. The tide of his early years had driven him towards science, and the technological innovations of the sixties had only spurred his interests. He was, in many ways, evolving from a selfish privileged brat into a driven man.

He'd been through high school in what seemed like an instant, and plunged into college. He'd excelled in a variety of fields, and that excellence had caused indecision. He had never narrowed down his interest to any particular field, so he had pursued several concurrently: Robotics and Interface technology, numerous Biological and Chemical Fields, and both Newtonian and non-Newtonian particle physics.

He still wasn't completely sure what had drawn him back to Townsville.

He'd developed few friends and contacts in his time away, when he had been earning his degrees. He'd taught at different universities, and those had been enjoyable experiences as a whole, and even worked for the military, but none of them had brought him true satisfaction. Nothing held his attention for more than a few years, and nothing held enough appeal for him to settle down.

Perhaps it was natural, then, that he return to his roots.

To where the direction of his life had changed.

In time, his patience had waned. He had money, more than enough; he had the respect of his peers, undeniably, but happiness...? It continued to elude him. Inspiration, even, was in short supply. It was a time he wasn't particularly proud of, a time when he'd wavered in his principles and beliefs. Fortunately, his impatience had led to the creation of the one thing that brought him joy: his children, his creations, the Powerpuff Girls.

Yet, still, there was a part of him that could not be content.

There had been Sedusa...

He frowned at the memory. The mistake he made with her might have been forgivable in the past, before the girls came along, but not in light of his present circumstances. It had, however, reinforced his resolve in respect to his responsibilities. Yes, and chief among those responsibilities were the growth and care taking of his daughters.

"Why so quiet all of a sudden, John?"

"Just thinking..." He trailed off. He wasn't exactly shy around attractive women (only the beautiful ones he didn't know), but he had to keep his priorities straight. This also wasn't particularly good timing, if what he suspected proved true.

"About what?" Miss Bellum pressed.

"Old times," He answered, after a few seconds.

"John, let me ask you something." She leaned forward a fraction. "Why is it that you never came to any of the class reunions?"

"I never had the time, you know that." He sighed. "There was all those studies in the sixties... and teaching in the seventies, the books I had published in the eighties, not to mention my work for Uncle Sam." He shook his head. "I just didn't have the time."

"You mean you didn't make the time." She observed.

He took a long sip from his coffee, and she let it drop for a moment. She hadn't finished her own food yet, and took a small bite out of what was left. She had taken him to one of her preferred spots, a Vietnamese restaurant in the lower west side of the city that had remained, luckily, unscathed in the last monster attack. With its minimal use of oil, light treatment of meats, and abundance of fresh herbs she found the cuisine quite to her liking.

"No one even knew you'd come back until..." She didn't need to finish her sentence.

"Until the girls ran rampant over the city?" He finished. "I suppose it wasn't the best circumstances for catching up on old times."

"I didn't even recognize you. You still preferred dark red in high school."

He smirked. "The color doesn't really fit me anymore."

"I suppose not." She looked up, briefly, from her food. "What time is it?"

He checked. "Quarter to one."

She nodded to herself, silently.

"Have to get back to the daily grind, eh? Running the city is a big responsibility." His smile faded a little. "You always said you wanted to be a Senator."

"It was the sixties, John." She laughed. "You never saw me burn my bra."

He laughed back and shook his head. "Now that would have been something to see! Would've even drawn me away from Cal Tech, even..."

"We can't all be Consultants, you know." She waved a finger at him. "Besides, I can do more good this way."

"So can I." He let out a deep breath, leaned back, and finished his cup of coffee. "You're worried about things right now, aren't you? Afraid everything will fall apart if you're not there."

"The Mayor..."

"Is an idiot?"

"Don't say that about him!" She snapped back, though not too harshly. "I know I used to say that all the time..."

"But?"

"But... he grows on you. I need him as much as he needs me."

The Professor nodded, slowly. "I understand completely. Believe me, I do."

"I know you worry about the city as much as I do." She took a second to motion to a waiter for the bill then continued. "You wouldn't be doing this if you didn't."

"Really?" He gave her a sly look. "How do you know I'm not just upholding part of the deal? You know, the one that I signed to keep from being thrown in jail for the damage the girls caused?"

"John..." She looked at him seriously. "Don't get defensive. The deal..."

"I gave my word, and I always keep my word. Always." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry. You're right... I am defensive... I do care about Townsville, but I care about my girls more, Sarah. Nothing means more to me than them. Especially after I thought they... after those Boys..."

She reached out and took his hand, quickly.

"John. They're fine." She stressed. "Everything came out well..."

"Did it?" He didn't pull his hand back, but she could tell he was tense. "Sometimes I wonder. I question what I did, the choices I made... the ones I continue to make... and now this..."

"Is it that serious?"

"You know how bad it could have been with that other one - the end of civilization, humanity, almost. These aren't your normal monsters, I'm sure of it." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, and finally pulled back and away. "I need to be certain. For Townsville. For my Girls. ...For myself."

"You're going to see Monster Island, aren't you? That's why you're in such a hurry."

His face was determined, his mind set.

"Yes." He said, softly, standing up. Reaching into his wallet, he took out a twenty-dollar bill and put it on the table, paying for his share of the meal. "Things have gotten out of hand, Sarah. I have a responsibility..."

"So do I." She stood up as well, keeping him eye to eye. "Don't you think you've kept enough secrets from us... from me? You trust me, don't you?"

He looked away, out into the street. Construction was busy putting life in Townsville back together.

"I'll forward what I find out. If I find anything out." He started to walk off, but stopped and looked over his shoulder. "There's one out there right now. I'm certain of it. The Girls will be going out to look for it. They won't know I'm gone, and I don't want you to tell them."

"I've covered for you before, John." She frowned at him. "You'd better come back alive. Townsville needs you."

He made a quick 'hmf' and smirked. "That's debatable."

And he left, leaving Sarah Bellum to pick up what was left of the bill. It wasn't the first time he had done so.

"What... do you think you're doing?" Brick fell back, fought the urge to clench his still hurting left side. "I didn't come here to fight you."

"Too bad!" Buttercup lunged, and when he flew back, dodging, she leaned into a series of spin kicks, using her speed and flight to maximum advantage. Brick was still hurt, still favoring one side, and she took advantage of that fact. Watching him wince in pain, even though she hadn't actually planted a solid hit on him yet, was almost enough to make her pull her punches.

Her tiny heartbeat's hesitation cost her.

She barely got up her arms to block his forearm strike. He seemed annoyed by the failure of the strike to connect, and Buttercup started to feel confident. At least until his other hand shot forward, while the other pulled down her crossed arms, and he unleashed a blast of green and red energy, point black. Her former block provided no defense from it at such close range, and she flew back, body smoking.

He was breathing heavily, leaning to his left. "Just... back off, girl... I don't have time to play with you."

Buttercup ignored his words. She focused instead on what Brick's uncouth brother had said, insulting her (and a bunch of other people) just hours before. Her eye beams fired, and he shot up like a rocket, firing his own. She zigged and zagged, forcing him to turn to his weak side, where she'd have a slight advantage. Exchanging eye beams with Brick was never a good idea by any definition of the word, but she wasn't planning on making it an extended affair. She knew that she'd have far better chance of beating him up close and personal.

After he'd beaten her twice before, and refused to help her get better, even this small unfair victory would work to take him down a peg. Maybe it would be enough. Maybe she was too stubborn for her own good. Buttercup knew she only had seconds before Blossom realized Brick had come to see her, and what she was planning down at Townsville's docks, and intervened.

He was no fool, however.

She was slowly drawing him into a less advantageous position, but he was also playing keep away. Apparently he knew as well as she did that time was in his favor. Desperation fueling her temper, she finally decided to charge, a second too early. Brick's eyes narrowed as he saw her coming, but Buttercup knew her sheer momentum and positional advantage, coupled with Brick's injury, would keep him from using her own attack to throw her to the ground.

Instead, Brick reached up to his brow, and took off his hat.

Almost casually, he threw it at her, spinning like a saw blade.

Heeding an instinctive warning call, she cut short her charge and pulled out of the way. It tore through the air past her, curved around, and back to Brick's hand. Smirking, he put it back on.

"Smart girl." He fixed it in place on his head. "Getting hit by that would have hurt. A lot."

Buttercup was about to make another attack, but Blossom was already in the air.

She'd lost her chance.

"What's going on between you two?" Blossom's voice had an unusual note to it. "Two days ago you attacked him, and now..."

"She wants to be a better fighter." Brick dismissed Buttercup with his eyes. "I wouldn't help her, so she probably thinks that she can learn from me by attacking out of the blue every so often."

"Well, we don't have time for this sort of thing!" Blossom knew she sounded relieved. 'Relieved that it wasn't something serious,' she mentally added.

"Oh, I agree." Brick floated down to the ground, took in what Blossom was supervising. "What's this?"

"We're going fishing," She said with a smile. "All we need is bait."

"I take it we're not talking about sandworms or clam strips here?"

Her eyes bored into him. "You tell me."

He snorted dismissively and crossed his arms. "And what makes you think I know any more than you do?"

"Call it... woman's intuition. I won't ask 'how,' only 'if.'"

His jaw worked, back and forth. She already suspected something, but what exactly, he wasn't sure. It could be a number of things, but there was no way she would know the truth. No way in hell. Still, Blossom's own imagination could prove just as damaging as any semblance of the true nature of things. She was plunging headfirst into getting rid of the creature that they both knew was out in the sea near Townsville. The difference was that Brick was willing to let it be, at least for the time being. Blossom, however, would not - could not - let it be. There were too many lives at stake, and too many lives already lost.

Finally, he made a decision.

"I... may have an idea..." He looked out to sea, hiding his face from her. "Or two."

Blossom screamed.

Below, the water churned.

Taking a break, she looked towards Boomer, and he tossed her a small plastic bottle of fresh water. She drank greedily - she's been using her sonic scream power for a much longer period than normal, and her throat felt incredibly dry. The Powerpuff Girls had been spread out every hundred meters, and were busy churning up the water with their voices.

Brick had told her that he was 'confident' that the monster was attracted to vibration. Something, however, had told her that he was lying. Sure, it made sense: attacking boats and submarines and swimming monsters, attraction to vibration... and maybe it was so large it didn't dare venture near the beach, but Blossom liked to think that she'd gotten some understanding of his mannerisms. She couldn't read him, no - he was normally too calculated in his actions and words for that, but an instinct was warning her that he hadn't told the truth. Or, maybe, that he'd only told part of it.

That wouldn't have surprised her.

Brick never seemed to reveal the whole truth, about anything.

"Hey, Boomer!"

"'Sup, Red?" The blue Rowdyruff replied. Blossom couldn't say that she liked the nickname, or Boomer's attitude, but still she got the impression that out of the three brothers he'd be the most easy to talk to, and the most likely to give her a straight answer.

"How did you guys come back, anyway?"

"Well, you see, when a mommy Powerpuff and a daddy Rowdyruff love each other very much..."

"Can't you be serious for just one second?" She floated up to him, tried a different approach. With a soft smile, she batted her eyes. She'd tried a similar technique on Brick when she'd been captured and he'd come to check up on her, but it hadn't worked. For the first time, she saw Boomer start to get nervous around her.

"Please?" She added, cooing at him. "Brick doesn't tell me anything..."

"Er... Ah..." He floated back, chuckling anxiously. "Listen, Red, you know I can't tell ya that..."

"Why? It doesn't matter anymore, does it?"

"N...No, I guess not." He held up his hands, and she stopped advancing on him. She quickly returned to her normal self and tone of voice.

"So? How did it happen? Was it Mojo?"

"Mojo..." Boomer shook his head. "He didn't have anything to do with it. Brick brought us back. The first thing I remember, after the pain and the dark, was him. Butch woke up after I did. We were in a building, a warehouse, at the edge of town."

"Wait... you said Brick brought you back?" Blossom was incredulous. "That's not possible. He died. And the formula..."

"Let me finish!" Boomer kneaded his brow, as if unsure whether to actually go on.

"Right. Sorry," Blossom said, quickly, hoping it would encourage him to continue.

It worked.

"I wondered the same thing. Brick explained that... how did it go? ...He said that he was from a few hours in the future, and that he had used a Time Portal invented by Professor Utonium. He said he went back in the past, and recreated himself and us. He said that the version of himself that he had recreated woke up first, and was sent back in time to complete the cycle. That make any sense to you?"

Blossom thought, deeply, and nodded.

"It does, in a way. The Portal doesn't change time - it only fulfills it. Mojo went back in time with it once, and we followed him. It ended up causing circumstances to change that eventually led to our creation. It was a paradox, because if we never existed, we'd never be able to go back in time to inspire our creation. The Professor called it a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Blossom felt some measure of satisfaction at that small truth.

But, in retrospect, was it the truth?

Just before, she had admitted to herself that Brick never told the whole truth, only fractions of it, doled out as it became necessary. And here were small holes in the story. How had that sequence of events occurred without anyone in their own house noticing? Didn't the Professor keep the Time Portal under strict lock and key? And yet, those holes could be explained: it wasn't too hard to break into the Utonium house, especially with the powers of a Rowdyruff or Powerpuff. Also, it would be child's play to get around the Professor's lock, if he either knew the key from the self-fulfilling prophecy, or by just tearing open the vault.

She also knew that if Brick was hiding something, that it would be impossible to spot until he was ready to reveal otherwise. The Rowdyruff leader was smart, and always measuring himself. If he told a lie, it would be a good one, with no glaring flaws. If he told the truth, it would sound like a lie, so that no one could tell the difference.

"Yo!" Boomer pointed off to the right, to where Bubbles and Brick were. "'Thar she blows!'"

"Eh?" Blossom pushed aside her Brick-related concerns and focused on the immediate problem. Near where Bubbles was flying, a couple hundred feet over the water, something massive was cresting the surface, like a whale. Blue and white spray filled the air, and it submerged out of sight.

"Let's get over there!" Blossom looked to Boomer, and he gave her a single nod of assent. They shot over at top speed. "Bubbles! Brick! What was that thing?"

"The big One," Brick answered, quickly.

"Is it gone?" Bubbles' eyes passed over the surface of the water, darting back and forth. "I don't see it."

"Nothing on X-Ray either." Buttercup added.

"It's not gone." Brick started to float upwards. "It's right below us."

Looking down, the entire group, minus the still injured Butch who was still recovering, saw a swirling vortex of blue and black water, foaming like a rabid animal. They scattered, just in time, as a titanic figure leapt out of the water, the vortex breaking and forming into a mouth. Water slouching from its body, the form finally became visible - that of a deranged fish, with a hundred fins of varying sizes, scales sharpened like blades, numbering in the millions, and a mouth like a shark's nightmare. At the forefront was an eyeless head, with empty sockets, trailing water like tears.

"H... holy..." Buttercup's face set as she recovered from the sight of it. "It's all mine!!"

She rushed at it, eyes blazing, hand cocked back to strike. The beams cut easily enough into its body, but rather than bleed, a thick volume of gas and smoke billowed out of the open gash. When Buttercup's fist finally connected, with a resounding crack, she pulled back with a painful yelp, her arm trailing a red line of blood. The creature hit the water the next instant with a splash of inapproachable size, and disappeared once more.

"Buttercup! Are you ok?" Blossom raced over, checked out her sister's wound. Her hand had been cut fairly badly, all the way half up the forearm.

"It's... not deep." She looked down at the water, looking to resume the fight. She pushed Blossom away. "I can still fight! It's my own fault... the edges of its scales are like razors."

"How could something so big... just disappear like that?" Boomer yelled, specifically at his brother.

Brick said nothing; he just furrowed his brows in thought.

"I think... it's coming up again!" Bubbles shot out and away, as the fish's upper body, all two hundred feet of it, emerged from the water, snapping wildly at the blonde Powerpuff. Without even the need for direction, the other children, five in number, fired their eye beams, blasts from their hands, and screamed from the depths of their throats. The creature writhed, for all of three seconds, under the incredible onslaught, and then exploded in a cloud of smoke and vapor.

The headless body hit the water, and disappeared.

"Dare I say it, but that was 'smmmook'n!'"

"Smoked and BBQed!"

"We smoked that fat blunt!"

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"Er... nothing, Bubbles. Just an expression."

Brick, however, was not joining in.

A faint bubbling at the surface caught his eye.

"It's not dead..." He turned to his allies. "Move, you idiots! It's not dead!!"

"What do you mean, it's not..." Buttercup never got to finish her sentence, as something massive reared out of the dark sea. All she saw was an expanse of teeth, white and gleaming, like a forest above and below. For a moment, she felt the cold touch of death. It was only the second time - the first had been when Brick had stood over her, victorious and contemptuous, capable of killing her at any time of his choosing. The feeling came over her like a wave, unstoppable, and coupled with her still present unconquered fear of Brick himself, it left her paralyzed.

She froze.

And winced, as a lance of red light dug into her side, pushing her out of the way. Just a foot from her body, the jaws came together with a wet crunch and the loud grinding of teeth on teeth. The colossal body of the beast flew by her, for what seemed like an entire minute, before the tail passed by and into the ocean below.

Brick floated opposite her, his eyes on the water, trying to follow the creature's movements. Buttercup hadn't thought about it, but now she knew. She knew it had been his eye blast that pushed her out of the way at the last second. He'd saved her life.

"Brick..." She was about to thank him.

"Not now." But he cut her off. "Bloss, the creature turns to liquid form and regenerates in contact with the water. We'll never be able to kill it unless we can isolate it somehow."

"Maybe we can lead it to land?" Boomer suggested.

"Too far away. And there's no guarantee it'll follow. It hasn't approached the shore before." Blossom mentally checked her list of options.

"I've got it!" Brick had a grin of triumph. "We'll improvise! Create a floating island, and drown it on the surface!"

"Create an island?" Bubbles didn't follow. None of them did, except Blossom. Her eyes widened as she realized where he was going.

"Yes! That should work... Bloss, we won't be able to use the crane on the 'Maru' that you set up, but we can still use the tanker itself. We'll need more than one, though. At least three, just to be safe."

"There's another one in Townsville Harbor..." Blossom thumped one hand in the other. "That's two... Plus I bet there's at least two more in Citiesville..."

"That'll do it!" Brick rose up into the air. "Woah! Scatter!!"

Without hesitation, this time, the group blasted apart in random directions. The head of the fish creature again broke the surface, snapping at the tiny insects above it. After having its face out of the water for a few seconds, it slid back into the depths.

"Ok. Here's what we'll do." Brick pointed to Blossom. "Bloss, you and Bubbles go get the Citiesville ship. If they don't give it to you, take it. We don't have time for being delicate with this thing." He then pointed to Boomer. "Bro, go back to Town and get the other ship, and take Buttercup with you. I'll keep it distracted..."

It took only half an hour to get the three massive vessels and tow them into position. Brick himself had taken Blossom's radio-control and directed the 'Maru' closer to them, and the shore, to save time. Meanwhile, skimming low to the surface, he had kept the monster relentlessly trying to catch him in its jaws.

"Once the three ships are in position, you'll have to freeze it over, like an iceberg, so everything stays in position and contact with the seawater is minimal..."

With the three ships lines up, side-by-side, Blossom went down their length, freezing them together and encasing them in blocks of thick ice. As she did so, Bubbles and Buttercup used their sonic blasts to herd and lure it towards the makeshift 'island.' It was an ability only the girls had developed, so while they did that, Brick and Boomer helped keep the ships from drifting until they were totally frozen in place.

"With the island in place, it then becomes a matter of getting this marlin to jump!"

"Here it comes..." Bubbles gulped, a bit unsure.

"Keep your ground. Steadily float backwards." Brick looked to his left. Boomer and Bubbles were next to each other, holding formation. To his right, Blossom and Buttercup were doing the same. Ahead of them, kicking up waves of water, tearing towards them like a torpedo, was the monster, three of its tallest dorsal fins breaking the surface. The five superpowered children were just twenty feet from the surface, holding still.

The perfect bait.

'Especially for this One,' Brick thought, with a smile. What came next would require perfect timing...

"Get ready." Blossom gritted her teeth. "Here it comes..."

With a crash of water loud enough to deafen a normal man, the creature leapt into the air, meaning to come down right on them, mouth wide, a thick forest of teeth ready to impale and gnash into oblivion.

"NOW!" Brick yelled, and they broke formation. Buttercup and Bubbles flew up and to the side, grabbing hold of the head at the hollow grooves where its eyes should have been. Simultaneously, Blossom and Boomer and Brick headed for its exposed underbelly. The former, Blossom and Boomer, then broke off, and seized the creature at the base of its largest lateral fins, while Brick continued towards the tail. Eyes blazing, he burnt away two of the razor edged scales, blackening the surface, and then dug his hands in and pushed.

Slowly, while the massive fish monster thrashed, trying to break free, they upended it, and slammed it down, back first, onto the frozen makeshift island. The ships and ice bobbed and threatened to give under the sudden titanic weight, but ultimately held. Snapping and gasping, its contact with the sea broken and leaving it material and vulnerable, the creature had finally been beached.

"Last... we need to destroy the now solid core. For that, to be certain, overwhelming force must be applied over a short period of time..."

"Furious Flaming Feline!!"

Brick watched, as the three Girls took off, high into the air. He'd been waiting to see this move again, up close. He had been present when the girls had crashed the little get together that was the 2000 'Association of World Supermen.' He had his eye on them, as was only natural - Brick had not kept himself solely constrained to the area of Townsville in the time between his Revelation and the recreation of his brothers.

Quite the contrary.

Still, he had kept an eye on the gathering, and watched as the girls, the same girls that had so casually killed himself and his brothers... no - worse than killed - applied for admission. He smiled amusingly at Buttercup's test of strength. Did she actually think that she had lifted that mountain? It was, of course, impossible to lift a mountain. A mountain is not a solid weight; not a solid thing but rather an accumulation of material. Even if it had been totally solid, something of that size would give out under its own mass when suspended or held up. No, Big Ben had done something to alter the physical properties, specifically density, of the mountain, perhaps of a telekinetic nature.

Bubbles' speed was impressive, however, but could only be practically maintained in a forward direction, and thus, only in a straight line. It was of little use in a true fight, at least: in a true fight with anyone possessing half a brain. Blossom's test had been laughable. He'd gotten a little laugh out of the whole thing, of which he was actually quite thankful. Life had not been possessed of much amusement since his Revelation.

The 'Furious Flaming Feline,' however, had caught his attention.

He hadn't seen the Girls perform that maneuver before, and he recognized some of the tenants behind it. It had certain basic similarities to the Rowdyruff Final Attack that he and his brothers had used, except that Blossom had obviously altered it slightly. Hers focused the energy of the attack externally, not internally. Additionally, the Girls seemed better able to channel and control their energies together, as a group.

The Rowdyruffs could not.

Perhaps they were, by nature, more loners than the Girls. This concern mixed with his thoughts on the lack of telepathy between the brothers ruff. Were they drawing apart, was it that they were too recently created, or was it something else? Had Brick himself made a mistake, changed them somehow, in bringing Butch and Boomer back? How much had he himself changed, through ordeals and death? These questions haunted him.

So he watched, as the girls took off, high into the air. He stretched out his senses: vision, hearing, even feeling, to fathom the technique. He nodded in understanding as the Girl's power manifested in pulsing streaks of bright light, and noted carefully as they fused together, growing stronger as a whole than they had been apart - greater, somehow, than the sum of what they had been before. They erupted in flame, and shot downwards, like a cat shaped comet. At the last second, they curved up, and over the exposed belly of the beached monster.

The hot stink of cooked meat blasted over Brick, but he hardly paid it any heed. He just watched, followed their movements, as the girls came around for another pass, and another, barely avoiding the creature's still snapping jaws. Each attack burnt away more and more of the body, until finally, they found and cut into the living core of the monster. Brick recognized the surge of energy as they mortally wounded it.

"That's enough!" He yelled up, at the Girls. "Get the hell out of here!"

The flaming feline paused in midair, and looked down at him, unsure.

They didn't understand.

"Just do it!" He roared, and was glad to see that Boomer was already taking off at high speed. Brick joined him, low over the water, his passing kicking up a spray of water. The energy from behind reached a peak, a pinnacle, and then there was the loud report of an explosion and the passing of a shockwave. He turned, still flying backwards as he did, and saw a mushroom cloud rise out over the water, gray and white and black and blue.

Far off, he saw three streaks of blue and red and green.

"Good." He said, softly, to himself. The Girls hadn't been near the blast. He'd need them alive. They'd been of invaluable assistance since he'd made the decision to free them, confident that his mind games had ensured their relative loyalty. Together, the Powerpuff Girls and the Rowdyruff Boys had plowed ever forward, and for the moment, they would have a reprieve.

The true test, however, was far from over.

He had Mojo's cooperation and service now. He had the Powerpuff Girls. He had his brothers. He was as ready as anyone could be. And by the time anyone came close to knowing the truth as he did, it would be far too late. The very foundations of the world would be changed, and he would finally... finally... be redeemed.

Brick barked out a short laugh.

He was doing this for those miserable self-righteous little Powerpuffs as much as himself or his brothers. Maybe, in time, they'd even come to realize that.

Or maybe not.

It hardly mattered.

(Continued in the next installment 'Gauntlet: Pain' )