A/N Well, since I forgot last chapter, here's a little disclaimer. The Powerpuff Girls and all characters you recognize are not mine. I hope you like this chapter! On with the story!
Miss Keane did a few minor adjustments to her presentation for the Teacher of the Year preliminary presentations. It was looking so good. She just hoped that she'd do a good job and even if she doesn't win, she hoped to make a good impression with the school board and the Teacher's association. She was a fairly new teacher, and hoped that this would get her accepted in the teaching community, and impress the PTA. Leaving the kids unsupervised the day she saved the Powerpuff Girls did raise a few concerns, but she felt confident that she eased the parent's minds upon explaining the situation and promising it was a one time thing. She even mentioned the clincher, "What if it was one of your kids being held hostage? What would you have wanted me to do if calling for help wasn't an option?" that shut up a lot of worried parents. And in Miss Keane's eyes, calling for help wasn't an option because it was the help that was in danger and everyone knew how incompetent the police force had become since the Powerpuff Girls came along.
"So Valentino, what do you think?" Miss Keane asked, scooping her little orange cat into her arms and showing him her presentation which included her class's artwork among other things. Valentino meowed and Miss Keane took it as a sign of approval and gave her cat a gentle squeeze and a kiss on the nose. She giggled; "I am so excited!" she put her cat down and put her work away. With her presentation under control and everything marked, she flopped down on her couch and decided to watch a little TV. Remote in hand and cat in lap she flipped through the channels, her mind still anticipating the upcoming awards ceremony. She doubted she'd be able to concentrate on anything. She turned it on to "The Bachelor" and settled in for a relaxing evening.
Meanwhile in a different part of Townsville, Him had just logged off his computer having spent the past few hours with his online support group for villains: "Megalomaniacs Anonymous: Dealing with Superheroes" Much to Him's dismay, it only made him more depressed, especially after "geniusmonkeyjojo" said he was pathetic for being shot down by a kindergarten teacher, and pointed out how sad it was that he couldn't even defeat three five year old girls, and then rubbed it in by repeating himself over and over which did little for Him's self esteem. Him only wished he knew who "geniusmonkeyjojo" was and where he lived so he could get his revenge on him. But he could be from anywhere in the world and Him didn't have the time to hunt him down.
"You don't think I'm pathetic, do you Mr. Quackers?" Him asked his rubber ducky while watching TV. "I'm still the 'evilest of evil'? Aren't I? I'm not a 'has been', I still bring fear to people, don't I?" he asked. Mr. Quackers just squeaked as Him squeezed the toy's middle. "Miss Keane is just stupid. She doesn't know who she's dealing with!" Him growled. "But just you wait and see, tomorrow, the tables will turn and Miss Keane will pay!" He put the rubber ducky down and changed the channel. "Oooh! 'The Bachelor' is on!" He squealed with girlish delight.
***
The next day, Miss Keane found her luck to be changing drastically. As she woke up to fix breakfast she nearly had a heart attack at the sight of her kitchen floor. All over in pieces her presentation, the one she worked so hard on was in pieces. Valentino sat atop a torn piece of artwork taking a bath, looking very guilty. "Valentino!" she gasped, "You… you didn't!"
The cat looked at her blankly. Miss Keane sank to the floor and sadly picked up a few fragments of paper that once was her very important presentation. "Valentino!" she cried, "How could you?" Miss Keane was understandably distraught, on her knees she began to toss her class's artwork around the room, "All my hard work… after everything I've done… it's only three more days until the presentation… I've worked months on this! There's no way I…" she burst into tears, vainly trying to put it back together. Valentino looked at her strangely. He waltzed up to her and began to rub against her face. "Go away Valentino!" she shoved her beloved cat away, unable to believe her well behaved cat would do something like that. Her presentation was completely destroyed. Valentino carefully approached her again but she threw some paper at him, "Go! Away!" she cried. The cat ran out of the room, confused.
Miss Keane mourned her hard work and then began to pull herself together. Once calmed down she assessed the situation, she had put her work away. She had put it in a box and put the box in the closet. How on earth could Valentino get in the closet to get to her presentation? The closet door was closed. Did she forget to put it away? Just as Miss Keane was beginning to doubt herself, she noticed a telltale pink feather on the floor. It looked as though it came off of a boa or something… who in their right mind would have a pink feather boa? Miss Keane made a growl in fury. "Him!" she screamed. How could he sink so low? The 'evilest of evil' reduced to childish sabotage to get back at her was low, and extremely pathetic- even for Him. She would've laughed at him for such a juvenile revenge but Miss Keane only cried because as low and as pathetic as it was, it worked.
Miss Keane gasped and went looking for her innocent little orange cat who was hiding under her bed, "Come on out Valentino!" she cooed, "I'm sorry, come on. It wasn't your fault, I'm sorry!" she cried with frustration since it was time to get to work. As she quickly dressed for work an angry Miss Keane, not knowing how she could possibly get back at him and not knowing if Him could hear her, warned, "This isn't over Him. This is war!"
Him grinned, satisfied, "Oh Miss Keane," he said, "I'm counting on it. Nothing you can do can stop me. I have more up my sleeve."
Still feeling very distraught Miss Keane drove to work. She was reaching a red light and gasped in horror as her brakes decided to stop working. She frantically slammed the brakes but nothing happened until the last minute. She did manage to stop, but not without slamming into the bumper of the car in front of her. She rubbed her neck and Miss Keane gave a frustrated sob as she and the other car pulled aside. She reached for her purse to get her insurance information, only to find her wallet, with her driver's license and registration, credit cards and insurance information missing. Had she left her wallet at home? Or was this also the work of a cross-dressing villain with a grudge?
Her day had hardly even started and already it couldn't get any worse. But as Miss Keane saw the party in the other car climb out Miss Keane realized she was sorely mistaken. She banged her forehead on the steering wheel a few times at the sight of Superintendent Bradly, her boss, Mrs. Westin, the chairman of the school board, Mrs. Moore, head of the PTA and Mr. Johnson, President of the TTA- the Townsville Teacher's Association- all of whom were judges for the award she was up for.
Just her luck she'd slam into that carpool.
A/N Hello everyone! "The Bachelor" is not mine (thank goodness- I hate the concept!) oh and neither is "Trading Spaces" as mentioned in the previous chapter. Anyway, many thanks are in order!
Starship Gazer: Thanks for the review!
Hairy Gregory: Yeah, what's up with people still being unable to program a VCR? And Him definitely needs a therapist for I think both reasons you gave. Glad you found it funny! And thanks for clearing it up with the names.
Pilfered Sympathy: He is all talk! I mean, look at "Birthday Bash"! His plan fails and I think was just BS-ing to hide his failure to the other villains by making it sound like his plan all along. Hope you like!
Dooly: Hey thanks for the review! I for one am not a teacher, so I have no idea what the school system is like. I hope from a teacher's POV, this is at least believable. (and I know squat about the army- but that really applies to part One) And I agree, there are few stories about secondary characters in general. (Except RRB fics, which there are too many of, in my opinion) Well, I'm so glad you enjoyed it so far!
PinkPuff514: You can make fun of Him all you want, just be careful, he does hold a grudge. And as you can see, Him is getting his revenge in such a way that is very evil, and yet strangely appropriate: by lowering her confidence. Anyway, thank you so much for the review! I hope you liked this latest chapter!
