All right, final chapter of Act I! Things are only going to get darker and more dramatic from here on in, folks, so hold on to your hats...

"I hope you'll try and behave yourself in class this week. Sara told me about the incident between you and Mr. Waldren on Wednesday," Michiko murmured as she meticulously set piles of clean laundry in Johnny's wardrobe.
The boy sat on his bed silently, gazing out of the window at the neon horizon of the city.
"Is something bothering you?" She asked him, a mother's instinct, grown strong with sixteen years of experience, picking out even the slightest twinge of upset in Johnny's mood.
"It's Buttercup…" he sighed, "I really don't know what to make of her."
Michiko smiled. "She reminds me of you at that age, you know."
Finished with the laundry, she leant over and kissed him on the forehead, the smile still adhered to her adoring expression.
"Oyasumi, my love."
"'Night, Kaasan."

The moment the door clicked shut, the little urchin popped out from under the bed.
"You 'don't know what to make of me'?" She repeated with ridicule in her tone. "What's that s'posed to mean?"
Johnny looked at the carpet, trying to find inoffensive words. "Well…" he began "the whole thing with your super-powers, and wanting to be anonymous with everyone but me-- not to mention those psychos that are after you… it's all a little odd."
Buttercup turned away. "So?" she retorted, her voice defiant yet wavering slightly. "I'm just in trouble and need your help, that's all."
Heedless, Johnny continued his questions. "And how come you don't wanna use your super-powers?"
Buttercup huffed impatiently. "Be-cause, Ms. Bellum said no-one could use any of their special powers in the past-"

The tension in the air at that moment hung heavily on both their shoulders. In an unconscious effort to back up, Buttercup clamped her hands over her mouth, but it was too late. She knew full well what information she had let slip…
"The… the past?" Johnny choked. "You mean you're from the future? "

Johnny stared at her, stiff and bug-eyed, as Buttercup turned away. The future. She had been blocking that thought from her mind for a while now. What lay in waiting for her back at home… the confusion, the dangers, the loss… her sisters and her father… and what had happened to them all…
She unzipped her dress pocket again and took the worn, tattered old Octi out. Gazing down at the little stuffed toy was a bittersweet heartache, having a dagger being driven into her by the one thing that had remained pure, untouched and lovely in that horrible place.

Quiet tears fell. Buttercup dropped to the floor and clutched her toy tight.
Johnny's eyes softened. What an idiot he had been. He now saw that regardless of the super-powers, the crazy kidnappers, supposed time travel and all the other bizarre goings on, at the centre of it was a scared little girl who had lost her family. Perhaps it was best not to ask questions. Perhaps it was better just to be accepting…
"C'mere." He said quietly, opening his arms out to the girl. When she climbed into them, they sat upon the bed together and cuddled, Johnny soothingly stroking the little child's head as she cried.
Closing his eyes and drifting in the intimate hush, he recalled a lullaby-like Sinatra ballad that his father had sung to him often during childhood. Softly, almost unconsciously, he began to sing:

"Embrace me, my sweet embraceable you.
Embrace me, you irreplaceable you!
Just one look at you my heart is tipsy in me,
You and you alone bring out the gipsy in me."

"I love all the many charms about you.
Above all, I want my arms about you.
So don't be a naughty baby,
Come to Papa, come to Papa, do.
My sweet embraceable you!"

Buttercup snuggled up closer to Johnny, dozing like a newborn as the streams of tears on her cheeks began to dry. He was so warm and cozy, and the drowsy sound of his gentle song was helping to turn her calm into slumber. And soon, she remembered something.

Her sisters were snoring in bed as soft moonlight drifted into the triplets' room. She hadn't wanted to go to bed so darn early, making a rather adamant scene at bedtime to state her point to her father. But instead of the expected scolding, the Professor met his brunette daughter's obstinacy with unruffled amusement. Even as she continued yelling, he calmly picked her up, carried her into the bedroom and began to rock her back and forth, softly crooning a medley of old pop standards to her. Like a hypnotist's watch, the father's sweet music soon soothed the savage beast and she was napping happily in his embrace.
Buttercup would never admit it, but she loved it when he did that.

"Daddy…"
Johnny looked down at her. She was on the very brink of a deep and restful sleep. For once, her brow was unknotted by frowns and her eyes were closed and tranquil. In the fractured glow of the city lights her peaceful face was beautiful. She looked like a little angel. That simple sight of a sleeping child aroused something in the petulant teenager that he'd never felt before: a need to nurture. This little one was depending on him to help find her way in an unfamiliar world and guard her from all the monsters that were after her. There and then, he pledged that he would not let her down.
"G'night, little angel." He whispered, setting her down on his bed and planting a kiss on her tiny cheek.

The window pane smashed, deadly shards of glass flying all about the room. On a whistling ribbon of pink and black smoke flew Him, stonily determined to earn his long-delayed kill. He snatched at the pair of youngsters with his monstrous claws. Taking Buttercup safe in his arms again, Johnny nimbly dodged him like a rabbit to a predatorial fox. With a shot of protective paternal adrenalin, he swiftly kicked the demon in the jaw and dashed out the broken window down the building's fire escape. Still clutching his injured face, Him sped after them.

Sandy Keane rubbed her tired eyes, still trying hard to focus on the radar before her. It had been one of many, many long nights, but Team Eumenide was determined not to rest until Buttercup was found.
"Anything?" The voice of Sara Bellum greeted her from the doorway.
"Five hours and nothing," sighed Sandy.
Sara approached the control panel to examine the screen with a sharp, observant eye. "I see," she said calmly.
Exasperated and worn out from the depressingly fruitless search, Sandy turned to face her and sighed. "Honestly, Sara, I don't even know why I'm scanning these CP bearings. There's almost no chance that she's gone back this far in the past."
"Still," Sara replied hearteningly "there is a slight chance. And hopefully this way will be easier and quicker than Lord Alecto's ground search. Our main concern is finding her before he does."
"But we don't even know where Alecto's infantrymen are…" Sandy lamented, "Maybe they've already located her and kidna-"

A piercing blip from the machine broke the musty laboratory air. Both sets of eyes instantly snapped back to the radar screen.
Sandy gasped, astounded by the almost unbelievable data before her.
"I don't believe it…" she rubbed her eyes again. "…Spatial coords: thirty-two degrees equatorial lat north by two hundred thirteen degrees west … Fifth Dimensional CP bearings: minus two-four point six-three-five-oh-seven-six… Sara, we've found her!!"
She struck a victorious fist in the air and the two tired women shared a joyous hug, all the while still gaping at the screen in delight.
"I'll dispatch the boys right away!"

"Put me down," Buttercup barked, "I can carry us faster!"
A panting Johnny didn't comply. "I'll let him get me before he gets anywhere near you," he declared.
He was dashing through the backstreets, trying to throw Him off their scent by taking as many sharp turns and twists in his path as possible. Johnny had the camouflage of the darkness and the familiarity of home turf on his side, and he was determined to once again shake off their dark uniformed hunter.

They had a good lead, but Him's looming presence could still be felt somewhere behind them. Johnny had to take action further to lose the crazed demon in the enveloping night. Noticing an abandoned apartment block coming up on his right, he quickly veered down the side of the complex to find an entrance.

"Push harder!"
"I'm trying," Buttercup grunted as she leaned the full force of her supercharged body up against a grimy closed window. They heard the echoes of Him's hissing, viper-like speed somewhere in the distance.
Grunting with urgency and panic, Johnny joined in the struggle and heaved at the old pane alongside the girl. Slowly, under creaking pressure, the glass frame gave way until it popped open, throwing the pair off balance and hurling them inside the unlit building.

The voice of an unseen man echoed throughout the near-empty room. "Well, well, well. What have we here?"
On the dirty floor, the little Puff could see a pair of dingy, weathered army boots step into her line of sight. Together, Johnny and Buttercup grit their teeth. Out of the frying pan and into the fire?

Reluctantly, Buttercup's gaze crawled upwards along the figure that had addressed the two. Long legs, a lean physique, a scruffy mane of charcoal hair… and skin that was a shade of pasty pallid green.
She looked into the man's face. There was no mistaking who it was.
Ace of the Gangreen Gang.

To Be Continued. . .