And don't worry guys, I'll eventually get around to fully explaining poor Proffy-chan's situation back in ther present. That midlogue was just a teaser-ish little morsel of what's to come.
The moment Buttercup recognised Ace's sharp sunglasses and toothy smirk, her anxiety instantly melted away in relief and joy.
"Ace!" she cried, leaping up to hug him tight. "Am I glad to see you! What are you doing here!?"
"I was gonna ask you the same question, Cuppo!" He scolded, still returning the hug with equal fervour. "Do you know how worried we've been about you?"
"Welllll!…" Buttercup retorted defiantly, "I heard you guys'n Ms. Bellum talking about finding my dad with the time portal you stole from Alecto!"
"Yeah, but-"
"Um," Johnny interrupted, "I hate to break up the love-in, but we've got a psychotic demon chasing us…"
"Jesus! Alecto's men are tracking you already!?" Ace exclaimed. "Good thing Ms. K found you when she did!" With a sigh, Ace produced a strange makeshift control panel, bedecked with buttons, from his bulky utility belt.
"Alright Cuppo, let's go back to where we came from."
Just as he was about to key in something to the remote, he felt resistance from the girl in his arms.
"Wait!" she cried. "What about Johnny?" He noticed she was clinging onto the boy's sleeve.
"Buttercup," Ace said matter-of-factly "you can't honestly think that I'm gonna take this stranger home with us."
"Johnny's no stranger, he's my friend!" Buttercup asserted, racked with the emotion of being torn from her companion. "And I'm not gonna leave him here to be caught by Him!"
Ace tried to pull the child's hands off the startled teenager's sleeve. "It'll be safer if he just runs for it and stays in his own time-Buttercup, PLEASE let him go!"
"No!" She wailed.
As the three stood there struggling, in burst Him, fully ready to pounce. Noticing Ace, his vicious grin widened. "Oooh, look what else I've found! You'll make a nice addition to the catch!" He exclaimed.
He raised a claw in front of him, ready to expel his most terrible spell over Ace and Buttercup. Using his forbidden powers here was going to be more than made up for when Lord Alecto saw the prizes he had captured with it.
In the cold sweat of a life-or-death situation, Ace took action. He tried one last time to wrench Buttercup from Johnny's arm, but it was no use. Just as Him's jet of evil magic propelled towards them, Ace swiftly keyed in their home coordinates and the three burst into nothingness with a spark of electric energy.
Johnny collapsed on the ground in a daze of disorientation. He had no idea where on earth he was, or what the strange green boy's intentions were. Anxiety began to seep into him when he began to notice just how foreign and unnatural this place felt to him-it was like being an animal that had wandered far out of its own territory.
"Buttercup!" Ace reprimanded harshly. "Why didn't you let him go? Now he's stuck here with us!"
In true fashion, Buttercup retorted "I didn't want to leave him there, dummy! I told you before!"
Ace tried to continue arguing, but it was pointless. Contesting that strong will of hers always was.
"Alright. Well, we'll take him back to The Underground and see what Ms. B and Ms. K can do with him. Maybe we can divert Alecto's men long enough to take him back home somehow."
Johnny was looking about himself, utterly stunned. The three were on a hillside on the outskirts of a large city. Part of the skyline was unmistakable, this was definitely Townsville. But much of it was also different. It looked like a huge chunk of the town had been carelessly demolished and rebuilt. It was all dirty and congested with rubble, yet sitting atop the mess was a series of sterile buildings that glinted in what little sunlight there was amidst all the smog. Industrial complexes with pollutant-spewing smokestacks, military buildings, and row after row of lofty, faceless stone skyscrapers, in the middle of which was a massive fortress of the same style.
"What is this place?" The boy asked, bewildered.
"This," Ace replied "Is the city of Townsville, and the year is 2003."
The hillside that the three people were on was in fact part of the residential area for the city's civilians, but at first glance it may as well have been the squalor-infested slums of any third world megalopolis. Crumbling houses that would once have been sturdy and well kept lined dirty roads, swollen, fetid and foul-smelling sewers bordering either side. The lawns of the houses were dry and dusty, dead flowers and shrubs still lying in long disused flower beds.
As they walked along the near-abandoned streets (the citizens of the town seemed not to like being out-of-doors), Johnny noticed how faded everything looked. Like the dead flowers that covered the people's gardens, this neighbourhood obviously used to be beautiful-only someone had sucked the life out of it.
"Alecto's guards don't really keep tabs on this area of town," Ace explained, "there's no-one out here that he really cares about."
No sooner had he uttered those words that the group heard the resonating sound of a rifle go off behind them. Turning, they saw three sober-suited foot soldiers at the end of the street.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" One cried. "All three of you are hereby under arrest in accordance with the commands of the great Lord Alecto!"
"Damn it," Ace muttered under his breath, "the Fuzz!"
Buttercup was not to be subdued. Finally back in her own time, where her powers were recognised and understood, she charged at the henchmen, ready to deal out her own brand of justice.
"Buttercup, no!" Ace shrieked, looking on helplessly.
She struck, landing a powerful kick to one foot soldier's face. Turning around to deal with the other two she met a ghastly and unexpected surprise. Using a trigger on his belt, one of the officers let loose a smooth, slender coil of metal rope. Like iron being drawn to a magnet, it clasped onto Buttercup's body and encased her like a strand of spider's web around a fly. She struggled, trying to free her arms, but it was all in vain.
"Polyduranium fibroid," the head soldier, a lieutenant, grunted smugly. "Picked up by Alecto Laboratories from the late Mojo Jojo, and completely Powerpuff-proof!"
He was answered with a solid fist to the cheek.
Johnny disdainfully spat on the lieutenant, who was now flat on the ground. "Let her go!" He demanded, and just as promptly was jumped on and restrained by the other two, a small military dagger being shoved into the small of his back should he object.
"Oh, for the love of God," Ace sighed, and grudgingly approached the skirmish armed with his nothing but a pair of brass knuckles.
Swooping into the fray, he leapt upon the man restraining Johnny with a whirling kick to the head. The lieutenant had since gotten back to his feet and tried to retaliate, but the green-skinned street boy was too swift, anticipating his moves and delivering a potent and tricky counterattack.
The fisticuffs continued, an unfair advantage going to the sneaky street-wise Ace. Johnny knelt down to where Buttercup was, unwrapping the wire from around her.
"You okay, Squirt?"
"Yeah…" the girl answered, a little disappointed at being drawn out of the combat so early.
"C'mon, let's go!" Ace yelled, dragging Johnny and Buttercup up to race away. The soldiers had been given enough time to retrieve their rifles from the holsters on their backs and were getting ready to fire.
The three hurried down the road, legs pumping. Ace brought out a crude gun from his belt, firing blindly back at their attackers as he retreated.
They continued running, the bruised and battle-worn soldiers too sore and tired to keep up.
"I though you said Alecto didn't keep tabs on this place." Johnny heaved, thoroughly out-of-breath.
Ace replied, equally exhausted, "he doesn't usually. His men just patrol through here sometimes. And now," he added darkly, "they know we've got Buttercup. But I guess that means your own time might be safe enough to go home to now."
To Be Continued. . .