Okay, this chapter has a lot of cameos, so I need a lot of disclaimers, so I'll do all of them: I do no own Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, Boomer, Butch, Brick, Eddy, (Cartoon Network, I think) Robin, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, Superman, Batman, the Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Women, (DC comics) Spiderman, Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Gray, (Marvel) Sonic, Shadow, Amy, Manic, Sonna, Knuckles, Tails, Nack, Dr Robotnik, Dr Kintobor, Dr Eggman, Sally Acorn, (Sega) Goku, Vegeta or Krillin (DBZ). But you knew that.
Oh yes, the characters might behave slightly differently here for comedy value.
6. Testing Times
Blossom arrived at work the following morning. She'd already decided not to tell anyone about Sonic… quite yet. The last thing she needed right now was a barrage of questions. I not to long a time she'd have to do something very difficult, so she needed a clear head.
"Blossom, can I…"
"I need a clear head Bubbles!" Blossom had reached her desk, which with walls was now an office. Bubbles paused.
"I'll get you a coffee then, but can you look at Sonic's office first? I've finished going through it."
"Okay Bubbles." As her sister strode off, Blossom gently pushed open the door that had Sonic the Hedgehog, Leader emblazoned across it. It took a moment's thought to force herself not to knock first. Old habits die hard, she thought.
The office looked like in normally did, except Bubbles efforts meant it was fairly clean. And the smell of Sonic's trainers had… faded. Some of it remained though, as an ever present reminder of the room's former owner. Blossom tired not to consider where the smell was now.
Still, for Bubble's hype, Blossom couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. See was still looking when Buttercup entered.
"Everyone's ready," she said with an air of anticipation. Blossom nodded.
"Anything else I should know?"
"Only that the Assembly Room is very dusty, and that Boomer and Butch won't be here because they're still with our visitors."
"Good," Blossom said. "Lets hope no super villain has planted a bomb then." She chuckled slightly. "How is Butch?"
"Moaning about Shadow mainly," Buttercup laughed. "He says that he never stops and that he hurt his wrist being dragged around at supersonic speed all day."
"Tell him that he's just slow."
"I did. So he decided to show me some of the benefits of not rushing things…" Buttercup's mind was elsewhere now, but Bubbles arrived with the coffee.
"I don't get your point about the office," Blossom said after thanking her. Bubbles smiled.
"I know," she said. Blossom frowned.
"Oh, you're going to show me so you can prove you're smart."
Bubbles chuckled. "Sort of," she admitted, "look at this:"
She pulled a filing away from the wall, to revel a fridge behind it. Opening it up displayed a collection of ready meals. Before Blossom could react, she'd moved a picture of Superman to revel a microwave. Next she slid the desk away, and opened a trapdoor underneath it. Then, by pressing a button, a sofa raised out of it. A bit more shifting of seemingly innocuous office furniture had reviled a television, an oven, a bed and rather disconcertingly a toilet.
"Well?" the Blue puff queried smugly. Blossom was stunned.
"I thought Blonde was your natural hair colour."
"IT IS… oh. Is that an insult or a compliment?"
"Your choice Bubbles," Blossom felt the bed.
"Hey, weren't we in an office a moment ago?" Buttercup had finally returned to the real world.
"So Sonic lived in his office…" Blossom mused.
"Yep!" Bubbles was proud. "That means he has nothing in his life other than his job. I'm sure we can use this!"
"Actually Bubbles," Buttercup put on a condescending tone, "it only tells us that since his only home was here, he could be anywhere."
"That's true," Bubbles said, "but once we find out a bit more about him, I'm sure it'll help. But who was really close to Sonic?"
"Well we can figure that out latter," said Blossom quickly. "For now, I better go and address the waiting heroes." She paused, and turned to her sisters.
"What time are the mobians back here for lunch?"
"Tails is down in the lab, but the rest? Not till one."
"Great," Blossom pulled then closer, "because I was looking through some files last night. This one refers to a shiny gem being brought in by Michelangelo, one of those turtles. It also says that Sonic seemed uneasy about it and ordered it to be put away in the vaults, without any of the Puff's or Ruff's being told."
"Oh I get it," said Buttercup. "You've been in charge for 24hours and you're already riffling through all the restricted files! Why is it significant that they wouldn't tell us?"
"Because… oh I never told you this." Blossom considered what she was going to say. "Because we're powered by chaos energy. I reckon the emerald those creatures are looking for is in our vaults. I want you two to fine it and hide it in my "office" before they get back. Okay?"
"Got it," said Bubbles, "good luck in the lions den…"
Blossom pushed open the door to the assembly room. It was full of superheroes and dust. Blossom coughed slightly.
"Why's is so dusty here?" she asked no one in particular.
"Because this room hasn't been used for fifteen year," Robin suggested. Blossom nodded. Superman had believed in discussing a lot of his decisions, but who'd every heard of Sonic listening to other people's opinions, let alone actively seeking them out! Maybe some of the criticism of him by the Acorn's hadn't been totally unjustified.
She wondered up on to the stage, and tapped the microphone.
"Hello? Testing, testing. Okay, right, hello people, can I have some quiet please."
There was very little response. "Hello, would you all please be QUIET!" A hush spread quickly across the room. Blossom relaxed.
"Thank you. Now I've called you here today because…"
"Hey, where's the boss?" Beast Boy piped up. Raven hit him. Blossom blinked.
"If you'd listen I'd answer that question," Blossom spoke like a school teacher for a moment, "Raven, keep your hands to your self. Anyway, Sonic. It appears our esteemed leader…"
"He's not that esteemed," said Flash. Blossom shot him a look.
"The hedgehog who was leading this organisation…"
"He was hardly leading it," said Cyclops thoughtfully, "more sort of observing as it ran wildly out of control…"
"… has been accused of murder and is on the run, which puts me in charge so STOP INTERUPTING ME!" Blossom bellowed. She looked at the shocked faces in the audience below her. A small voice in the back of her head said: Sonic would have shouted like that. She ignored it, and got on with giving them the details omitting the previous evening's discussion of cause and any link to Superman's death…
"So," she eventually finished, "that's the situation. I was wondering if any of you had any thoughts on how we should peruse this." She looked at the Assembled heroes. Some looked shocked. Some disinterested. Crash Bandicoot was asleep, idiot thought Blossom. She paused. No one said anything for a while.
"Well?" she prompted hopefully.
"I don't know," said Jean Gray, "it's hard to imagine anyone lying to us for so long." Blossom squirmed, but nobody noticed.
"Gee, I hope he's okay," said Starfire nervously. "If he's out there on his own a murderous gang creature could eat him!"
While Robin tried to explain to Starfire that murderous gangs were people, not creatures, others voiced there opinions.
"Murder is not in the spirit of the organisation," the Green Lantern said bluntly. "We should treat him like any other criminal."
"I agree," said Flash. "What, why can't I agree with you?"
"Yes," said Batman solemnly, as always. "There is a difference between murdering people and destroying villains. He should be trialled like an ordinary citizen."
Blossom could accept that sentiment. When they'd first been created, she and her sisters had destroyed the RowdyRuff Boys. That was what heroes and Villains did; there was nothing unnatural about that, it had certainly never got in the way of a relationship. But latter, she had (supposedly) murdered Brick. That had been treated differently by Butch and Boomer, and that was understandable.
"The issue could be," she said calmly, "that he might not get a fair trial if we extradite him to his home planet."
"Then we must trial him here," said Cyclops determinedly.
"But, if he's admitted to killing anyone," Wonder Women butted in, "Then he can not remain leader. We will not follow a killer."
Blossom was about to respond when an ironic chuckle was emitted from the back of the room. Everyone looked round. Blossom sighed. She should have known this was coming.
"Listen to yourselves, gabling like a bunch of school girls about something you can't understand!" Vegeta had stood up, smiling to himself. "As someone how has actually killed, I think we let bygones be bygones, and congratulate him on his efficiency. Surly it's reassuring to know that our leader has got some guts?"
This prompted the obvious reaction, as the Sayain Prince had probably intended. Before he got over whelmed by protestation, Wolverine stood up in front of him.
"For once the smug bastards right," he hissed, "it is good to know that we've had someone in charge who would not hesitate if the a tough decision had to be made."
"Are you saying Superman would hesitate?" threaten Flash from a distance of two millimetres from Wolverines nose. Superman was still a prickly subject around the SSR.
"That's exactly what the common scum is saying," Vegeta said. Wolverine whirled round and hit him.
Blossom looked at her watch, as the fight in the mess in front of her enveloped everyone. They'd only been aware that Sonic was missing for ten minutes, and already the natural tension in the organisation had exploded out of control. To get them to stop, Blossom had to fire a blast straight down the centre of the room. It mercifully only hit Krillin, and everyone stopped, frozen in there current position. Wolverine was grappling with Cyclops, Spiderman had webbed about ten people up, Raven was poised to hurl half the furniture across the room, and Vegeta had his hands round Goku's neck. They were all looking at Blossom.
"What's come over you all?" she shouted. "Have you all lost your minds! Here we are without a leader, with the press poised to jump on our backs, facing a decision that could decide the future of this entire organisation, and you can't even except other people's rights to an opinion!" Silence. "Vegeta, release Goku. And the other hand. Thank you. Now, shall we try again?"
"I had to disband it after the third fight," Blossom finished. Sonic laughed. Blossom didn't. "It's not funny, standards have slipped, and it's only been half a day!"
"Your telling me," Sonic said, "Why are you at home at lunch time?"
"I came to feed you!"
"In that case, what on earth is in this Sandwich?"
"Hedgehog." Now it was Sonic's turn not to find something funny. Blossom looked at her watch. "Okay, I'm going now. I've got lots of work to do to find you."
Sonic nodded, and she locked him in the basement again. Sonic sighed, and turned on the television. He wondered how long it would be before Blossom started treating them with the contempt that he had!
Okay, Thanks for reading. Please Review and ask questions. More will happen next chapter. Thanks.