Investigations and Coffee
The girls stood their watching the red streak fade from sight. The squad car holding Princess had taken off while they had their attention on the Rowdyruff leader. "Can we please go after him?" Buttercup pleaded with her sister.
"To what end?" Blossom asked back, "He hasn't done anything illegal yet."
"We don't know that, I bet if we dig deep enough we will find something." Buttercup reasoned.
"Look, if it makes you feel better I will look into it myself, if I find anything we will go after them." Blossom touched the bridge of her nose. "Why are you so insistent anyways, was Princess not enough for you?" She pointed at her while speaking.
"They are the best challenge," She smirked, her confidence apparent, "But we all know they are nothing but trouble."
"We don't know that." Bubbles called out. "They were released, by the state they wouldn't do that without them proving they changed."
"Yeah, but what was that about visiting Princesses dad." Buttercup questioned. "Can we check that out at least?"
"I will okay? You too need to get to class." Blossom shook her head. Buttercup was about to speak when blossom cut her off. "If I find anything, anything at all I will call you." She looked at Buttercup as she spoke in her authoritative voice.
"Why just you?" Buttercup managed to say.
"Cause I know you have a test next class, and it won't hurt me to miss be late to my next class." Buttercup just glared, but eventually made a "tsk" noise and floated off.
"You better call me if you find anything!" She called as she headed back to class.
"See you after school!" Bubbles called in tow with Buttercup.
Blossom floated off and went to the mansion. When she got to the site she noticed how intact the building was. She did quickly see the broken door being replaced, and used her X-ray vision to scan the place. She finally saw the master bedroom and saw King Morebucks on his phone. She flew up to the window to get a listen on his conversation.
"Yes you heard me right, I need to remove my daughter from any legal claim to my wealth." So Brick did do something to convince him. "It's simple, the little brats reign of terror could start ruining my companies PR. I will be damned before I let my hard work be for nothing. Look I don't care about your sentiments just get it done." He looked annoyed as he looked up to the ceiling, "Because that's what I pay you for, you want me to find a new lawyer? Because I will! Good send me the paperwork by tomorrow morning." He hung up. Blossom scanned the man with her X-ray vision, but found no signs of broken bones or damage. Whatever Brick did, he didn't beat the man into submission.
"Just what did he do? If it was PR he cared about he would have stopped her in 1st grade." Blossom ranted on in her head. She eventually flew off and headed back towards her high school.
Walking in her class her teacher gave her a welcoming smile. He asked her to take her seat, and would dismiss the tardy. She sat down and began taking notes with Brick fading to the back of her mind. The class was over almost as quickly as it started for the intellectual, and was soon waiting outside the school for her sisters. She looked around, but couldn't find any sign of them. Until a crumpled up paper hit her left cheek.
She turned to see Buttercup smiling as she walked up to her. "How did your test go?"
"Your holding it," She said with a smirk. Blossom smoothed out the paper to see a B+ written atop of the paper. She felt relieved to know she passed. Looking up Buttercup spoke again. "So what did you find?"
"Brick did somehow convince him to cut Princess off." She relayed the information.
"How? Did he beat him up, can we get them for assault?"
Blossom just shook her head, "Afraid not I didn't see any bruises or broken bones, I guess he brought up a PR issue to the man." She continued to explain the conversation she overheard to them. At some point Bubbles showed up.
"So maybe they really are reformed." Bubbles interjected.
"It seems so." Blossom agreed with her.
"I'm telling you it can't last. Once a criminal, always a criminal." Buttercup complained as she lifted herself off the ground and flew home.
"She has a point, they broke the law for five years and terrorized the city before we caught them. I doubt a few years in prison would change them so dramatically." She spoke to Bubbles.
"I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, besides the blonde one is still cute." She giggled as she followed her green dressed sister in the air. Blossom giggled back and took off herself. She always loved Bubbles' more forgiving heart, and hoped she wasn't wrong in trusting in it.
At home they opened the door, and flew in. The professor was sitting on the couch reading the paper and smoking from his pipe. "Ah girls welcome home."
"Thank you professor," All three said in unison. "How was your day?" Blossom finished.
"Uh good, listen I'm heading out in a few hours, would you be fine with ordering pizza for dinner tonight?" He said never looking up from his paper. Buttercup just gave a grunt of approval as she flew up to her room. Bubbles and Blossom remained downstairs.
"What's going on tonight?" Blossom asked. The professor eyed his two daughters. He knew they would find out eventually, so he decided to just be honest.
"I have a date tonight." He said, his face flooded with warmth. He looked down to see four eyes shimmering in the light with hope starring back at him.
Bubbles was the first to speak up with a squeal, "Oh my goodness who professor? Do we know her? Is she beautiful? Is she kind? How did you meet?" She would have kept assaulting the professor with questions if Blossom didn't stop her.
"How can he answer your questions if you won't let him speak?" She said giggling.
"Thank you Blossom." The professor started, but was interrupted by Bubbles.
"Enough stalling! Answer the questions!" She bounced on the couch excitedly.
"Actually it's your school's superintendent." He started.
"Miss Keane?" Both girls exclaimed. As the girls grew, the school funding was cut and Kindergarten was moved into the same building as Elementary. Margaret Keane was a vessel of knowledge for the girls new teachers as they went through the school system. The school board noticed this and practically begged her to take the position. She eventually agreed seeing it to be the best way to help all the students she could. Her old building was bought as something like a base of operations for her, and she has been making the most of it since.
"Yeah I ran into her last week at the supermarket. We talked over coffee, and agreed to try and see each other again." He laughed.
"What about her cat?" Blossom asked.
"I've accepted one bad experience shouldn't make me hate the whole lot, no matter how traumatic that experience was." He chuckled with a shrug. Then resumed, "And before you start, we both agreed that if this works we will text only." A feeling of relief came over Blossom. While they had the cellphone now, she still recalled when Professor and Miss Keane spent weeks straight hogging up the hot line, and letting their own lives fall to neglect. The professor spoke up once again, "I mean with such a strong connection the first time it seems a shame not to at least try again."
"Well all I know is we want you to be happy." Bubbles giggled. "So when is your date?"
Looking down at his watch he answered, "I guess I should be getting ready soon, I am meant to pick her up at five for a movie then dinner." He said stretching his arms and back as he stood. Bubbles followed him insisting she help him get ready. He of course accepted her help and they soon left a smiling Blossom on the couch. Her mind soon wandered back to Brick. Something was off about this whole thing. She started weighing everything out in her head.
On the one hand she was happy they were not only behaving but using their powers for good, but she just couldn't shake the feeling they were up to something. She looked over at the hallway Bubbles and Professor disappeared at, and formed a quick plan. She was going to sneak out tonight and figure some stuff out. She grabbed the remote and was channel surfing when buttercup came downstairs, a fresh change of clothes and towel on her head. It looked like she just had gotten out of the shower.
"Whatcha watching?" she inquired as she plopped down on the sofa by her sister.
"Nothing really." Blossom answered absentmindedly. Buttercup just laid back and rested with the towel on her face. The two sisters continued with idle chit chat about school and clubs until the Professor and Bubbles re-entered the room.
"Why ya going dressed like that?" Buttercup asked with a brow raised.
"He has a date with Miss Keane." Bubbles squealed as she floated around him. He was dressed in a simple black suit and tie, the touch of gray in his hair was died black, the girls could smell his aftershave, and he was without his signature pipe.
Buttercup gagged at the news, but still gave the professor a wink of encouragement. Soon he was ushered out by a still overexcited Bubbles. She kept her eyes glued to his car as he took off. Blossom meanwhile ordered the Pizza. She chose a supreme pizza finding it to be a good compromise to Buttercups meat lover vote, and Bubbles wanting more of a veggie pizza. When that arrived the three girls talked and wondered about how their father's date was going. Eventually each girl had their fill and Buttercup was watching TV while Bubbles was deep into her sketch book. Blossom didn't say anything as she went up to her own room opened the window and flew off.
She knew the boys were held in a special underground facility beneath the regular prison, and figured that's where she would find the most information. Looking through the walls she soon found the archive room. She just needed a way of sneaking in. On the other side she saw an open window just barely tall enough for her to slide through. Slipping through the window she kept close to the ceiling. She checked through each wall as she made her way into the room and found herself face to face with walls and shelves of information.
She floated through not sure where to look. Luckily for her she soon found a filing cabinet labeled "Crim. N-S." Opening it up she leafed through the filed until she saw the Rowdyruffs name attached to the top of one. She took it out and laid it out on the nearby desk. Opening the file she saw three separate files for each boy. Bricks being the largest, she figured she would start there.
She scanned through the most basic information. There were several photos taken of him inside it. The first was his initial booking photo where he looked like he was spitting into the camera, and each subsequent photo after that was just a yearly photo of him in the same poses for reference. He was only in for three years but he had definitely changed in those three years. She looked over his initial intake paperwork, but found nothing of interest. She continued scanning through the papers, if she had been more aware of her surroundings she would have smelled the aroma of coffee invading the room.
"Miss Utonium what a surprise." A voice called from behind her. She took a startled leap from the chair and was face to face with a man in a pair of glasses a navy blue suit and coffee in his hands. "We haven't been properly introduced, but I'm Doctor Langston." He said walking to her. Panic filled her mind, she was caught invading the Boys private files, and was worried they were going to throw the book at her now.
"This isn't what it looks like" She began but stammered and paused trying to come up with a good reason she was where she was.
"Really? Cause it looks like your snooping on my boys records." He said with a smile looking behind her at the open files. His voice was calm and friendly, no malice or venom could be detected in his voice.
"Well ummm no, these we're already out, and besides what are you doing here?" She tried to deflect the conversation.
"I work here, often late hours. I was passing by this room and noticed lights on. It's well past 7 no one should be here, so I checked it out." Again his voice was calm and he sat down. He made a motion with his hand for her to sit down across the table. "Don't worry I won't snitch on you if you sit down and talk with me." Seeing no other way she took the offered seat.
"You said they were your boys, What do you mean by that? HIM and Mojo jojo are their fathers." She asked.
"Well, I consider them akin to that of nephews I'm taking care of," He sipped his coffee, "I was their main source of company during incarceration, and following probation."
"You said Doctor Langston, what are you a Doctor of?"
"Child psychology, with a followup degree in criminology." He never let his smile fade from his face, and let her run the interview like he was the one caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "I wanted to help troubled youth who just needed a good ear when they messed up. So many promising kids lose their lives to crime from one mistake, I just want to try and mend those bridges before they collapse entirely. So if I may ask, why are you here?"
"I," She tried to find the right words to say without making her look worse in the eyes of this man, "I just wanted to see if the boys turning good was legitimate or not. They could still be dangerous you know."
"Very true, I believe they still are, much like you and your sisters."
"We are not dangerous," She tried to defend. Langston stop mid sip of his coffee and spoke again.
"Oh no? Well you 6 all have similar powers and abilities, all of you could wipe this city flat nearly single handedly. Is that not dangerous?" He said placing his coffee down.
"It's not the same, we don't have a long history of maliciously destroying the city." She tried to reason but was cut off again by Langston.
"The difference being your father I'm sure. You see Blossom, may I call you Blossom?" She nodded and he continued, "The boys have no real ties to anyone in this town. My theory was if I could get them to focus some of that amazing energy they all have, and make them grow ties to the city, they wouldn't be so inclined to destroy it out of boredom. Sound logic right?" Again she nodded, "That's what I did for two years, I helped the boys get an education through the special schooling here, Brick took to learning like a magnet, And get them interested in hobbies. While Brick was really only interested in schooling, Butch took to mechanical work, he wants his first car to be one he restored himself." He chuckled, "The boy can fly and he still wants to drive. Boomer was a little easier, we found out about his love for comics and just kept getting him new issues, we tried to stick to more moral heroes, but he eventually branched out. So with each one being preoccupied with something each one eventually calmed down. Honestly I have you to thank." He said pausing to drink his coffee.
"How so?" Blossom was using this to get as much information as possible.
"I don't know exactly the full extent, but I think Brick has a crush on you. He seems obsessed with outdoing you. Even going as far to-" He took a sharp breath in, "Well I wont spoil the surprise. However, if he didn't want to show you up, I doubt he would have been as easy to deal with as he was." He seemed to get lost in memories for a second, "Does that make you feel any better?"
"So your saying them turning to good guys, might be just out of spite for me?" She gave a small laugh. "Wow, I'm a better role model than I thought."
"Maybe, He still has some anger issues, and I'm sure he loses his temper quite a lot, but he does seem to be trying to stop teetering the line. I bet it's hard for the boy some days. He still has that darkness in him, but he seems to have it under control." He finished off his coffee, "Now Miss Utonium, you should be getting home. Me as well." He chuckled and collected the files. He escorted her out the door, nobody even questioned why she was their, and she took off. She made her way back home and through her window. It seemed no one even noticed she was gone yet. Buttercup was still watching TV and Bubbles was finishing up her drawing.
Bubbles, as everyone would have guessed, wanted to stay up and see the professor get home so she could ask him all about it. Buttercup was actually falling asleep in the TV being early still, just past 8:30, she must have been tired from the battle earlier. Or just relaxed enough in front of the TV. She just sat on the couch and waited with her sisters for their father to come home. Her mind finally finding some peace since the boys arrived.
A.N. apparently miss keane is named after the famous artists so I just went with her actual first name for Miss keanes since she was never given one. Review would you kindly.