A.N. Heya been a minute hasn't it. Well I got married, and with the dying of fall my old laptop decided to die as well so I hit a few road blocks anyways I'm back for an update lets get to it.

Hindsight and Memories

Blossom had fallen back onto her back shortly after the red streak faded from the sky along with Brick. His venomous words coursed through her head like a broken record. "It doesn't change the fact that every time you broke major laws, created havoc, or did anything that actually deserved a punishment you three got off clean. The most you had to do was what? Community service." Maybe it was her imagination but every time his words repeated in her head they seemed to grow in sinister tones.

Blowing some of the hair that managed to get in her face away she retreated back into her memories. It was about ten years ago when she was rushing back home alone, with a florescent orange vest around her arm. Letting out a few giggles she twirled in the air before descending onto her front porch. "Professor! I'm back from community service!" She hollered closing the door behind her.

Peeking in from the kitchen he greeted his daughter, "Glad to hear it Blossom, how did it go?"

"Fine, even better knowing it was my last Saturday spent picking up highway trash." She beamed floating up the stairs.

"Well, I'm glad you learned your lesson about stealing." He retorted. "Just like I learned not to freak out about material things." He mumbled under his breath. It had been an exhausting month since that fathers day passed. Blossom was ordered 50 hours community service, crime fighting not counted in, and he was court mandated three one hour parenting classes. The monotony of it almost made his swear off golf entirely. However, with her debt to society paid and his classes behind him he knew now everyone could look past this and move on. Maybe even laugh about it later. Resuming his reading of the paper he took a gingerly sip of his coffee while his daughter entered the shared room of her and her sisters.

"Hey girls." Blossom greeted her sisters.

"Sup jailbird." Buttercup responded behind her magazine.

"Former jailbird thank you." Blossom corrected with a grin on her face. "Between the soup kitchen and mandatory highway litter patrol I have officially paid off my community service." She informed opening up her closet.

"Then why do you still have that hideous orange vest?" Bubbles asked taking a moments break from her tea party.

"I asked to keep it as a memento to remind myself never to do something this dumb again." She replied placing it on a hanger and on the door to her closet. "I want to come out of this an even better leader."

"Well good for you Blossom wanna join my tea party? I think Admiral Cookie Bear would enjoy your company." Bubbles invited motioning to an empty seat across from her.

"I think I deserve a cookie and tea myself thank you Bubbles I think I will." Blossom replied with a posh accent. Unfortunately the Hotline buzzed aloud and Blossom was picking it up in an instant. "Yes mayor?" Blossom greeted with enthusiasm. What crime had happened since her theft her two sisters always handled themselves, Blossom herself claimed until she had paid the city back she was unfit to protect it, and Bubbles and Buttercup never had to deal with anything they couldn't handle. Buttercup herself had made a good second in command, if only a little more brash than Blossom would have liked.

"Oh Blossom... Hi." The Mayor's elderly voice babbled over the receiver. "Could I please talk to Buttercup or Bubbles The city needs them."

"Mayor I am happy to inform you that I have resumed my leadership and position in the Powerpuff Girls any information for them can be given to me." She huffed.

"That's nice Blossom, now could you hand the phone over to your sisters please. It's important."

Her eyes widened with shock, instead of fighting it she just held the phone out to Buttercup, "He wants to talk to you." She said solemnly.

Buttercup in turn rolled her eyes and floated over to the phone. "What is it Mayor? Really? You couldn't have told that to Blossom? Ugh fine." dropping the phone onto the receiver she reported, "The Townseville Bank is being robbed. You better take point Red." Buttercup knew how much being the leader meant to Blossom and was honestly tired of the position herself. She just wanted to get back to kicking but and letting Blossom handle the interviews and image details.

"All right no time to lose lets go make a withdraw girls." Blossom rallied and each girl shot out their bedroom window. Blossom felt an annoying tug in the back of her mind. The mayor insisting, and time wasting, that he inform her sisters and not her was hurtful, but she did her best to suppress the hurt and focus on the Bank robbery. After all it's just one senile old man, She was sure the rest of Townseville would be happy to see her leading the fight against evil once more. Touching down behind the line of police cars she greeted the Chief.

"Girls! Boy am I happy to see you." He smiled before dropping his grin. "Oh hey Blossom."

Sucking in her breath and suppressing the urge to let her eye twitch she forced a smile on, "So what's the situation Chief O'Maley."

"Well, a couple of perps slammed an armored car through the front door and have been loading it up with valuables from the safe deposit boxes. Or so we hear, And of course they have assault weapons trained on every civie head inside. Should be a cakewalk for you girls." He reported with almost boredom in his voice.

Blossom scanned the area inside the building five crooks in total a few with guns and a few running back and forth to the armored van. It was a simple order of sending Buttercup to handle the gunmen, and Bubbles to back her up and get the civilians out to safety and Blossom to clean up the three still standing. The whole thing maybe took 20 seconds before citizens were running out the front door and unconscious goons were being thrown into a police van.

Blossom, filling up with pride was about to order her sisters to return home when she heard the voice of the chief behind her, "Sorry Blossom before you leave Im gonna hafta ask you to turn your pockets inside out."

"Excuse me?" Blossom turned around with disgust.

"We need to make sure you didn't take anything this time." The Chief held his hands up as if he was trying to calm down a rabid dog.

"You don't trust me?" The hurt apparent in her cracking voice.

"Sorry Blossom it's not my call."

"It's a dress it doesn't even have pockets!" Buttercup shot back in defense while pulling the sides of her own dress to prove it, but Blossom was already flying away. "Great," She sighed, glaring down the officer, "Nice job ya stupid ingrate."

Blasting off to catch up to her sister Buttercup and Bubbles tried to console their leader. The words, however cheery fell upon deaf ears as Blossom was cursing herself in her own head over and over. Not since their first game of tag has anyone made her feel so low about her mistakes. It was an emotional crack she hadn't expected was fighting back building tears. Willing them to stay in her eyes.

When the trio arrived home she asked the girls to give her some time alone, really wishing she had her own room. Her sisters obliged and went down to talk to the professor about it.

"Professor?" Bubbles asked from the top of the stairs leading to the lab.

"Down here Bubbles, Just working on an old invention idea, if we're lucky I'll be able to squeeze fresh oranges from the future." He laughed a bit while tinkering with a machine on his desk.

"Uh gee that's great Professor, but we are kinda worried about Blossom." Bubbles replied politely.

"Is she hurt?" He asked immediately focusing his attention on his daughters.

"Not physically no, Just something happened at the Bank." Buttercup answered. Then began to fill the Professor in with what happened. Sadness filled his eyes as he looked up to the ceiling about where his daughters room lie.

"I was hoping that wouldn't happen. Listen girls, you know I will always, I mean always love you no matter what happens, but other people..." He looked like he was searching for the right words, "They can be fickle. Blossom made a mistake we all know it, the best we can do is support her, and I'll have a talk later tonight. I'm sure right now all she wants is some quiet time to herself."

Back in her room Blossom was sulking on her bed, she recounted how the bank job went, She did everything right. In record time even, but no one cared. They still saw the power-thief not the Powerpuff. The way everyone looked at her with such distrust and judgment this last month was maddening. She was hoping now that she had finished her service they would forget and forgive but it wasn't happening. It felt hopeless for the little girl knees curled up on her bed.

The minutes passed by and soon had a few hours when she heard soft knocks on her door, "It's open." She replied with a dry voice.

Poking his head in, "Hey Sweetie, I was hoping to have a talk with you."

"What about?"

"You know very well what about. You're too smart not too." He smiled as he walked in the room. Sitting on the bed he wrapped an arm around his daughter. "I know how it feels when nobody but your family trusts you."

"You do?" She said looking up at his warm smile.

"Yes, I do. You see I wasn't always interested in science. When I was in middle school though I got seriously into chemistry, as well as robotics, but chemistry is where I want to focus the story. You see when I first started out, I hadn't the first clue about chemicals or reactions. I was, stupidly I'll admit, just throwing chemicals into mixing flasks and seeing what would happen."

Blossom never took her eyes of him as he spoke, wondering where this was going. "Well one day I sneak into the supply closet and grab a few bottles of whatever my little arms would carry. I walked into the science lab and threw all the bottles down. I figured if I could make something that could help the school custodians clean better and faster it would be proof of my growing knowledge of science." laughing with a hand over his eyes and head hung low, "In hindsight I was just plain stupid. So what I did is threw two bottles of cleaning chemicals in a jar and before I could even stir the concoction the two chemicals reacted violently. A huge yellow gas cloud formed, scared and coughing I ran out of the building. Thankfully the science lab actually had a smoke detector for this kind of thing and everyone still inside the building, this was during lunch break after all, quickly evacuated.

Blossom held her hands to her mouth as she listened, eyes wide in shock and horror for the young Professor in this story. "Well after the building was cleared out some teacher saw me hacking up a lung and got me into the first ambulance that showed up. It did not take anyone long to figure out that it was me who did it. Being the only student with symptoms of exposure to mustard gas. Thank goodness I had the sense to wear a face mask and respirator. Otherwise who knows if I'd be standing today. Anyways, the lab was closed down for weeks and I was placed in isolation and observation. Thankfully I didn't do much damage to myself and was released in a week, but coming back to school. Oh I was dreading that. It was a year before anyone besides my best friend Dick would sit by me at lunch. Another year before I was allowed to take a chemistry class in high school."

"So what did you do to earn peoples trust back?" Blossom asked.

"Nothing really. I just, as hard as it was sometimes, kept moving on with my life. I refocused temporarily on robotics and physics, and when I was allowed resumed my education in chemistry. I walked for two years with the nickname "gas-cloud." It was hard at first, but I had my family and my best friend sitting at my side. Soon it faded from the collective consciousness. While no one did anything like me, eventually some new gossip comes along and takes focus away. Then something after that, and something after that. Sometimes you can do things to make people forgive and forget, but others," He paused and shrugged, "ehhhh, you just have to let time take care of it for you. My point is, me and your sisters, will always be by your side. Who knows how long it'll take, but an adorable girl like you with the sun in her eyes...? He picked her up and lightly tossed her in the air catching and hugging her he finished. "...I know you'll win them back in no time."

Letting out a slew of giggles to her father's affection she returned his hug, "Now dinner is ready, and I bet my fearless leader of a daughter is famished."

"Quite so." She replied with her posh accent and chest puffed out. "I may just wilt." She held an arm over her head dramatically. Both let out a fit of laughter as they left the room and descended to the kitchen.

Back in the present Blossom was still laying on her back with the hot summer sun cooking the ground around her. "He was right too, it was only a week before it was completely forgotten." She sighed. Looking back at all the destruction her and her sisters caused their first day out they weren't arrested or fined or anything. The professor was, but not them. Then when they inadvertently helped Mojo create a legion of mutated primates no one even spoke about their involvement. Then of course all the times Brick brought up was never called into question. However they had already established themselves as super heroines the destruction they caused was never malicious. Just... unnecessary. She didn't need to take Princesses plane for a test ride she should have just destroyed it. Closing her eyes she felt every time something was destroyed because of her or her sisters, and wondering if it was a mistake. It grew pains of guilt inside her stomach. Sat up and looked at the space in the sky that only moments ago held the ray of crimson that followed her counterpart.

He and his brothers created havoc wherever they went. Crimes including: petty theft, property damage, assault. She heard rumors of Mojo and Him attacking the former mayor and heard the boys were involved, but she never heard anything come from it. Locking them up was the right thing to do, but she had to concede he held a point that they got no mercy in the eyes of anyone but Langston. Not even her. She wanted to keep him locked away, even telling him to his face he should be gone until he dies. For petty theft, assault and destruction of property. Compared to her multi grand theft, Buttercups assaults, and their combined destruction of property. Blossom let out a shudder at a memory where Bubbles went a little crazy one day, beating up the talking dog at one point.

The words weren't the only thing that got on her nerves. The fight with Brick may have helped them bridge the gap between them, but somehow she felt like he held back. He had enough energy to fly back after a few minutes she was still here in the dirt taking dry exhausted breaths. Then the fact he decimated that island by himself, but his fighting just now wasn't overly brutal or overpowering. "What exactly happened to this boy during his incarceration. An education obviously, but what else." She pondered as she rose to her feet and finding her strength mostly back took off to fly to the Mayor.

Mayor Bellum had only walked back in from a relaxing lunch break, with Brick onto something productive, and Blossom watching him, the other boys being good productive citizens and crime at an all time low she was finally able to find moments of relaxation in her day to day life. Sitting in her chair she looked over the paperwork she had left for the day and was about to start when Blossom was found knocking on her window. Smiling as she stood up she opened the window. "Blossom good to see you, come on in." She looked over surprised to see Blossom covered in dirt. "Everything alright?"

"Eh more or less Mayor. Just a scuffle with my partner." Blossom replied touching down on the floor.

"I thought I told you both you weren't meant to be fighting but working together." She wasn't surprised, but still disappointed.

"It was unavoidable. We just had too much tension between the two of us. We had to let it off our chests. Well, him more than me, but I promise it won't happen again."

"Okay, well as I have no choice but to take your word for it, is the city ok?"

"Oh Brick had us fight one on one on the outskirts of town I doubt anyone even knows, unless someone in the precinct heard us arguing." She said dusting herself off.

"That's a relief to hear I'd hate the city to paint it up as some rivalry growing between you two again. But I assume you're hear to report on the case. So what have you learned?"

"Not much actually we think Sedusa is behind it. It does fit her M.O. As a master thief." Blossom said rubbing her arm looking away, "But I actually came to tell you something else, I just don't know how to say it without, certain actions happening."

"Ohh? Well whatever it is it can't be worse than my two favorite crime fighters fighting each other." She said lacing her fingers in front of her face.

"I found out who placed the phony call to the hotline." She said picking her words carefully.

"Oh? That's great I can finally take the police off that." Looking down at Blossom she noticed hesitation. "Oh god, don't tell me."

"Brick." Both said in unison.

"How?"

"It turns out he found a way of changing his voice, to match anyone else. Male, Female, Me, You, he can literally copy the voice of anyone, or so it seems. So, somehow, he placed the call without anyone noticing."

"How did you find this out?"

"I was actually against fighting him at first, but he showed me the trick himself and confessed with guilty knowledge to bait me into a fight."

Placing her face into her hands and dragging them down Bellum spoke with a moan of annoyance. "Great, now I have to issue an arrest warrant."

"What why?"

"He broke the law, he misused government resources, staged a fight with you, and did all this under a contract explicitly saying if he did anything like this he would return to his special cell for ten years. It pains me to do it, but he let down his side of the deal." She reached for the phone to commence issuing the warrant.

"You can't though!" Blossom didn't even realize she shouted until after. "I mean really you shouldn't." She finished softer. "Besides you pardoned him already didn't you." That made Mayor Bellum pause, "All crimes committed before that day, that would include the phony call."

Bellum dropped the phone back on the receiver, "You're right, you're right. Letting these boys operate for the law has been a blessing, but also a curse. He should still be held responsible. What would you have me do?"

"Please, for me just let this pass? I only wanted to tell you this so you know. He has been through enough and done enough good where this can be swept under the rug right?"

She let out a chuckle, "You and him think on similar terms you know?" Noticing the probing look on her face she continued, "You see the same night that fight happened your father in a rage broke into Bricks cell and attacked him. Brick himself being unable to fully defend himself at first managed to come out on top in the end, but when I told him I would arrest your father, he asked me to let it go for pretty much the same reasons. It's kinda funny."

"Yeah I noticed the Professor was weirdly bruised, and Brick told me they had a fight, but I think it's only right we let this slide. Right and fair."

The Mayor raised a brow at that last remark but held her hands up in surrender. "If you think you can keep an eye on him and he wont do anything else like that, I'll take your advice. Thanks for letting me know."

"Thanks, but Mayor I have one other favor I need." The mayor noticed the solemn voice of the Lead Powerpuff, "I want to better understand Brick and in order to do that I want, no need, I need to see the cell he was locked away in."

Bellum reclined back into her chair eyes at the ceiling she seemed lost in thought. "If it helps you get in his head and calm him down I don't see how it could hurt." She finally replied standing up. "I'm curious as well, I only know the gist of where they were, I've never seen it myself personally." With a breath of relief from Blossom the two red heads walked out of the office and down the street to the Police station.

Blossom was surprised that they ended up going around the building instead of the front entrance. From there a steel door rolled up sluggishly and behind it a lead door stood solemnly. "Lets see." Bellum mumbled as she fished in her purse eventually pulling out a card she quickly swiped. The lock on the door made a audible snap and they entered pushing the heavy door aside.

Hitting the switch on the wall the dim yellow lights flickered on with a hum. "Is something wrong with the lights?" Blossom asked squinting to see past the darkness still invading the hallway.

"No this was the way the architect designed this wing. The theory is dim lighting makes a more docile inmate." Bellum informed marching down the hallway with her heels echoing with every step. She stopped in front of a large steel door and with another flick of her wrist she swiped her card again and the door screeched as is pulled itself open. "This was Bricks cell." She informed as she motioned with her arms for Blossom to enter.

Walking in she took notice of the warm, yet still dim yellow glow of the lights. Looking up she saw rows squares, with her x-ray vision she scanned behind them and she saw a containment device behind each one. Looking around she was hoping to find something of Bricks. "I guess anything he had in this cell wouldn't still be here." She lamented with a sigh.

"The boys were not allowed anything personal inside their cells. So they weren't even give pens and papers. Books were allowed but they were from the prison library." The mayor retorted.

"How long a day were they in these cells?"

"I think it was 14 hours a day. 8 hours for sleeping, an hour for breakfast, and hour for lunch, an hour for dinner and a final hour as they would get ready for bed. You know give or take 15 or 20 minutes an interval." Bellum was leaning against a wall watching Blossom take in information.

"You said this was Bricks cell, so did they each have their own cells?" Blossom asked looking over the padding on a lead block that made his bed.

"Yes for the first year and half they weren't allowed to see each other. Each had their own teacher, and schedules revolved around them During the time outside their cells they either worked in a part of the prison under supervision and away from other prisoners, or they were allowed to either use the gym made down here, or study." Bellums eyes slid to the top of her head, "If I remember the file correctly Brick would almost always be in the library reading or studying. Butch would be using the gym, and Boomer was often in his cell reading a comic."

"What about what they did outside?"

"Blossom, they weren't allowed outside. They were kept down here at all times, we couldn't risk them getting outside and escaping."

Bricks voice shot through her head. "Me and my brothers lost years of our lives. We did what we had to to survive and we get the book thrown at us. We didn't even get a trial we were locked up and given a psychologist as a probation officer." as his words thrashed around in her head tears were forming in her eyes.

"This was the wrong way of doing things." She whispered.

"Was there really a right way Blossom? They were too dangerous to treat like the normal villains, even you three couldn't defeat them in a fight, it had to be done this way." Bellum placed a hand on Blossom's shoulder comfortingly. "Besides they turned out for the better afterwards."

"They weren't even meant to get out though. This is cruel and unusual punishment. We were going to keep them here until the day they all died. Most people would have probably killed themselves in conditions like this." Blossom cried out louder than she wanted. "I personally told Brick he would have the rest of his natural life to think about what he did, and then he came here." She shook her head and threw her arms out to the sides, "Those boys weren't given a trial, a release date, this wasn't a place to rehabilitate those boys it was meant to destroy them."

Bellum let her words sink in for a bit, looking around she had to think about Brick as a scared ten year old being told this is where you're going to die. The guilt boiled and rattled inside her. "But they were rehabilitated their probation officer saw to it." She said trying to reassure Blossom as much as she was herself.

"They got lucky with him. That man deserves a raise or something." Blossom hiccuped. "Who else in this city would even attempt to see them as human." Blossom remembered something and shot a glare at Bellum, "And one slip up by those boys you wanted to send them back here for ten years?" Blossoms voice was cold.

"I still have a city to make sure is safe, if they are a threat to anyone in the city I have to act with with everyone in mind." She spoke with solemn warmth. "It's a hard call to make, but that's why its hard being a leader, you know this. We both have to make touch heartbreaking decisions time to time."

"All I know if I was placed in here for three years, half of which I was isolated from my sisters I would probably vow revenge on anyone involved." Blossom said sitting on the bed.

"Why would you even say that?"

"Because it's the human reaction to this." She sighed, "At the end of the day Mayor Bellum, Me, my sisters and those boys are still human. Sure our abilities make us something more, something beyond human, but our thoughts, our desires, Our emotions. No more, and no less human than you or any citizen in the city, or even the world."

"They deserved incarceration Blossom."

"They needed rehabilitation. Except a few extreme examples most everyone placed behind bars should be given the chance to fix themselves."

"That sounds great in theory, but they have to want to change themselves Blossom. Most criminals don't want to change."

"But those boys did, they earned their freedom, and me and you have been waiting for a chance to throw them back in it seems."

"Has he really though, he admitted he manipulated you to bait you into a fight, and made it look like you were antagonizing it the whole time."

"Maybe that's the way he saw me. It's just got me thinking though, what if things had been different."

"It doesn't matter what could have been though, it's a nasty business but this is their reality. This is where they ended up because of their actions and nothing we could have done would have made it different."

"They were just some of the lost children of Townsville?" Blossom said looking up to match Bellum's stare. "They were still children, no parents to really care for them or even about them it seems. A lot of what they did was just to survive and stave of starvation."

"What do you want me to say Blossom? It feels like nothing I say can change how you feel about what happened then or now."

"There really isn't anything to say, I got what I wanted from this place." Blossom stated standing up off the bed. "I know a bit more about him, and I think I can use this to help him. Not control him." Blossom walked past the Mayor. "Thanks for showing me Mayor." Turning back to the Mayor, "But this place can't ever be used again Mayor, even if the boys break some laws now, the public would demand to see a trial for them." Before the Mayor could respond Blossom continued walking and left the building. Taking to the skies she headed home, feeling like she needed a shower, for more reasons than the dirt still caked onto her.

A.N. Thanks to my friend Beingcapricious for the idea for a good portion of this chapter. Anyone who hasn't read her story I give a strong urge to do so she has an abundance of talent.