Projecting

Boomer and Butch were standing at the front yard of the Utonium house. "Good grief." Butch said shoving his hands in his pockets. "The old man tells me to not come back here, then in the same day Bubbles calls you and tells us both to come by. How does the old man feel about this?"

"No idea," Boomer said walking up to the door and knocking. "What did you say to piss him off?"

"The truth." Butch said keeping his hands in his pockets and turning from the door angrily.

The door slid open and Bubbles stood in the doorway. "Boomie! You came." She said jumping into a hug.

"Of course I did, couldn't ignore a call from you." Boomer said.

"Well come on in." She said pulling Boomer in by the arm.

Butch walked in rolling his eyes, following them into the kitchen when Blossom and Buttercup were sitting. Blossom was drinking something in a mug, and Buttercup was devouring a large steak. "Buttercup?" Butch yelled as he ran over and lifted her up in his arms. "You finally woke up!"

Buttercup failed to hide her smile as he pulled her into a hug. "Yes Butch I'm awake. I also haven't eaten anything in a few days, so if you don't let me go I'm gonna slug ya."

He dropped her and started scratching the back of his head. "At least you didn't reek like someone whose been laying asleep for days." He said with a wide grin, happy to see her awake.

"A shower was first on my list of things to do when I woke up." She said punching his arm with just enough force to move him a few inches.

Blossom watched her sister interactions with a smile, her own joy matching Butch's to see her up and about. "Well BC, you asked for the boys to come here. Is it time to tell us what you've been keeping to yourself yet?"

Boomer sat down at the table. "Wait, Buttercup wanted us over? Both of us?"

Bubbles nodded sitting next to him. "The professor didn't like it though. Thankfully Keane took him out for the night."

"How did she pull that off?" Butch asked with a snort.

"Oh it was rather funny actually." Blossom said with a small giggle, "He was pacing around talking about how much he didn't like having you in the house, so Keane had enough and told him to get dressed, she needed some time with him in a nice restaurant. He was in the middle of objecting when she gave him a look I've never seen on her before, and I've never seen him hold his tongue so quickly."
"Okay," Began Boomer, "So why are we here?"

"It's about Brick." Buttercup said. The got the boys attention as they looked at her.

"What do you know about Brick?" Butch asked. "Like, you've been asleep for days, do you know what's been going on?"

"I know everything, I know more than you do in some areas." She said with a hard glare. "Look I don't like you're brother. I think he's a two faced manipulative prick, but Blossom likes him, you like him, and for once, he is innocent." Blossom watched her sister with interest. She had been running as many possibilities in her head. She knew HIM had something to do with it, but she hadn't heard what her sister had to say. She had been tight lipped until the boys came over.

Buttercup looked at butch and set down her silverware. "You remember how I told you I have a special ability?"

"Yeah, you can astral project, it's why you've been out for so long right?" Butch said. Bubbles and Blossom looked over shocked Butch already knew.

"Astral what?" Boomer asked.

Blossom looked over, "From what I've read the astral plane is the bridge between the living world and the after life. People who are able to exist and move within that plane usually call it astral projection. Think of it like being a ghost, but instead of being dead you're just asleep."

"Jeeze leader girl, it's my power shouldn't I get to explain it?" Buttercup said with a sneer on her face.

"Sorry Buttercup." Blossom said looking down.

"Hey I'm only teasing." She said then looked at Boomer, "But she's right. I can't control it, but I'm able to walk out of my body, and see the world."

"Damn," Butch said. "That's really cool, so could you like go see they pyramids of egypt or the great wall of china?"

"I mean, I guess, but I usually just stay around town. I can't control it, and don't know what might happen if I wonder too far." Buttercup said. "Anyways, back to the point. When I pushed you out of the way of that steel beam, and took the hit, I projected that night."

"Okay so what happened?" All four asked on edge. Buttercup rolled her eyes and started her story.

Buttercups eyes slid open as she looked around herself. She was on a roof. Her head had a slight twinge of pain, but she shook it off and looked for anyone. He eyes scanned the sky and saw Butch flying off to the north. "Oh you are not leaving me out of the action!" She said and took off.

It didn't take her long to catch up to the rest of them, and stopped in her tracks. She saw Brick holding Sedusa, but floating around his eyes was a malevolent crimson smoke. It swirled around his eyes like a bandanna and snaked down into his chest. Standing next to him was HIM. His chesire cat grin moving as he seemed to be whispering into Bricks ear.

"Uh, Hello? Why are we just standing here? You just gonna let that creep do whatever he's doing to your boyfriend Bloss?" She asked looking at her sister. Floating to her sister she saw a faint smoke line covering her mouth. "Fine, I'll take care of it, don't say I never did nothing for you." She said before turning around throwing herself into a kick.

She expected to feel the fleshy impact of HIM's cheek but passed harmlessly through him. She turned around and saw Brick had seemingly dropped Sedusa and was now floating above the group. HIM had Stopped whispering to Brick and was looking down at her. "Well well well. Lookie here!" He said with an ethereal high pitched voice.

He floated to her and pushed his claw against her, and couldn't stop the force until she was pinned against the ground. "Now since when can you join me here?" He asked his eyes growing wide with excited sadism.

"Here?" She asked.

"Oh ho ho." He laughed, "You don't even know where you are. Well let me show you." He said floating up and around Brick, and through him. He snaked his way around and whispered once more into his ear, and the smoke over took Brick entirely.

Buttercup launched up to him and tried to punch him, but passed harmlessly through instead. "I'm projecting?" She asked, "But we're both here, why can't I hit you?" she said turning to the smiling creature.

"Oh don't feel too bad, even the best take time to attack someone through here. The majority of visitors can barely flick a light switch, let alone throw a decent punch." He said snaking his way around her. "You should be happy you're the one who is safe." He said with an infernal chuckle.

"The hell do you mean?" She asked getting angry.

"You six are so interesting. You all have a special abilities, but like you, Brick has one that requires a certain situation." He said never stopping that laugh, "His requires him to be in a life or death situation, or at least think he's in one." He floated out of the way for Buttercup to see Brick with deteriorating skin fighting Butch.

"When that boy thinks he's going to die, he enters a berserk state. Of course, I had to add my own little twist." He said wrapping an arm around her, her body feeling cold to his touch. "The first time I watched it, it was beautiful, he ripped an entire legion of monsters into cinders, I knew he could end your sisters life with kind of power at his side." He said looking back at her.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Buttercup said twisting his arm away from her. He let out a yelp of surprise and slithered away from her.

"I just dove into that little mind of his, found what he fears, and used it like anyone would." He said with his voice growling. "only this time I tweaked the ability." He said returning to his falsetto voice, "Now either he kills them all, or he dies." He said laughing.

"Look, I'm fine letting him die, but what good would him dying do you?" She asked trying to focus enough to get another good grip on him.

"Oh I don't care if he dies, but his brothers would. They'd be so distraught. So sad and miserable." He said faking tears, "Then they'd come back to the only one who could possibly revive their precious sibling." He said effortlessly moving away from all her attempts to grab him, "And then when they've grown so desperate to see their brother again, I'll let them come back to him. After they work for it." He said with a demonic cackle that felt like it was overpowering her. "Don't you see? I win no matter what!" He said whipping his claw against her cheek. She went flying but felt like she was grabbed by her left ankle.

Looking down at it she saw HIM holding the tether to her body in his claw. "Of course, I really gabbed with you didn't I?" He said as his eyes and claw glowed with a sickly green energy. "I can't risk you going back to your body and wrecking my hard work." He said then with a loud snap his claw ripped through the ethereal tether breaking it and letting her fall.

"No, no, no, no!" She said looking at the spot her tether was at.

"Oh don't worry it'll grow back." He said before landing a sharp kick into her gut. "But you now have something else much worse to worry about." He said strutting over to Sedusa's body.

"What are you talking about?" She yelled despite the burning pain. She had no idea she could actually hurt in this form, and was hating the fact she was learning this lesson so harshly.

"That connects you to your body. Without it, your body has a vacancy." He said smiling as he reached into Sedusas body. "If I were you, I would try to keep any potential tenants from finding you." He said as he seemed to catch onto something and pulled Sedusa's spiritual form from her body.

"Why the hell would you tell me this?" She yelled as she got back to her feet. She was shaking from the fear of losing her body.

"Oh, it doesn't matter if you know or not, but you'll never get your body back before this fight is finished." He said as he grabbed the soul of Sedusa by the neck. "Besides, as much fun as it would be to stick around, this one sold herself to me to return her hair to her. Now that she's dead, it's time I break her into my servitude. Have fun Buttercup!" He said as he opened a crimson and pink vortex and stepped through. Leaving her alone in the park, unable to do anything to stop Brick.

She looked up and saw a walking corpse floating down to her sister up against a tree. She noticed how the fog was slowly disappearing, but was also noticed how desperate Blossom looked. She tried in vain to stop him, putting all her focus into trying to slow him down, but always passed through the walking pile of carrion. She was running out of energy when she watched him slam his foot into Boomer, and if she had the ability to, she would have puked when she saw Blossom kiss him.

To her surprise, every speck of crimson smoke practically ran from Brick just before he passed out. Watching her sister stand victorious over Brick she felt pride for her sister welling up in her chest, but still had to find her body. She had gotten turned around, but thankfully Butch woke up soon and lead them all to her body.

True to the demons words, a creature seemed to be smelling her body, seeing if it would be suitable for it to take over. It looked over it's shoulder to find an angry Buttercup staring it down. Just as Butch picked her up it tried to jump in her body with a hiss, but she managed to focus enough to grab it and throw it away. It seemed like another visitor and hadn't the ability to fight back so it scrambled into the darkness beyond her sight.

That was how she spent the next few days. Guarding over her body, following it back to the lab and fending off creatures made of nightmares who found it. By the time her tether grew back she felt as if she'd gone half insane. She had tried numerous times to jump back in before, but without her tether she only passed through her own body. When it did finally grow back she was so tired and exhausted, but unable to rest. She felt like her body was weighed down with wet sand, and her mind was burning itself out.

She had moments of comfort trying to keep her body to herself. Whenever Butch had come down to check on her, she found peace in his presence, but just as he left, the shadows and it's creatures returned. After days of fighting off shadows, and her growing insanity, she found her rest. At first she didn't believe it had come back, and was careful when reentering her body, but as the warmth returned to her, she finally slipped into a peaceful dream and just slept.

Back in the present the teenagers were looking at Buttercup in shock. She was waiting for someone to react, but they all stood by like deer caught in the headlights. "Well? Don't everyone talk at once." She said after a few moments of silence.

Butch grabbed his hair and started pulling it letting out an angry growl. "You mean to tell me, that damned lobster is the reason my brother burnt himself to a Kentucky fried crisp?"

"Or why Brick started a fight out of nowhere? Oh that fucker's dead." Boomer said standing up. The two boys nodded and headed to the door.

Blossom got a bad feeling in her gut and cut the boys off. "Where do you think you're going?" She said raising her arms at her side.

"I'm going to break my brother out, then figure out how to kill a cross-dressing-wannabe-Satan." Butch growled.

Blossom held her ground as she refused to let them pass her, her sisters joining her sides. "Listen boys if you break him out, it'll only look worse for Brick." Blossom said.

"Yeah not to mention yourselves. The courts have to release him." Bubbles said, pleading with Boomer to calm down.

"Easy for you to say. It's not your sister locked up, red." Butch spat. "He doesn't deserve to be back in that dark cell. He is just as much a victim of this as you or I!"

"Butch," Buttercup said taking a step forward. "I know how you feel. Or rather I want to know, but Blossom is right. If you two go down there, and start smashing heads, the only thing you'll do is create more problems."

"We gotta do something!" Boomer yelled. "This is bullshit. We know what's happened, but we gotta stick around with our non-existent thumbs up our ass?"

"No, well kinda." Blossom said. "I'll go tomorrow to see whoever is in charge of monitoring Brick, and talk to them."

"Why you? Why not all of us?" Butch said. "Wouldn't it be better if we all went down?"

Blossom stopped for a second, then spoke. "If either of you two went down there, nobody could take your word for it. They would assume you're saying anything to get your brother out. If the leader of the Powerpuff girls went down, and spoke to the man in charge of Brick, it will be more likely used to help him in court."

"You sure you don't just want some extra alone time with Brick?" Bubbles asked with a teasing voice. "After all he was your first kiss." She said with a wink.

"That has nothing to do with anything here. I was his partner on that case, and I have a bit more swing in the police station." She said hiding her blush by holding her head high. "Does anyone know who would be his supervisor?" She asked.

"Oh, they probably got Doc on it." Boomer said.

"Doc? You mean that guy that oversaw our community service?" Buttercup asked.

"Yeah," Butch said. "He would know us all the best. He was the one who helped us get out. Not sure why he worked so hard for us, but nobody in the city would be more qualified to look after Brick. Even in his condition." For a moment the two brothers looked at each other as images of missing legs, and hospitals rushed through the pairs heads.

"The man loves coffee." Boomer stated after an awkward second of silence. "If you have a cup ready for him, he'll be in one hell of a good mood."

"I'll be sure to do that. Thank you Boomer." She said looking at them both. They had certainly calmed down, but Butch was still huffing with rage, and was showing his signature twitch.

Butch was growling and was looking ready to punch a hole into something. Looking over at Buttercup he spoke up. "Alright, your sister convinced me, but I need to let this anger loose. You up for a match BC?" he asked.

"For once Butchie, no." Buttercup said letting her arms go limp. "My body is sluggish today, but I do have a good simulator downstairs. Ever fight a Godzilla knockoff with a giant war ax for a nose?" She asked grabbing his arm and leading him to the basement.

Bubbles watched them walk away and turned to her boyfriend. "You know, I never did get that date like we talked about, how about I grab a few things and we go catch a movie?"

Boomer looked at her and smiled while letting out a sharp breath, "That actually sounds nice, does your sister want to come?" He asked pointing to Blossom.

"No thanks, I have to figure out what I'm going to say to help Brick tomorrow. You two go on ahead and enjoy yourselves. Something tells me that's what Brick would want you to do." She said walking to the stairs to her room.

She was thankful Butch didn't press the subject of them all going more. She wasn't sure how she would have convinced them to stay if he did keep pushing, but he didn't and she relaxed. She did want to see him, one on one. She wanted to know he was okay, healthy, and not lost in the darkness anymore. She put him back in there herself, and his disfigured body still haunted her mind. She was nervous about seeing him, but needed to see him. To have a new image to replace the last time she saw him.

She also wanted to reach out to him, so as she collected her thoughts she grabbed her purse and flew to town. She bought a few things, and placed them in a brown paper bag. It wasn't much but she hoped it would make his cell a little more bearable. She knew what she'd say and what she wanted to do, but the night left her restless. The night seemed almost eternal before the morning woke her from a sleep she didn't even know she had fallen into.

The prison was always open, but she didn't know when Langston might be in, if at all. She went through her morning routines and collected the bag. All of it was a gambit, but the man seemed pleasant enough when she was discovered in the records room. She was usually a good read of people, and could see he had genuine care to make the boys better, and they seemed to respect him enough that he might be willing to let Brick have the few things she was bringing him.

The summer morning sun was hidden behind the heavy clouds forming, but luckily they didn't threaten rainfall as she made her way into town. She walked into the the police station and saw Jerome smiling happily behind his counter. "Well, I'll be the pretty in pink puff has come to visit me today." He said cheefully.

"Hello Jerome. I actually came to see Dr. Langston, and with luck Brick, but I have to admit your smile is infectious enough to warrant its own visit." She said returning the grin.

"Now don't you go and make me feel like a consolation prize Blossom." He said with a chuckle. "Langston isn't in yet, but as for Brick..." He said taking a moments pause. "Well, simply he isn't allowed visitors. From anyone right now, and certainly not someone could bust him outta here." He looked down at her, "Especially you."

"Me especially? Why?" She asked.

"Those papers you got yourselves printed on." He said holding up one of the newspapers, "The entire city thinks you're dating, and due to that, you and his brothers are not to even be in the same room as him until his trial."

"Ah, I see." She said her voice dropping a little.

"Is it true though?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh no. We were never dating. That was something we did to try and make the jewel thieves sloppy." She said.

He looked down at her looking for any tell tale sign of a lie, but found none and returned to his smile. "Well, you are Blossom. You're so honest even Mojo once used that honesty against you." He said with a small chuckle.

"You heard about that?" She asked surprised, when she barely remembered it herself.

"Oh every time you girls brought him in he would rant and rave about how he almost had you this time or that time, but when he told me he almost got you to swear allegiance to him, and knowing you wouldn't lie because, and I quote, you're Blossom, I was laughing the rest of the week." He said chuckling still.

"I should have just lied, instead of risking the professors life, but anyways, so if Brick is off the table can I still see Dr. Langston?" She asked.

"Well, he will be in soon, so I don't see why not. His office, how horrible it is right now, is on the second floor. First door on the left." He said grabbing his keys off the table. "I should come with you, just in case it's locked." She gave her thanks and was soon standing in the empty office. "Just don't go messing with anything. It was nice seeing you again." He said before closing the door to return to work.

She looked around at the office and saw the empty coffee pot on a nearby counter. Remembering Boomers advice she started making a fresh pot, hoping it wasn't too strong, or too weak and stood by looking at his diplomas and certifications. The pot had just barely finished when the door opened. Turning around she greeted the man. "Dr. Langston." She saw the surprise on his face and motioned to the coffee pot. "I was told you usually start your day with a cup of coffee. I made you some hoping to get a word with you."

He didn't say anything but smiled at her as he moved to his desk. Looking for something to keep her busy until he asked her to sit she poured him a cup of the coffee. "You didn't have to do that you know." As she placed the mug in front of him on his desk.

"I know, I just wanted to." She said sitting down at the chair as he gestured for her to sit.

Smiling and shaking his head, he asked. "So, miss Utonium. What do I owe this honor? You can't be hear just to speak with a man you barely know."

"That's exactly what I came here to do, that and drop this off." She said lifting the brown paper into her lap.

"What's that exactly?" He asked looking the bag up and down.

"Something for Brick. The thought if him in that cell is heartbreaking. I got him a few things to make it better, and to talk to him." She said.

"Miss Utonium, Brick isn't allowed to see you, his brothers, or your sisters." He said seeing her disappointment grow. She had hoped he may be more willing to bend the rule, but accepted it. "What would you want to talk to him about?" She looked at him unsure of what to say, it isn't easy to seriously explain the devil made him do it. He seemed to think she didn't trust him and continued, "I'm trying to help him, if you have some information that could help him, I implore you to tell me."

She took a breath, her grip on the bag apparent, and spoke. "Brick was used as a puppet. I know what happened that night."