"MY PICKLES!" the Mayor of Townsville cheered exuberantly, pressing the pickle jar up against his face. "Ooooooh, thank goodness they're safe."
Junior grimaced, troubled with the short man's open display of love for an inanimate food object. Even with everything he'd seen as a resident of Endsville, seeing the weird obsession freaked him out. Alice stood next to the half-demon, her hands locked together behind her back as she smiled unsurely. She was uncomfortable by the Mayor's obsession, but she was doing a better job of hiding it. Suzy was absolutely unfazed by the display of affection, her signature bright smile plastered on her face as she shook hands with the real brains behind Townsville's government: Ms. Bellum.
"Thank you for protecting the Mayor's private pickle garden," the assistant said, pulling back her hand. She stood poised beside the Mayor's plushy chair, her face obscured by a hanging light. "As well as retrieving his pickle jar."
"It was no problem," Suzy replied easily. "The Unisickles were pushovers."
"Not how I would describe facing off against two Nitrosickles," Junior grumbled so only Alice could hear. The blue-haired girl smiled humorously at the boy's comment.
"You all did a wonderful job! Your contribution to this fine city is invaluable!" the Mayor praised, pulling himself away from his prized possession. "Why, if the Powerpuff Girls are ever unavailable for an assignment, I'll be sure to call on you!"
Suzy saluted, the action not being mimicked by her two teammates. "You can always count on the Super Stars for assistance, Mister Mayor."
"Would you like to stay and enjoy a delicious dill pickle?" the Mayor asked, popping off the jar's lid, and tilting the contents in their direction.
Ms. Bellum intercepted before an answer could be given by the teenagers. "There's currently no time for that. You're supposed to be overseeing the 'Keys to the City' challenge in the next two minutes."
"Oh yes! That's quite right," the absent-minded political official remarked. He set his jar down the desk, moving his attention from his assistant to the teens. "What about you youngsters? Want to participate in the challenge? We've got slots open."
Junior blanched at the prospect, shifting his gaze to the redhead. The girl's eyes twinkled, excited by the idea of the challenge. Junior, who didn't want to be in the presence of the Mayor any longer than strictly necessary, opened his mouth to turn down the offer. He was interrupted by the chime from all three of their NanoComs.
Saved by the bell! the boy thought in relief, nearly ripping his device off his belt just to check the message. He scanned the mission quickly, his relief dropping as the message unfolded. "Oh you have got to be kidding me," he griped, letting the hand holding the NanoCom hang loosely at his side.
"Sorry, Mister Mayor," Suzy told the man, putting her NanoCom back into her pocket. "It'll have to be another time. We're needed elsewhere."
"Well, we're setting up these challenges every day, so feel free to drop by when you're free," the Mayor told the group of three. "Take care now."
The team exited the office as soon as they were dismissed, Junior leading the way out into the hallway. He released a sigh of relief. He had heard tells of the Mayor's eccentricity, but he had hoped they were just media exaggerations. Turns out they didn't report it accurately enough. Suzy released a little chuckle, laughing at Junior's dramatics.
"You're acting like this was such a big deal," she teased.
"We retrieved some stupid pickles," Junior complained. "He could have purchased them from Malphs."
"Yeah, but we also eradicated two Nitrosickles and their underlings, keeping the Mayor's prized garden safe and keeping them away from the Great Machine," Suzy pointed out. "I consider it a win-win."
Junior frowned; she did have a point. Grabbing pickles felt like a waste of their time, but thinning out the numbers and keeping them away from the Great Machine was nothing to criticize. So, reluctantly, he had to admit that the mission was necessary, but he did so begrudgingly. He pushed one of the heavy oak doors open, holding it open and allowing the girls to step out first ahead of him. Alice took one step out out of the building when a furball of brown suddenly appeared in view, attaching itself to Alice's arm. Alice released a squeak as the furball rushed up her arm and to her shoulders, moving around in circles. It finally grew tired of using her as a jungle gym and came to a rest on her shoulder. Without it moving, Alice identified the furball as a squirrel. The squirrel rubbed its head against Alice's cheek, releasing high pitch squeaks as if it was holding a conversation. Alice blinked, completely surprised by a random squirrel acting like a domesticated cat, but then it clicked in her mind when she got a better look at the rodent.
"Bullet?" Alice questioned the four-legged creature, getting a squeak in confirmation.
"Awwwh," Suzy cooed, leaning in closer to get a good look at the superhero animal. "You look better, Bullet."
Bullet the Squirrel squeaked happily at the redhead. With absolutely no effort, the squirrel lept from Alice's shoulder to Suzy's shoulder, scurrying up till she rested on Suzy's head. The redhead giggled at the sensation. She reached up and began petting the squirrel, which the animal happily appreciated.
"BULLET!"
Bullet froze, her eyes opening wide almost comically. Team Super Star tensed, even though their names hadn't been called. All three immediately recognized the voice belonging to the heroine Bubbles, and the tone indicated that she was unhappy. Bubbles was the bubbliest member of the team, but her streaks of rage were legendary and to be feared. Cautiously, the team of three turned in Bubbles' direction. The blonde superheroine looked annoyed, but not angry. She hovered over to the team and landed, planting her fists on her hips.
"Where are your manners?" Bubbles questioned the squirrel, lifting a finger and shaking it at the furry creature. She was too busy scolding the squirrel that she momentarily ignored the presence of the three. "You can't just jump on people."
Bullet chittered at the superheroine, which none of the team understood. Bubbles was the only one who spoke animal, and she shook her head at whatever answer was given. She sighed and smiled apologetically at the team.
"Sorry about her manners," the blonde apologized. "She was just really excited to see you all."
"It's fine," Alice answered.
"I never pass up spending time with cute things," Suzy tacked on.
"Still, it's good for her to remember her manners," Bubbles muttered. "But I suppose she was just really happy to see you all, especially since you rescued her. This is her way of saying thanks."
Bullet squeaked in confirmation, rubbing her cheek into Suzy's hair once more.
"She looks better," Junior complimented as Bullet hopped off Suzy's head and landed on his arm. He held his arm up so that the critter could scurry along it to his shoulder.
"Thanks to you three and Numbuh Three," Bubbles responded, her smile softening into gratitude.
"Awwh, we'd do anything for this little cutie," Suzy complimented, scratching the squirrel under her chin.
"Will she be going back to the Wilds?" Alice inquired.
Bubbles nodded. "She's here temporarily. Numbuh One believes one of his missing operatives is in Townsville Park, and needs her help finding him."
Alice blinked at the answer, mentally running down the list of operatives that made up Sector V. She furrowed her brow in curiosity. "Who is it?"
"Numbuh Six," Bubbles answered.
Suzy gasped loudly, pulling her hand from Bullet (who looked sad to lose the contact). "Bradley's missing?"
"Wait, I recall Sector V having five kids," Junior interrupted, taking over Bullet-petting duties. "Who is this Numbuh Six?"
"Honorary member," Suzy answered. "He can't really be a member since he's a skunk, not a kid."
Junior blinked at the answer but didn't comment on it; a skunk being part of a team wasn't that outlandish when there was a superhero squirrel sitting on his shoulder.
"He's been down in the park helping out Numbuh One, but he didn't check in today. Numbuh One went to investigate, but couldn't find him anywhere. Bullet was already down here for another mission, so this was easy to accommodate," Bubbles supplied.
She motioned with her fingers in a 'come here' gesture at Bullet, which the squirrel agreed to. The critter flew off of Junior's shoulder and hovered in front of Bubbles. Bubbles pulled out a single rose stem, handing it over to the squirrel. Bullet saluted, and then shot off into the air, heading south.
"Where's she going?" Junior asked.
"To see Buttercup," Bubbles answered. She turned away from her literal flying squirrel to smile gratefully at the team. "After hearing that she was alive, Bullet came down to see her. I had her come here first so I could let her know about Numbuh One's request, and to have her deliver that rose to Buttercup."
"How has she been?" Suzy asked.
"She's been good! Communication is a little hard because she doesn't have a NanoCom, but she sends me messages when she can get someone to deliver them," Bubbles answered. "I was supposed to send that flower off earlier, but I was busy cleaning up the water around the building."
"Was it contaminated?" Junior asked.
"No, it just had a bad smell. A toilet freshener from Toiletnator cleaned it up," Bubbles answered. "But enough about what's happening with me, what's going on with all of you? Are you on any important missions?"
"Maybe," Suzy answered. "It's a mission from Jimmy Jones."
"He's sending us to Princess," Junior answered, a frown appearing on his face.
"Princess?" Bubbles repeated. "Princess Morbucks?"
"Unless there's a different spoiled brat with the same name, yes," Junior responded.
"She claims to know where some Plumber tech is. Jimmy wants us to go and see if she's telling the truth," Alice explained, her tone doubtful.
Bubbles' lips twisted into a frown, looking just as doubtful as Alice was feeling.
"She could be lying," Bubbles said, expressing her opinion. "But if she does have information on Plumber technology, then it's important you get to it before Fuse can."
"Agreed," Suzy replied. "If she's lying, we'll report back to Jimmy. If she's not, we'll follow through with seeking out the items." She turned and grinned at her teammates. "This will be easy." Alice and Junior nodded in agreement.
Bubbles smiled encouragingly at the team. She had her own reservations about Princess given their long history of fighting each other, but she trusted Alice and her friends. "Good luck."
"AUGH! Finally! I have been waiting forever for you losers to get here. Don't you know I'm, like, super busy!"
Alice fought hard to keep her face perfectly neutral, although it was a tough struggle. Princess Morbucks was an insufferable girl. Alice always avoided her when they grew up, simply because Princess was a bully who lauded her wealthy status over everyone she encountered. Thankfully, Princess was too obsessed with either being a Powerpuff Girl or destroying them to actually pay Alice any attention.
"Where's the Plumber tech, Princess?" Suzy asked, her cheery demeanor not in full force. The redhead's upbeat attitude was dampened by caution.
"The what?" Princess questioned.
"The Plumber tech," Junior supplied, not hiding how annoyed he was. "You sent a message to Jimmy about the location of Plumber tech."
"Oh that," Princess stated disinterested. She shrugged. "I was lying."
Alice couldn't exactly say she was surprised; this was one of the possibilities when it came to Princess. This little fact didn't exactly placate Junior, who released a frustrated sigh at the revelation. Suzy held up her hand to the boy, taking charge of the situation since she had the best social skills.
"Why are we here then, Princess?" Suzy asked evenly.
"To do my bidding, duh!" Princess snapped. She fished into her pocket and pulled out an 8 x 10" photo. On closer inspection, the team could see that it was a headshot of the girl herself. "I want you to deliver this to Ben."
Alice moved confused eyes from the photo to the girl's face, somehow both surprised and unsurprised by Princess' selfish request. Suzy didn't touch the headshot, choosing to stare pointedly at the wealthy Morbucks. Junior stared deadpanned at the spoiled brat.
"You want us to take this headshot of you...to Ben," the half-demon repeated.
"Uhhhhh duh! That's why you're here. Ben's your guide, so you should be able to get this to him," Princess answered, waving the photo as an invitation to take the item.
"Why?" Junior continued.
"Because he's dreamy," Princess answered, her voice sighing dreamily at the end. "Once he sees this, he'll be begging for my cell."
"But...he's dating Julie," Alice pointed out.
Princess closed her eyes, turned her head away and scoffed. "Puh-lease. He'll dump that nobody in a heartbeat and be all over me." With a haughty smirk, Princess put her free hand under her chin. "I'm well-known as the most beautiful girl at Pokey Oaks Junior High."
Alice frowned dubiously at the rather blatant lie. She wasn't big on gossip, but even she would have heard something about this back at school.
"You should stop telling lies, Princess. You've already done enough damage today."
Princess opened her eyes, anger filling them as she whirled around, seeking out the voice criticizing her. Her irritation doubled when she saw the owner was Robin Snyder, best friend to Powerpuff Girls' Bubbles. The brown-haired teen had the back of her fists planted on her hips, giving Princess an exasperated look.
"What do you want, Snyder?" Princess demanded, sneering the girl's name.
"I want you to stop telling lies," Robin answered. "You're stirring up trouble."
"Excuse me!?" Princess' shrill voice jumped several octaves.
"Wow, what a shocker," Junior sarcastically commented.
Princess whirled back around and raised a finger at the half-demon. "You shut your mouth," she hissed.
Junior raised an eyebrow upward in challenge.
"You lied and had a kid steal some items for you, which set off the Unisickles," Robin continued, garnering Princess' attention again. "I was able to stop the kid before he stole more things, but we've got a serious problem on our hands."
"You stole my stuff!" Princess accused.
"These aren't yours," Robin stressed.
"Yes they are! I was going to give them as gifts to my big sister Duchess, but then they were stolen!" Princess protested.
Robin rolled her blue eyes at the protesting, letting the lies fall on deaf ears. She let her eyes roam to the team of three watching the back and forth. Her eyes lingered on Alice, a faint look of concentration in her eyes. She recognized the girl, but she just didn't know from where.
"Hey, you weren't going to run an errand for her, were you?" Robin asked the team, ending the conversation with Princess.
"We were about to reject the mission," Suzy answered, her bright personality returning.
"I was going to tear up her headshot so no one else has to see it," Junior added.
Princess shrieked indignantly, angered by the notion. Her angry outcry was ignored by everyone present.
"Would I be able to ask a favor?" Robin questioned. "Would you be willing to return the items stolen? It should placate the monsters, keeping the Sunken Mall safe."
"You can't just return my stuff!" Princess protested.
"We'd be happy to," Suzy chirped, ignoring Princess' protest.
"It sounds like a better mission than what she was going to have us do," Junior added, a satisfied smirk crossing his face.
"URRRRGGGHHH!" Princess wailed, aggression and frustration equally mixed. The wings of her jetpack extended outward, and the rockets kicked in. She flew up into the air, hovering just a few feet above the individuals so she could look down on them. "I'M GOING TO TELL MY DADDY!"
Robin released a sigh, watching Princess fly off for the Morbucks' summer house in Bravo Beach.
"It's a good thing Bubbles is having me babysit her, or things could have gone a lot worse," Robin commented. She shook the annoyed feeling and smiled brightly at the team. "Anyways, thanks for helping me out. The kid I stopped ran off before I could get him to put it back. His NanoCom was purple, so he's probably aligned with Mojo and didn't want to get into further trouble."
"We're happy to help," Suzy answered.
Robin smiled in a relief at Suzy's words. "Thanks. I know it's not an official mission, but lunch will be on me as payment."
"You don't have to," Alice protested.
Robin shook her head. "It's honestly the least I can do since you're helping me out." She held up designer sunglasses, tiny dog handbag, and a BFF bracelet. "These are what she took."
"This will be easy," Suzy commented. She handed Junior the sunglasses and Alice the bracelet. She took the handbag for herself. "We'll each take one and put them back. We'll meet back here for lunch." She pumped up her fist. "Let's get it done, Super Stars!"
While Team Super Stars was helping settle things down in Townsville Center, Dexter was busy at work in his company building in Tech Square.
The perks of having his laboratory as his company with Computress running security, was that no one could just walk into his lab without Computress alerting him. DeeDee's intrusion into his lab was becoming less frequent due to her remaining at the Genius Grove home. His parents never bothered to enter his lab, and if they needed him for something they would just have Computress relay the message. Mandroids had made the occasional attempts to break in and steal his data, but Computress was more than capable of sending them right back to their master.
That didn't mean that he could go about his days unbothered.
"Dexter, Mister Tennyson is here to see you."
"Sup, Dex."
Dexter held back a sigh and set down his datapad. Despite his security measures, the guides were considered top priority in security protocols. It didn't mean that they could just overlook his security measures (because he didn't need Mojo getting his paws on his tech), but they could get in easier than normal civilians. Coupled with Ben's connections to the Plumbers, he could get in without calling ahead of time. It was still annoying, however, because he was in the middle of running updates on the Nano Project.
"Why are you here to bother me?"
"Ahh, don't be like that. You can't go and hole yourself up without any company." Ben found an open chair and took a seat, kicking his feet up on the table.
Dexter narrowed his eyes at the feet, hoping to set them on fire with his stare alone.
"I can when I am busy," Dexter argued. "And is it really wise to leave Vilgax at a hospital?"
Ben shrugged.
"I've got the Plumber's Helpers keeping an eye on him," Ben answered. "Plus, there's a volunteer there that's threatened to put Vilgax into a coma and I really think she'll do it, so the hospital is in good hands."
Dexter rolled his eyes. The heroes were in an uneasy alliance with Vilgax, the latter swearing he would assist so long as Fuse was a threat, but that didn't mean Dexter was just going to blindly trust the alien. Leaving Vilgax at a hospital filled with the sick and injured was careless. Their only saving grace was that the alien was interested in the space port, which was locked down as an infected zone that Vilgax couldn't break into (yet).
"Is there anything of importan-"
"Hey Dexter, you in here?" Douglas called as the door to the lab opened, unintentionally interrupting Dexter's interrogation. "I need to sho-" He cut himself off, seeing that Dexter had company. "Oh, hey, Ben."
Ben raised his hand and gave a wave, "Hey man."
Dexter pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
"Uhhh, I can come back," Douglas offered, picking up on the irritation radiating off his employer.
"You're not interrupting," Ben responded.
Dexter shot the hero a dirty look, but didn't deny it. He wanted to be annoyed with Douglas' interruption, but his friend wouldn't bother him if it wasn't important.
"Did you need something, Douglas?" he questioned, forcing his tone to be pleasant.
"Well, I've been monitoring the Leaderboard, and I just...noticed something strange," Douglas responded.
Dexter held back his frown. The Leaderboard was pretty straightforward. The NanoComs collected Fusion Matter and quantified how many monsters the owner defeated. The Leaderboard took this data and updated regularly, making sure it had the most accurate results. There was really nothing else to it.
"What happened to it?" Ben asked, confused on what could be wrong with the ranking board.
"Nothing happened to it," Douglas answered. "But I was checking out the number one spot, and the numbers just seem off. Here, let me show you."
He reached over Dexter and put his communicator in the dashboard's slot, linking up with Dexter's computer. Using his administrator privileges, he pulled up the Leaderboard, showing Dexter the team category. Dexter looked at the page, eyeing the top three spots. His eyes widened when he took in the team that held the number one spot, along with their count.
NO. 1 SUPER STARS 12654
The number was nearly two times what the number two spot had. Dexter turned from the screen to look questioningly at his friend. It was a high number to be certain, but he didn't see where the problem was. Without a word, Douglas moved to the solo category. Dexter's eyes doubled in size when he caught a look at the name.
NO. 1 ALICE SPACEBYTE 7802
Ben looked in surprise before it shifted to pride. Dexter was flabbergasted by the results. He had expected to see high numbers after being in battle with Fuse for this long but he hadn't expected it to be that high. He looked back to Douglas, unspoken questions in his eyes.
"I've checked three times, and the data is correct. There are no hacks, so she wasn't fooling the system or padding her numbers. This" - Douglas gestured at her place at the top of the board - "is all her."
"Incredible," Dexter muttered, his scientific mind already running with theories and ideas. "But how?"
"Aside from just straight up killing monsters" - Douglas offered a helpless shrug. - "I don't know. It doesn't even make sense because her NanoCom went down for thirty days."
Dexter ran his eyes over the name one more time, noticing the Plumber insignia situated by her name. He whirled around to look at her guide, who looked up at him quizzically.
"How is this possible?" Dexter questioned.
Ben shrugged. He didn't know how the other guides interacted with their people, but he didn't keep up daily tabs with his. He didn't have a clue on how Alice was able to sit at the top of The Leaderboard. "She did get some training from Amber, so maybe that's helped."
Dexter's eyebrows flew to his hairline. While Douglas looked between the two guides in confusion, having no clue who this Amber person was, Dexter stared at the Omnitrix wielder in shock.
"She did what?"
"Yeah." Ben shrugged. "Alice and her team got surrounded by a bunch of Fusion Monsters when Amber found them. She decided to train her, which I was really surprised to hear." A proud smile appeared on his face as he recalled the day he had gone to Providence H.Q. to pick up the alien girl. "You should have seen her face off against a whole army of Fowl Foes; it was incredible. A few energy beams here and there, and they were wiped out."
"An army?" Dexter repeated, his eyebrows making an attempt to completely leave his face.
"Yeah. I'd easily say there were over fifty of them," Ben answered. He leaned back in his chair, placing his hands behind the back of his head. He stared up at the painstakingly white ceiling tiles above him. His demeanor sobered as a troubling memory bubbled to the surface. "With her powers, we could have really used her in Hero Hollow. Too bad she got a handle on them a little late."
Dexter went pale at the mention of the failed battle. It was a secret that had been hidden away by everyone who participated in the fight. If word got out that they had lost the Battle of Hero Hollow, and that Fuse had a stronghold in the Darklands, moral could dip among the fighters. For now, it was easier to ban all travel to the Darklands and keep the whole thing hush-hush. Once the Suburbs, Downtown, and Wilds were contained, they'd readdress the Darklands issue.
"A whole army..." Douglas repeated, his skin growing pale. "But...but data shows..."
"That there's only supposed to be a team of four max," Ben finished, pulling his gaze away from the ceiling. "I know. It was crazy. This happened to her team in Devil's Canyon. Amber said that there were easily thirty of them crawling around before she wiped them out."
Dexter couldn't process the information he was given. It felt like there was a wall that kept it from going further. Data consistently showed that monsters congregated in groups of four maximum, usually consisting of a boss and three regular monsters. But whole armies? He'd only experienced it in the Battle of Hero Hollow, and ruled it had been because they were on Fuse's footsteps. He'd never heard of it occurring outside of the Darklands.
"You know, it's a pretty big coincidence that this has happened to Alice twice," Ben mused out loud. He shrugged nonchalantly. "I never really thought about it until now."
Dexter's brows knitted together. His mind was so busy being bogged down by the high number of kills and the high congregation of monsters that it only just registered that Ben mentioned Alice having powers. Here he had assumed she was a normal human, but she had powers? Since when?
"Ben, what is she?" Dexter asked.
Ben blinked at the question, before frowning. While Ben had no shame being from a family of aliens, he didn't want to go throwing around Alice's status without her permission. "I'm not answering that."
The boy genius frowned, but he wasn't going to be tripped up on this little speed bump. His mind was already moving, and he was in the zone. Nothing was going to stop him from getting the answers he wanted.
"Do you happen to have a DNA sample of hers?"
"Do you realize how creepy that sounds?" Ben questioned.
Dexter bristled. "I need her DNA to run some tests."
"Still pretty creepy."
"Why are you going to do that?" Douglas piped in, some color returning to his cheeks.
"I don't believe this is a coincidence," Dexter stated, pausing dramatically because, although he was a science kid, he did have a streak of theatrics in him. "I believe there is a connection."
Whenever Dexter got in the zone, he generally forgot about how to function properly. After he had kicked out Ben and Douglas, and received Alice's DNA sample from Ben's friend Helen Wheels, Dexter had locked himself in his laboratory so that he could focus on his work. That had been two days ago. In that time, Dexter had completely forgotten how to properly care for himself. He skipped meals, had all-nighters, and didn't step outside of his lab. Computress had been warned to detour anyone who would interrupt him, and to forward all calls to his answering machine. He had needed complete, and total focus.
His isolation tactics paid off. Despite his body threatening to drop dead at any moment, Dexter stared at the papers in his hand with a feeling of accomplishment swelling in his chest. He already knew the results from the screen, but there was something about seeing it printed on paper that made it feel more real. If he saw the numbers printed out on paper, it made the whole thing tangible.
"Dexter!"
Dexter released a quiet sigh, knowing better than to let his mother hear him sighing in front of her; she'd most likely read him the riot act. Absent-mindedly, he placed down the papers on his keyboard and whirled his chair around, making eye contact with his mother. The redhead matriarch marched her way into the laboratory, ignoring all the wonderous science her son experimented with or designed. She was zeroed in on her tired teenager, anger born from worry painted on her face.
"You have missed too many meals, young man," she lectured, planting her hands on her hips when she was in front of him. "And look at those dark circles. You look like a racoon!"
"I was busy," Dexter said, and he winced out how whiny his voice raised to. Even though he was the owner and executive of his company, his mother was still the one in charge.
"Well whatever you're working on will have to wait until tomorrow," his mother responded, her voice firm. "You're going straight up to the house for a nice meal and then bed, mister." Dexter opened his mouth to protest, but his mother held up her gloved hand. "Do I need to call your father down?"
Dexter held in his sigh, but he did drop his head. He really wanted to protest, but his body was failing him. He was tired, and his stomach was distinctly empty, almost making him feel sick. Letting Alice know what he found could wait until morning, when he wasn't about to fall on his feet.
"You're right, mother," Dexter acquiesced.
"That's my little brainiac," his mother gushed, shifting from authoritarian to nurturing.
She reached down and helped her son up, keeping her arm locked around his shoulders when she felt him sway. Dexter allowed her to help him out of the lab, mainly because his vision had momentarily tunneled. They left the lab without a second glance backward...
...which is why they missed the puff of smoke and fire appearing next to the computer's keyboard. A red claw reached out and swiped the papers piled on it, and then disappeared without a sound.
Him reappeared in Mandy's home, draping himself on the house's couch. After making himself comfortable on the furniture, Him raised the papers he'd stolen from DexLabs, reading what Dexter had deemed so important to work on. While he enjoyed tormenting the Powerpuff Girls, he wasn't opposed to messing with a few of the other heroes, especially someone like Dexter, who firmly believed magic wasn't real. Just as the villain finished, two knocks from the front door got his attention. The guest at the door didn't wait to be let in; they threw the door open and stepped inside.
"Alright, Him darling, pop the popcorn and let's watch some The Loved and the Loveless," Eris, the goddess of chaos, declared. The door magically closed behind her as she sashayed into the house. "I am absolutely dying to see tonight's episode."
"The soap opera will have to wait," Him responded, rising into a seated position. "I have something more interesting tonight."
"Ooh?" Eris questioned, her deep blue eyes filling with excitement. "What do you have in mind?"
Him held up the papers in his claw, a wicked grin spreading along his face. "I took these from that dear boy in Tech Square." He extended his claw outward so that she could take the papers. "Why don't you have a look, dear?"
Eris snatched the papers out of his claw, eagerly running her eyes all over it. He could see the exact moment she spotted the juiciest part of the results by the way her eyes doubled in size. The goddess of chaos' eyes raised to meet the king of darkness' stare, chaotic intent swirling in her eyes and being matched by the demon's wicked smirk.
"Are you up for a little chaos, dear?" Him asked.
When it came to Eris, there was really only ever one answer to raising chaos: Yes.
"What a devilish idea," Eris cackled. She side-eyed the documents in her hand, a villainous smirk growing. "I know just the man to bring this to."
It was nearing primetime, and Harangue Nation was due to start any moment. The various hands behind the scene were rushing around to make the last-minute preparations. Their earlier plans for tonight's segment had to be scrapped after Will Harangue - the star of the show - rushed in and told them of the first story he'd be going over. The producer had tried to stop him, to keep him on board with their previous story, but Harangue told the man off, and got his way. The story he had was going to be big; not as big as the Tennyson story, but just as big. The expectation put the crew into panic mode, but also piqued their curiosity. What was just as big as the Tennyson story?
They were about to find out. Harangue took his place at the table, and waited for the countdown from the cameraman behind the camera.
"We're on in three...two...one..."
Unnoticed by everyone in the studio, Eris, standing off to the sidelines, snapped her fingers. It made no audible noise, but its magical effect was felt all across the world. Every television, computer, and NanoCom screens were tuned into Harangue Nation. With Eris' magic, none of the owners could switch channels or turn off the device, forcing them to be unwilling viewers for the chaos Eris and Him were eager to spread.
When the red light came on, Harangue sat up a little straighter. It was go time.
"Harangue Nation, you are all aware of how much I love humanity. So when I am given information like the one I received tonight" - He dropped his hands and grabbed the papers sitting on his desk, raising them up into camera view. He fanned them to draw the viewer's attention to the papers. - "it leaves me absolutely sickened. In my hand is undeniable proof that this invasion was no accident. These papers, official documents from DexLabs Inc., reveal that there is a traitor among us, and that traitor is Pokey Oaks Junior High student Alice Spacebyte." An image of Alice's school ID photo appeared over Harangue's right shoulder. He had to rely on the TV playback to see where it was exactly, and raised his left hand to gesture at the photo. "It should be no surprise that this girl, who has joined forces with that alien menace Tennyson is directly involved with Fuse." Harangue fanned the papers again. "The results of a DNA test conducted by the head of DexLabs himself show a 90% match between the Fusion menaces and this alien girl."
The red light on the first camera went off, with the red light on the second camera immediately turning on. Harangue turned his head to the left, staring straight into its lens like he did every show.
"Alice Spacebyte isn't just a traitor - she's one of them!"
Before I continue with the author's note, I want to express that this story operates in its own vacuum universe. Any other time I use Alice or if you see her in other stories she does NOT have this DNA relation. This is strictly for this story and this story alone. Now, if you haven't clicked off in fury, thank you for reading the chapter!
The Mayor's mission is a combination of "What the Dill?" and "Mayor's Assistant Pt. 1," and he makes reference to "Mayor's Assistant Pt. 2." Bullet taking a rose to Buttercup is in reference to "I'm Still Standing," and the freshener Bubbles mentions is in reference to "Cleaning Up City Hall Pt. 2." Bullet helping find Bradley (Robo-Bradley or Numbuh Six, whichever you prefer to know the little guy by) is a reference to the Nano mission "Skunk Support." Princess' mission is "Teen Dream" and the mission Robin thwarted was "Fusion From Another Planet Pt. 2."
Duchess Morbucks is from the anime reboot Powerpuff Girls Z. For those who may not know, Duchess is Princess' older sister in PPGZ, and her color palette is a reference to Bunny Utonium. She was such a fun character in her single episode that I felt she could be migrated to here. I was going to have her actually appear in the story, but couldn't find a way to put her in, so she was name dropped by her younger sister.
I wanted to include the Plumber's Helpers somewhere, and having them be Ben's relief team at the hospital made the most sense. Pierce Wheels is still alive in this universe because "The Purge" hasn't happened. The volunteer Ben is referring to is the oc Kyra who has popped up from time to time. This is a reference back to the first generation of the FusionFall RP where she used a hypo spray to keep unorderly people in check.
When discussing large armies attacking, Ben and Dexter don't know about what happened at Mount Blackhead in chapter eight. Since they didn't know about this attack, they didn't factor it into their conversation.
I realized while I was writing this that I never talked about Battle of Hero's Hollow, which was such a big deal in the FusionFall lore. I didn't want it to not happen, but instead put it as something that happened earlier and off screen.
The Loved and the Loveless (aside from being a reference to The Young and the Restless) is a soap opera from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. I thought a soap opera would be appropriate for Eris and Him to watch. I've always had the idea that the two are best pals because of their nature, and these two were going to always be the individuals who stirred up this trouble. Harangue was going to be their vassal because it's just too easy; the guy hates alien, and he's been handed a story about an alien girl. There was no way I was passing up that chance.
Thank you for reading this far, and hopefully I haven't lost you and that you'll be back to read the next chapter!