A/N) Wow, surprised people came back. Thanks guys. This might be a one-shot that will get away from me after all. Keep the encoragmnets coming ;)
Motivation is your superpower
Boomer felt like he was floating out of his own body for a bit as the green eyed girl stares at they and they stare at all this lively activity around them.
"Uh - hello? You guys still with me here?" She says, waving her hand in front of their slack jawed faces.
Boomer blinks and snaps out of it, so do his brothers and then - the excitement really bites. He can feel it, his brothers are practically shaking next to him, and he feels like screaming himself. Butch is twitching, literally, and Bricks' biting his cheek so hard Boomers sure that he's making it bleed on the inside.
"Ok then - guess you guys aren't normal." The girl mutters, startling Boomer by how close her voice is. He jumps and turns to look at her directly in her scrunched up face. She's scrutinizing them like they're completely nuts. Which they might very well be.
"We're fine -" Brick says suddenly.
Boomer nods vigorously, like his hard head shaking is going to prove Bricks' words. If anything, it makes him look more insane.
Green girl sighs and shakes her own head. "Yah - well, just in case, you'd better come with me."
Go with her? Where?
Maybe they should feel uneasy about this. But who cares! Another person was talking to them; they are in the middle of a giant Haven filled with a bunch of crazy weird and unbelievably amazing looking humans. There were so many, only a few have stopped to look at him and his brothers. Boomer wonders if they'll accept them. He sure hopes so.
Because if they don't – Boomer's pretty sure living alone knowing other people are alive is worse than the crushing feeling they had of not knowing others live and living alone.
"Where are you taking us now?" Brick speaks up, his eyes training on everything around them. He's taking everything in like he's studying it for later - Brick's making a plan B and a plan C. And probably a plan for every other letter in the alphabet too.
Just in case.
Boomer's not sure if he should be thankful for Brick's paranoia or not.
"Infirmary. Gotta get you noobs checked out - make sure you're clean." The girl says, answering Bricks question.
Boomer blinks a couple of times quickly, not understanding what she means when-
"You mean, make sure we aren't infected?" Brick sounds offended. Uh oh.
"Yup." Girl doesn't care.
Boomer glances at his red headed brother. Brick looks calm - ok, maybe he's not going to say anything condescending or worse.
The girl leads them up to a large shack like building, the roof is made out of welded cans and it seems like one strong wind could blow it over.
"Get in." The girl says stiffly as she pulls back the door which is a heavy green tarp.
The boys freeze up instead. Ok, so maybe having other people around might have a down side. They would tell them what to do - and that means . . . more rules to follow and more compromises to make. Boomer's not sure his brothers could handle that. Butch doesn't follow rules, unless Brick threatens him, and Brick doesn't compromise - unless absolutely necessary which has never happened before because nobody has ever been smarter than him.
Maybe compromising won't need to happen after all. But following someone else's orders? That might be stretching it for Brick.
"Get in already, I don't got all day." The girl seems done with them now.
Boomer swallows and goes first. He's used to following instructions.
Brick's face tightens but he does too – then, Boomer glances behind him - Butch lingers, his eyes linger after the girl who walks away now, her part of the job seemingly done. Boomers surprised at the look that crosses his brother's face - curiosity.
A strange sort of concentrated curiosity.
Not the kind Boomer has when he's trying to remember some animal from the past or figure out what Bricks doing with the weird tech he had or -
No - this kind of curiosity was new to Boomer and he wonders what it means.
But just as quickly as the expression came it's gone and Butch follows after them too.
Inside is dark, a bit stuffy but definitely dry. It appears that there isn't anyone here.
Then Boomer hears it - It's the most amazing sound he's ever heard in his life. Someone was humming - and it wasn't him!
It was a nice hum, a quite clear delicate, hum that made him feel very, very comfortable and - and when owner of that hum walks into view he forgets to breathe again - but this time for a complete different reason which he doesn't understand in the slightest.
A short little girl with yellow - Boomer hasn't seen yellow in a long time - hair and big blue eyes - the color of the sky, Boomer forgot that's what color it used to be until he saw it in this girl's face - and a giant smile with a slight gap between her teeth.
He's tingling.
"Hello there," she smiles widely at them and practically floats towards them. Floats? Is that a thing girls can do? The other one hadn't floated - there was nothing floaty about her at all, she stomped and crushed and -and this one . . . floats.
"H-h - hi?" Boomer stutters out loud, not meaning to. He gives her a slight wave.
She beams at him - Boomer's pretty sure that's what the sun used to look like too. "Nice to see new faces, I thought we had found everyone in this side of the sectors."
Boomer doesn't understand what she's saying, he's too busy staring. Butch has lost interest and is now fiddling with a weird pointy tube thing with black liquid inside it and Brick seems to be the only one with speaking capabilities right now.
"I'm sorry, this side of the sectors? What, do you mean there are other places with - with more people?" Brick says, eyes narrowing in question at the sparkly sun girl in front of them.
She nods. "Yah, don't you know - oh" She gasps and covers her mouth with her hand. "Oh, oh you don't - oh my, I'm so sorry, have you been alone this whole time?"
By this whole time, Boomer wonders if she means since the beginning of this nightmare which was like ten years ago.
Brick nods firmly. "Since the beginning. How long has this place been around?"
"Six years, give or take – hey, don't touch that!" The girl squeaks as Butch tips a box open. He drops the lid and throws his hands up in surrender as she swipes for the box and snatches it close to herself.
"Sorry?" He doesn't sound sorry.
Boomer gets mad at him for some reason.
"No - never mind. Anyway, we've been here for a long time, I'm sorry you weren't found until now. But don't worry, once Professor checks you up, I'm sure you'll feel right at home in no time." She says, her face brightening again as if Butch didn't just touch something he wasn't supposed to.
Brick nods.
Boomer suddenly feels worried. "Professor?" What's that? Would it kill them? Would it eat them? Would it kick them out?
The girl giggles. "Yah, don't worry though, you'll be fine I'm sure. Just extra precaution and all that stuff I don't understand." She says brightly.
Boomer feels warmed by her assurance.
"Oh!" She snaps her fingers as if she just remembered something. "I'm Bubbles by the way, do you three have names?"
Bubbles? Like- those floaty soap circles? Boomer doesn't remember very well the last time he's seen one. Soap for them was almost impossible to find - when they did it was used sparingly.
It was a nice weird name though.
He opens his mouth to introduce himself realizing he hasn't done that ever - it feels amazingly terrifying.
"I'm - "
"New ones?" A voice cuts them off and the girl - Bubbles - beams at the new comer.
"Professor!" She chirps and floats to a tall - man, Boomer hasn't felt this small since - a while ago. It was a tall man with a kind face, dark grey eyes and black hair that was greying at the temples, his face has deep line across his forehead and down the sides of his mouth and his clothes look like they've been patched so many times they were only patches.
"Hello there boys. I'm Professer Utonium. Pleased to see there's still life out there after all." He sounds friendly enough. But then how would they know? All they've ever heard are Zombie growls and each other.
They stare at him. Boomer feels kind of worried. Brick looks the man dead in the eyes. And Butch fidgets - like he wants to get out of this space.
The man coughs in the silence. "Well then - let's get you checked out."
Boomers not sure if he likes the sound of that.
After an hour of being poked and prodded and touched in ways Boomer did not like, the friendly man deemed them clean and, with no small amount of surprise, healthy enough to live here.
Boomer sighs as they make their way aimlessly through the Haven - it feels weird, having other people to look at, people moving around them as they walk. People working, building, talking, laughing - living.
It was a horrible time to live but - but they were living with what they had and somehow, surviving didn't seem so bad anymore.
Boomer wishes' they'd found this place sooner.
"Ok - so now what?" It's this first thing Butch has said since they got here.
Brick stops walking, Boomer runs into him, earning a red eye roll, "Let's just scope this place out. I don't think it's dangerous or anything but still - we're outsiders for now. Let's stay under the raider until-"
Brick stops talking. Butch isn't listening anymore. And Boomers dark blue eyes flicker to find out why his loud mouthed brother is so distracted.
It's that green eyed girl. The one that killed so many Zombies all on her own and made them retreat and brought them here and she's - beating people up now?
She's surrounded by several different people, boys and girls, most older then her, all dressed heavy like they're ready to go to war or something. She's in the middle and the look on her face is pure concentration.
Then the group attack. She launches herself at them from her crouched position like a cat and literally grabs an older boy by his shirt and flips him over her shoulder as she pivots on one foot and tosses him at five others. They go rolling backwards. She smirks and dodges, without turning around, another boy who takes a swing at her from behind. She dodges again, the boy's fast, bigger and heavier, she's small and short and - and she takes him out so fast the guy doesn't move from the ground for a solid minute. Everyone else was taken down easier than that.
She stops in the middle of a bunch of groaning individuals and dusts her hand off like she's finished a job well done.
Boomer feels his eyes widen so much they dry up and hurt. "Woooah - " He whispers absently. That girl was - was feral. She kicked butt, those Zombies never stood a chance.
"Alright everybody - "A tall man comes into view, he's got long black hair, he's young but older than all the kids there, and he has a straight squared appearance that screams trained, "Nice work, you lasted five second longer than before. Mitch - work on your speed punches - Robin, you aren't fooling anyone with your sneak attacks – Mike, be a little more assertive, a Zombie won't wait for your attack and Buttercup -"
The girl straightens and salutes the tall man. Her face the picture of hardened soldier.
The man grins quickly. "Nice work. A bit too hard core, but very well executed. Just relax a bit will you."
"Yes sir." She salutes again.
The man sighs and chuckles at her, ruffling her messy short dark hair. "At ease, all of you. Go eat something and remember what I said. Dismissed."
And the group of groaning people stand and rub at their sore spots while they make their way to the other side of Haven.
"Not bad Buttercup - you kicked my butt so fast I didn't know what happened." A tall lanky boy says brilliantly, he has freckles staining his nose, and he throws an arm around the dark haired girl.
Boomer finds this interesting. Friends - they could have friends here? That was - he's pretty sure he had some of those back in the day - he just can't remember their faces or who they were.
"Ok then - we could probably see what that was all about." Brick says flatly, his brain is working "And maybe we should take a look at their defense systems and get our own if we - Butch? Butch, get back here you moron!"
Butch ignores him. Boomers pretty sure he's gonna get it later for that, but the brunet boy doesn't seem to care as he makes his way towards the group and the green eyed girl.
They're laughing about something a soft looking boy with huge blue eyes was saying until Butch walks up to them, then they stop.
"Uh - who're you?" Freckle face says, slightly hostile as his dark eyes narrow at Boomers tougher brother.
Butch seems unfazed, his eyes training hard on the dark haired girl who's looking at him just as hard. "What's your name?" He says suddenly.
She blinks at him. Nobody says anything for a minute. Boomer cringes at the awkwardness - they don't have very good people skill . . . what? There were no people to develop these skills with for the past ten years!
The girl looks challenged for a second before she smooth's her face out. "Buttercup."
Butch suddenly grins lopsided. "Butch."
"I didn't ask."
Boomer blinks. Uh oh - she just challenged him. She totally just challenged him - Boomer dares a glance at his green eyed brother and yup - yup, there it was. That glint in his eyes he got whenever he starts getting keyed up and - and this girl was the one keying him up.
Brick saw to, he makes to grab Butch by the shirt before he does something stupid, like someone would their – what were they again; four legs, furry, people used to have them walk at the end of ropes – Dogs? Yah, like a pet dog before he attacks a stranger. But he doesn't get there on time.
"Nice moves." Butch says casually. Much too casually as he starts to circle the girl. Boomer shudders - this could be bad. The girl looks as tight as Butch is making him feel. "Mind if I show off some of mine."
"Butch no." Brick says flatly, his eyes narrowing.
"Butch yes." Butch grins and launches himself at the girl with a feral grin. Her friends back up and freak out, unsure if they should help or not. The girl catches Butch by the shoulders and they both go rolling backwards in a freaky full forced two person summersault.
Boomer coughs as they kick up dust and the girl - Buttercup was it? - kicks his brother square in the chest. Butch goes flying back painfully and Buttercups friends settle, though they seem to be taught enough to wait for an opening in case things escalate.
Butch hits a wall. Boomer winces as his head makes a crack sound and goes to see if he's dead. Brick shoots out and arm and pushes him back, his red eyes never leaving their brother as he stands. Brick has this tight -I'm going to kill him if this doesn't- face. Oh boy - Butch was in so much trouble.
Boomers kind of excited now.
The green eyed boy stands, sits and wipes at a scratch on his cheek. It's bleeding some and smears on the back of his hand a dark red in contrast to his dusty hand. He grins, sharp and bright. Boomer thinks he's gone a little insane.
"That hurt." Butch says, that wide grin never leaving his face as he comes back, rounding on Buttercup, she's glaring at him - her shocking green eyes narrowing, probably wondering what's wrong with this guy as he comes closer. For a fourteen year old malnourished boy, Butch had mass on him, and this girl was small - it made him look bigger and . . . kind of scary in Boomers opinion.
But Buttercup-girl doesn't seem to be fazed.
"That hurt." Butch repeats then settles into a fighting stance, arm outstretched and beckons his fingers forward in a 'come on' motion, grin never dropping off his face. "Do it again."
Boomer thinks she'll call him crazy and leave.
She launches herself at him instead.
Woah - Boomers eyes widen as he takes in the fight. Brick sat down on the side lines by now and he looks almost bored. But the blond boy knows better. Falling into a sense of security for Brick's mask is like thinking a snake won't attack you if you step on it. Deadly.
Boomer sighs - this wasn't going to be the only fight he sees today. Aw man - and they just got here. Boomer hopes they won't kick them out for this. His eyes drag back to the fight, expecting someone to be down by now. To his surprise - the little girl is holding her own and, if her friends cheering are anything to go by, is winning.
Or maybe Butch just likes taking the hits.
She punches and kicks and hits so hard Boomer winces at every impact, Butch blocks some and takes others as she fights back, he stumbles back, that grin present always. Then she swings a particularly nasty round kick at him and - he grabs her leg. The fight freezes as she widens her eyes at him. Butch tilts his head and grins harder.
"That the best you got? You fight like a girl -"
And then - Boomer never thought he'd see this on anyone else other than his brother - she loses it. She lets out an angry offended growl and body launches him this time like a crazy something. They roll in the dust as she curses at every part of him she can. Butch laughs and insults back, jeering at her all the way.
Boomer is confused and sidles up next to Brick; who's eyes never left the fight.
"Hey Brick." He ventures worriedly, wincing when Buttercup lands a heavy blow to Butchs' stomach making him hack for breath.
"Yah."
"What's wrong with Butch right now?"
Brick doesn't answer right away. His eyes still narrowing at Butch. "He's enjoying this."
Boomer figures as much. "Why? He doesn't do this when we fight Zombies or practice with you."
"This is different. This is someone new and Butch feels like she's actually a challenge - which it looks like she is. He's been waiting for this for a long time. Blood-thirsty moron." Brick sounds kind of deflated now. Boomer wonders if Brick might empathize with their bother just a little bit.
Having someone new to challenge - might feel good to egotistical fighters. But Boomer never cared. He just wants to live - he never thought his brothers would want somebody to challenge them -
The fight gets worse. Buttercups friends launch themselves into it. Butch is having a blast. Buttercup screams angrily when he pulls at her hair. The dust lifts, the noise grows and Brick stands, evidently ready to shut this down then -
"Everyone stop!" The voice is sharp and clear and ridged.
Boomer blinks up and looks at the new comer standing at the top of a dune. He takes a sharp breath as everyone freezes involuntarily.
And the new comer walks towards them, eyes blazing and hair the color of fire. "Someone better explain to me what's happening."
She stops in front of the guilty party and crosses her arms. The air around her goes cold, and somehow scary, as she taps her foot. Boomer shivers and even Brick stiffens next to him.
"Now." She says in a calm cold voice. "Who wants to go first."
Dun dun duuuuuun.
So - I basically introduced a bunch of charecters now including all the Powerpuffs - wow - this was not . . . this was not supposed to happen.
Maybe I'm glad it did.
Let me know what you guys think.