Wednesday Evening Con't
No one had spoken a word the entire ride home, for both Boomer and Butch it wasn't having the right words to express their dislike of continuing this relationship with Blaine Industries. For Brick, it was his inability to back down or state he'd gotten them in over their heads. In Brick's eyes he was still in control, all the paperwork was in order, they were making good money, and they stayed in the shadows enough to keep them off of the radar of law enforcement and heroes.
There was a sourness in his stomach when he planned these heists and let Blossom cross his mind, her very existence guilting him. He knew what he was doing was dangerously toeing the line of morality but the last thing he wanted to do was go to a supermarket and bag groceries after school for minimum wage.
Putting the car into park all three exited the vehicle, the wind blew just a little bit colder and Boomer popped the collar of his jacket up. "It's supposed to be spring soon," he was mumbling mostly to himself in this moment but Butch could only look over at the tree branches bending as it picked up. "You coming?" Boomer called over to Butch who was still standing in the driveway.
Inwardly shaking off his distracted air Butch jogged a few feet over and up the pavement to the front door. Brick was already putting his jacket in the closet, shrugging his own off he remarked, "so," he didn't get to finish his sentence though.
"I'll let you know when I've got a plan," Brick turned to stalk up the steps when he turned around and looked at his brothers in all seriousness, "not one word to the girls, got it?"
Knitting his brows together Boomer was caught between being insulted and indignant. He was aware Butters had heard about their side gig in the vaguest of terms but she never prodded and he never divulged that information to Blossom or Bubbles. He spared a glance at Butch who just looked blank, though he noticed a sharpness to his eyes, as if he were evaluating the heaviness behind what Brick was actually saying.
Turning his back to his brothers, Brick continued up to his room trying not to slam the door when he closed it. There was a lot of confliction going on, and he knew that this feeling in his gut couldn't be ignored forever.
Downstairs Boomer turned to say something to Butch but was taken aback when his dark haired brother was opening up the front door again, "wait, where are you going?"
"Don't worry about it," he was grumbling, "I just need to clear my head."
"Well," Boomer decided to back off at this moment since he felt the need to occupy himself in order to not overthink their current situation, "I can come with-," he was cut short by his brother's sharp tone.
"No." Even Butch realized that he'd been quick, "I just need some time to myself."
Raising his eyebrows and narrowing his eyes at Butch somewhat suspiciously Boomer closed the closet door, "O.K. then… just don't stay out too late or anything, Brick'll be pissed if you're not home at a decent hour." It was still a school night, no matter how unconventional things were in their personal lives they still had societal goals to fulfill.
"I know the drill," he was halfway out when he called back, "I'll be back before too late."
As soon as he was out the door he took off like a shot. Boomer sighed inwardly and shut the door behind him, he'd noticed that his usually overly hyped brother had been acting off the past few weeks. He was either on edge or he was actually showing more emotional depth than usual. Whatever it was he figured he should look at it as a good thing, the doofus was actually maturing and growing up.
Leaning his back against the smooth metal, Butch used his legs to push himself squarely against the wall of the dome. He'd found himself at their first home, the observatory was a thing of comfort despite all that had happened recently. Cold didn't bite through his senses like they would a normal human, but even he could feel the cold seeping through his jeans from the metal. One of his feet tapped absentmindedly against the railing that surrounded the base of the dome while he weighed his options. Right now he felt like he was between a rock and a hard place, he had so many conflicting emotions about the task they'd been given. Something just didn't feel right.
Scrolling through his phone he debated just texting someone to get his mind off of things, he wanted to fight the urge to express his concerns and the feeling he'd had in the pit of his stomach. The soccer team chat was blowing up all the time, Harry was sending him separate texts about another double date and Boomer had texted him that Brick was still holed up in his room. He still had an unread text from Bubbles.
If I work on another assignment my brain will explode! :P What are you up to?
The girls might have taken some time off but it seems that they were still keeping on top of things… how typical of Townsville's golden children. He couldn't be mad at this anymore, he had a better understanding of what pressure they were dealing with now.
He didn't fight the small smile that formed on his lips, he liked that she'd texted him, he didn't know if she was texting other people at the moment and frankly didn't care. He just knew she wanted to talk to him.
getting some fresh air need it after you guys made us act so stupid
It wasn't a lie, he still felt embarrassed at the worry that had settled in his chest. Right now he wished things would slow down, life was so chaotic and he felt like he had no control over anything going on. The buzzing in his hand took him by surprise, the phone's screen was lit up, her name was bright in the darkness of the night.
Suddenly his palms felt sweaty, fumbling with his phone he swallowed nervously before answering the call. Butch tried to sound calm and smooth, "hey, blon-," but he didn't get to finish.
"Butch Jojo, please tell me you aren't out after curfew," although it sounded like a question it clearly wasn't.
"Relax, I'm just taking a breather, besides, you played hooky today!"
She scoffed from the other side of the line, "that hardly counts and you know it." Butch wouldn't refute it, but she surprised him by asking, "so where are you?"
"Uhm… why?" He leaned forward, "I'm fine."
"Uh-huh." She didn't sound convinced, her silence seemed thoughtful, "I can hear the wind behind you, I could just fly out and start shouting until I hear myself through your phone you know." He could practically hear the teasing smile on her lips and felt his face flush.
"Seriously?"
"You shouldn't be out alone with all this going on, I can just sit and be really quiet." Butch didn't know whether this was concern due to him being a "citizen" or her friend, he was hesitant. He didn't want to talk about the things going on with his brothers but he couldn't talk to her about his feelings either. "Please?"
Her voice was so sweet, he knew she would understand if he told her 'no' but he didn't want to. "Fine, fine, but not a peep." Pushing his hand against his forehead he sighed, "I'm at the observatory."
"You won't even know I'm there!" The phone clicked off and he was left staring at it in his hand.
It took longer than he anticipated but he knew she was there when a fist-sized rock slammed on the metal a few feet away. Scrambling to his feet he stood and looked over the railing, "jeeze, you trying to kill me?"
Bubbles didn't even look apologetic as she beamed up at him from the ground, suddenly she was eye-level with him as she gripped the railing and floated in the air, "we both know it would take way more than me tossing a little pebble at you to kill you."
Caught off guard Butch stepped backwards and cleared his throat, "that was hardly a pebble, sugar tits." Taking a moment to look at her as she perched herself on the railing, her legs dangling on the inside he noticed her eyes looked brighter than they'd been, and not in the sense that her powers were ignited and ready to go. "Thought you'd be here quicker than that, I didn't notice you fly up," backing up a few steps he slid back down the wall and resumed his seat.
Pulling the zipper of her quarter zip up a bit as the wind brushed by her skin Bubbles pushed herself off the railing, pivoting before plopping down next to Butch. "I snuck out," looking rather smug she raised her eyebrows at him, "you should be proud of me," she teased.
A light floating feeling bubbled in his stomach, she actually snuck out to visit him? Trying not to read too much into it he looked away from her and scratched the side of his cheek nervously, "looks like I'm a bad influence on you." It was supposed to be more flirty but it just came out flustered.
"I don't think so," she pulled her knees towards her and wrapped her arms around them, her arm just grazing his as they sat there. She wasn't all too sure why he was acting so nervous, maybe he thought that one of her sisters was going to kick his butt if they found out. "Don't worry, I'll protect you if Buttercup comes after you," she said this with a laugh and Butch grimaced.
"Please, I hardly believe that ol' Butterbutt could," but he ended it with a chuckle to keep things light. He was normally boisterous when talking about this sort of thing but he couldn't deny that the threat of her kicking his ass was a very real thing. A breeze lifted a few strands of her loose hair across her face and Bubbles reflexively tucked them behind her ear. Butch couldn't explain why, but he found all her mundane movements interesting. Maybe he'd been staring too long because the blonde froze and she looked unsure.
Pointing towards herself she asked, "is there something on my face?" Bubbles swiped at one of her cheeks, "I just showered, please don't tell me a bug splattered on me," she whined.
Waving his hands in a negative gesture Butch tried to reassure, "no, theres nothing there, I just spaced out." It was a quick and harmless lie in this moment, looking away from her and feeling embarrassed at being so blatant he tried to cover for himself instead. "I was just remembering something Brick said."
"Oh," she looked relieved but quickly her expression changed to concern. She was leaning in, noticing that Butch was having a difficult time keeping eye contact with her, "is it anything I can help with?"
Fuuuuucccck. Nope, that had been the absolute wrong thing to say, so much for that idea. "I don't really wanna talk about it," his voice was gruff but clear that he was shutting that down immediately. He was more annoyed at himself right now, what had he been thinking? He could've lied and said he was on his roof at home, then she wouldn't be so damn close. "Didn't you say you wouldn't make a single sound if I let you hang out with me?"
With a heavy sigh she relented by settling into her place and fully leaning against the wall. She had said that, but she'd been worried when he admitted he was by himself without actually saying it. Things were still uncertain in Townsville, and besides that, he'd come looking for her when she'd been alone. That thought alone made her smile, he'd seen her at possibly one of her worst moments, easily top 10, but he still stayed and even comforted her.
She was smiling to herself as she looked out towards the sky, it was partly cloudy but she could still see the stars burning intensely amid the night. Even the slow flash of a red light echoed off of a plane flying overhead, it reminded her that things were still relatively normal outside of their bubble.
Butch was surprised with her cooperation when she fell into silence beside him, he actually wished her bird-like chatter was going on. He'd brought this upon himself though, he'd just been so damn flustered with his colliding feelings and her teasing that he'd thrown out the first thing that came to him in the moment. Part of him did want to talk to her about that meeting, but he wasn't sure how successful he'd be at trying to omit important details when those were important to why he was feeling the way he was.
He didn't like the vibe that Julian-whats-his-face gave off, something wasn't right and from the silence in the car he knew that it wasn't sitting well with Boomer or Brick either. They'd never been a democracy before so there was no way he and Boomer could overrule Brick, their relationship was almost like a dictatorship. Brick lead and they followed. Disagreements happened but when it came down to brass tax they knew that Brick always had their best interests in mind.
Jolting slightly at the touch of something on his leg, he gripped down hard on the object that had startled him, just to find it wasn't an object at all. He had a near death-grip on Bubbles' wrist, her hand lightly resting on his lower thigh. He'd been caught off guard and now was internally cursing himself. As he opened his mouth to try to say something her other hand came and rested on his that was wrapped around her wrist.
Her touch was just a bit hesitant but it was soft and warm once she committed to what she was doing. "Hey, it's alright," she soothed, "I said your name a few times but you were so spaced out and your foot was jittery." While she talked her fingers removed his hand from her wrist, she gave them a small squeeze before releasing him all together, her hands back at her own sides.
"Shit, yeah," Butch felt incredibly uncomfortable in this moment, his fingers from his hand that she'd been holding twitched at his side. "You caught me off guard."
"I'll do my best to not do that again," Bubbles ran her hand through her loose hair and smiled, even though he'd been receptive to her lately she felt as if she pushed it too far this time. He was difficult to get a read on, sometimes he opened himself and pulled her towards him and other times like this he reacted like he didn't trust her.
"I didn't say you can't touch me," he was awkwardly trying to look at anything but her, "it's fine if you want to." His cheeks were flushed and his hands felt clammy against the metal, "just yell in my ear or something to get my attention next time."
Laughing, Bubbles pointed out, "if I yelled in your ear you'd punch me like old times."
Talking about their discarded rivalry was always an interesting subject, especially lately. The six of them were colliding at an unbreakable speed and it was foreign and unexpected. They were the only ones who would ever truly understand each other, what it was like to change and develop with these powers and abilities. How their bones had broken and shaped themselves further.
Placing his hand beside hers he could feel her skin on his, and even though it was small it was all he could do not to just grab her hand and hold it. Shit. Shit. Shit. He was acting like he'd never interacted with a girl his entire life. Desperate to move the conversation elsewhere he blurted the first thing that had nothing at all to do with either of them, "everyone was talking about the new Reliable and Mildly Annoyed movie at school, they just released the trailer today."
Resisting the urge to slap his own forehead Butch quickly tried to come up with something else when Bubbles remarked, "another one? Isn't this, like, the seventh in the series? They turned a tugboat into a fighter jet in the last one, how do they plan to top that?"
Butch was caught slightly off guard but without giving it much thought he was able to easily slide into conversation, "they always do though, the trailer made it look like they were going to go into space this time. Apparently Murphy has a sibling no one knew about until now." He was turned towards Bubbles as he elaborated, "looks like they are bringing back some of the characters from the fourth movie, Vancouver Surge, too."
Giving an excited bounce in her seat Bubbles brightened, "oh my gosh, I loved that one!"
"Really?" Relaxing into a chuckle Butch raised his eyebrows, "you and like- 12 other people."
"Not true!" She was pouting playfully, "Bouchard was the coolest guy, and when Ritsu was getting in trouble with the Canadian Mafia for being the new kid Bouchard totally had his back."
Waving her off Butch joked, "Ritsu was the weakest character in the series, but I am excited if we get to see O'Connor fight alongside Murphy. The few action sequences they showed looked promising."
Rolling her head back with a moan Bubbles lamented, "I hope not, Buttercup always wants to recreate those fighting scenes when we get home and see if they're as cool in real life. Blossom and I always end up with a million bruises by the time she's figured out one of the moves out of, like, hundreds."
This made Butch really laugh, "oh that's great, I gotta get a recording of that!" Playfully Bubbles smacked him on the arm but laughed too, swearing he'd never get his hands on that sort of evidence.
Bubbles was leaning on Butch's arm, one leg tucked beneath her as she proudly concluded, "and that's why magical girls kick more butt than giant robots."
"Yeah, yeah, I still don't believe you, theres no way the power of a 'pure heart' and 'the bond of friendship' beats plasma cannons and atomic missals."
"Just you wait," she teasingly tapped his nose which Butch immediately rubbed at, "I'm going to lend you my first season of Cadet Star and you'll become a true believer."
"I'll only watch it if you're with me, I refuse to suffer alone," he'd loosened up as the night had gone on. Talking about everything except for the chaos going on and fighting techniques made him feel refreshed. Almost like he couldn't remember why he'd come out here in the first place.
A notification sound went off on Bubbles' phone and when she noticed the time she sucked in her mouth, "we've been out here awhile."
"Hmm, yeah? What time is it?" Not motivated in the least to look at his own phone.
"Midnight," she gave him an amused smile, "we should both go back home before we get in trouble." Butch reluctantly stood up as she did, debating his next move in the few moments he had.
She was already beginning to float when his gut gave him the kick he needed, "wait," this time his hold on her wrist was gentle. Bubbles arched her eyebrows but landed back down and fully turned towards him. She didn't say anything, but Butch awkwardly rubbed the back of his head before saying, "listen, this was cool… I had fun, and I'd like to do this again sometime." His cheeks and ears felt hot, he was looking awkwardly away from her because he didn't want to see her reaction if it turned out negative.
"Me too," she grinned, more comfortable as her surprise faded. Tucking back another loose strand of hair she added, "I'd really, really like that."
His dark green eyes flicked over her face, he wasn't sure if she had actually understood what he meant. Swallowing the urge to just leave it at that he took one step closer, his hand that had been holding onto her wrist slid down to hold her hand. "I don't mean as friends-," he wasn't mincing his words on this one, perhaps the last few hours were the push he had needed to do something about his feelings.
"I know," she gave his hand a little squeeze as she said this. Bubbles tried to stifle her laughter with her other hand when Butch's head jerked so hard she thought it might have given him whiplash. "I'd like that too," she bit her lower lip while trying to suppress a grin, not looking Butch in the eye.
It was out of his mouth before he could even stop it, "shit." Butch tried to ignore her laughter, "I didn't think-, I mean I wasn't expecting you to actually say yes," his words were fumbling and lost as his brain caught up.
"Hm," she kind of liked that he was the flustered one, it wasn't her being shy as she approached now. It was his turn. "That's not the kind of confidence I'm used to seeing from you, Butch." Bubbles was teasing him gently, much how he'd teased her early on.
Getting a grip on himself he cleared his throat, "well, uh, as I was saying," he was trying not to scramble. "How about burgers and shakes Saturday night? There's this place my brothers and I go sometimes, I think you'd like it."
Despite the curfew being in place it would still give them a few hours out before the city began to shut down, there would be time.
"Definitely, text me a time and we'll make a plan." Another small 'blip' sounded from her phone and brought her back to focusing on where they were and what time it was. "We need to go home before we get in trouble." Butch only sighed and rolled his eyes, but he knew she was right.
Rather reluctantly he released her hand and joined her in floating up into the air. Bubbles wasn't the type girl he dated, she wasn't swooning over his suave lines or attitude and if she wanted to she could hit him harder than a Mack truck. It was kind of hot.
"Oh," her voice stopped him, he didn't have to look far because she was a little higher up than he was. She was sort of curved to his left, her face very close to his. He wasn't sure what was happening but he felt her hands hold his jacket close to the collar, she tugged forward just slightly and he was met with a light and sweet kiss. He could just faintly taste the brisk mintiness of whatever mouthwash or toothpaste she had used, but as he was about to lean into it she pulled away. Bubbles was only slightly flushed but it looked more like excitement than nervousness, "I'll talk to you later."
She was gone in a burst of pale blue, the tail fading rapidly behind her. The wind around his body shifted and he blinked. Butch could feel that itch, he wanted to chase. It felt like a challenge but he knew he couldn't catch her, she being only a little slower than Boomer, and Boomer was far ahead of him and Brick when it came to speed. Plus he knew what he wanted to do if he caught her-, no, he should not be thinking about that.
Giving a small whine and a heavy sigh Butch begrudgingly forced himself in the other direction, back home where hopefully both Brick and Boomer were already passed out for the night.
~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~
~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~
Thursday Morning
Punching yet another formula into the system, Arvin sighed heavily. He'd come in early, 6am, and it was almost lunch but with no progress yet again. He thought he'd been close, the calculation he'd put into the simulator had almost completely stabilized, but at 93% it had come up with a negative error. They were so close. Pushing his glasses up his nose he sighed dejectedly.
Behind him he could hear one of the doors sliding open with several beeping sounds, it was closely followed with the smell of a dark roasted coffee. Arvin gave his stale and cold coffee in his chipped mug a look of disdain, but before he could say anything further someone dropped a paper coffee cup down, the steam rising out of the lid like a beacon.
Half perched on the edge of his desk was the historian they had been consulting and working with, she gave a smile before she showed him her own cup, "you looked like you could use a pick-me-up." Her accent was distinct, she'd grown up in London only leaving to attend a girls boarding school in Germany, summers in India, and college traveling to Egypt.
Grasping the coffee like a lifeline Arvin took a deep gulp, ignoring the stinging of a soon-to-be burned roof of his mouth. "You're a saint, Jiera."
Glancing about the room she addressed Arvin rather casually, "why didn't you head into the cafeteria with Greg and Dr. Anson?"
Leaning back into his chair Arvin gave a look of over exaggerated despair, "I was so close today, I almost thought we'd finally get to call Norman and Jules with some good news," sighing heavily he looked at her, "anything else in those documents?"
To Jiera he looked like someone had stolen his puppy and pushed his ice cream cone into the dirt, "none on my end, I'm still not sure why I'm being paid to stick around, not that I'm complaining of course!" She added this quickly, and although she was impressed with where Blaine Industries was heading she wasn't sure what use someone like her was doing there. She'd much rather be heading up research at a museum or on a dig site, but she was still young and had the time.
"I probably look at the copies of that scroll a least 100x a day, there are a few passages that don't make sense but nothing correlates to herbs or minerals that I'm familiar with. Nor do they match with anything I try to research." After taking another sip of her coffee she quirked her mouth slightly at the corner, "what they might be referring to may not even be accessible any longer, theres just no way to be certain."
As they were discussing this the doors slid open again, this time it was Norman followed by his bodyguard Burke and Jules. Both the scientist and historian were stunned into silence, never had they seen Norman look less than pristine. His hair was a mess, his sleeves rolled up and suit jacket discarded, his tie was loosened and there was an unmistakable stubble on his jaw. Jules on the other hand looked immaculate as always, not a hair out of place nor sweat upon his brow despite speed walking after Norman in a full suit.
Burke took his place by the door, not giving an ounce of attention to the two people previously occupying the sterile room. Jiera and Arvin stood quickly, "Mr. Blaine-," Jiera began but Norman pushed right past her. Arvin stumbled back into his rolling chair and jumped when Norman's hands held both armrests of the chair, blocking the smaller man in his seat.
"You're close," Norman's voice was hoarse as he loomed over Arvin, the scientist didn't like the look in Norman's eyes and pressed himself against the back of his chair as far as he could.
"H-how, I mean, where did you get that sort of information?"
Giving a polite nod to Jiera, Jules clapped Norman on the shoulder. The action seemed to bring the man back to his senses as he blinked a few times before releasing the chair and standing up straight. While Norman tried to right himself, pushing a few stray hairs back into place Jules simply pulled out that tablet that never seemed to leave his side.
"Our system was built to alert us to any progress over 90%, when you didn't contact us after an hour we decided to come see for ourselves."
Gulping nervously Arvin raised his hands in a placating manner, "I apologize, I- I thought we weren't supposed to come forward until we had some form of stabilization."
"Yes, well," Jules held the tablet out and Burke removed himself from the door and extracted it from his employer's hand before resuming his place. "This is the closest we've been since early testing two years ago."
Calmer now, Norman crouched down to Arvin's side and eagerly looked at him, "I'd like to see you run it again." It was the same look that had convinced Arvin to work for Blaine Industries in the first place, he had this twinkle in his eyes and excitement that buzzed through the room making someone really believe that they could do the impossible.
Arvin couldn't even spare a moment to exchange a look with his colleague as he nodded, "yes, sir." Spinning his chair back around Arvin began to type in several credentials he needed before reopening the simulation program.
Norman straightened up and Jiera gave him a nod as she stepped to the side of the desk, she wasn't typically present for these experiments. She worked more closely with the lab tecs, but she'd become quite fond of Arvin, Greg, and Dr. Anson, however she was wishing she hadn't since she was now trapped here.
Jules leaned in closely to Norman's ear and whispered, "you need to get yourself together, this isn't a good look for your employees to see. Morale could drop." Norman's mouth twitched in the corner as he fought not to snap at his most trusted friend and colleague.
"Here… we… go, alright," on the screen before them they watched the simulation of the current formula play out. The cells were incredibly close to stabilization, the components should be reacting more positively and each was color-coded as to what they were within the strain. The small number crept higher, slowing down as it passed the 70s, feeling like a standstill within the late 80s, and then that ugly timer sound accompanied with the pop up, 'SIMULATION FAILURE: STABILIZATION 93%: INVALID FORMULA.'
It was silent as Arvin looked out of the corner of his eye and gave Jiera a nervous glance, she quickly looked back at her coffee cup and said nothing. Norman had his chin in hand as he thought deeply about this, "what are we missing…," it wasn't a question he expected any of them to answer currently. Eventually? Yes. "The cells we obtained, they are of the highest quality, correct?"
"Yes, Greg has been farming them and with each generation they become more and more viable, but theres a UVA element missing, we added what we could but we seem to be," Arvin wanted to choose his next words carefully, "at an impasse."
"And this isn't as simple as deconstructing the formulation for sunblock, correct?" Norman was trying not to grow too frustrated. This project was his ultimate pride and joy, he wished he could dedicate his everything to it but he also ran other enterprises that had to be attended to. He needed it to be perfect.
Arvin fought the urge to chuckle, "I wish, we did attempt something similar but even with running multiple scenarios we couldn't get over 60%, it's no longer acidic but we need to be careful with modifications going forward, even adding in the wrong element could bring what success we are seeing back down to zero."
"I see," Norman mumbled and nodded.
"I wonder," Jules piped up, "we've seen that those Powerpuff Girls are quite resilient, what about the chemical used for them? I read in Professor Utonium's dissertation from 10 years back that he formulated something of his own."
Blanching at the thought Arvin blurted, "absolutely not! Didn't you read about his old colleague who tried to formulate the same chemical? They became destabilized. I'm sure whatever Professor Utonium has created requires very specific conditions, plus it's not something that the FDA can regulate, nor anywhere else on the planet." Shaking his head he added, "it's too dangerous."
Norman had his eyes narrowed at Jules, "you know that's not what we're working towards, those girls are weapons, we'll be saving lives with this creation."
"Not to interrupt," Jiera held up a finger, "but those girls do save lives." She got a pointed look from Arvin and hurriedly added, "but I agree that it's too dangerous, plus from the formulas on the scroll it isn't reading as a chemical, I'll continue to research but whatever it was it will be something we can pull from nature itself. I still stand by that this was alchemy that was being practiced."
It made sense with how little was known in those scrolls, it was also likely that they used codes since there was so much secrecy surrounding it. If monsters were real then why wouldn't this be?
Norman held a hand up, "yes, I spoke too rashly." After meeting Blossom Utonium, who he still wasn't all that fond of, and meeting with Brick Jojo he understood those kids were more than weapons but at the end of the day they didn't reflect his ultimate goal. "Jules, please see to it that our afternoon is rescheduled, I'd like to spend more time here."
Arvin smiled weakly, wishing his employer wasn't hovering like this but he understood why Norman would be so inclined. Jules gave a slight nod of his head, "of course, though I'll have to insist I still attend the meeting with Adrian Stokes, he's still pushing to do a piece on our facilities. I believe we can work something out."
Norman seemed to not be paying attention as he scanned through some notes that Arvin had on his desk, "yes, yes, I trust you will do whats best for us. Now," he turned his attention to both Jiera and Arvin, "if you could address alchemy in real-life practice what do you suppose the natural elements that were used would be extracted from?"
Clearly Arvin had no idea, "that's not really my field of expertise," however Jiera had his back on this one.
"It would be heavily related to location, I suspect that they vary among regions unless you take trade routes into consideration."
While the three discussed this, Jules backed off towards the door and waved towards Burke, "let me know when he's had his fill here, I'll be in my office." Taking his tablet from the bodyguard Jules exited the room, the doors giving a sound 'woosh' as they closed behind him.
~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~
~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~
Friday Evening- 6pm
As all three girl stood by the front door with school bags slung over their shoulders the Professor was trying not to visibly fret, though he was clearly failing by the amused expression that followed Blossom's sigh, "we're just going to be next door, Robin's mom is home and it's not a 'real' party," she was trying to reassure him but it wasn't working all that well.
He'd secretly loved having the girls home for a few days, knowing where they were and how they were feeling had been reassuring and reminded him of when they'd been children, there hadn't been any fights out of the typical sisterly disagreements of living under the same roof. "I know, it's just been nice having you home," he then added before he could stop himself, "safe."
Even though they were healed up and had been behaving more like their usual selves it made him feel better when he could keep an eye on them. Buttercup gave a roll of her eyes, "c'mon, Professor." She was grumbling but only out of impatience to hurry up and get out of the house, she'd been feeling cooped up and missed her friends.
Elizabeth was sitting at the dining room table with a much more refreshed looking Mojo, he'd made much more progress in the last few days and although his speech was occasionally disjointed it was still easier to understand him. "You Powerpuf'ssss, make sure my boys," he paused to make sure he wasn't slipping, "come see me."
"We will," Blossom nodded and Buttercup was practically shoving her out the door with Bubbles right on their heels with a large platter in hand.
"Let's go already," she really couldn't take one more second being in this awkward atmosphere for one more second.
"See you later, Professor!" Bubbles sang before closing the door behind them. When she turned back around Blossom seemed to be brushing off the shoulder of her sweater and giving a side eye to Buttercup.
"You didn't have to be so rude, he's just worried," Blossom would never admit that it was taxing on her to have him worry like that but she understood his concern.
Shrugging halfheartedly the dark haired girl was already at the sidewalk, "yeah, whatever." As Bubbles came up beside her she tried to lift the plastic wrap on the platter just to have her hand swatted away, "what gives? I just want one."
Protectively Bubbles held the platter to her side and away from her sister, "these are for everyone, besides you ate almost half of the cookie dough." Blossom sighed and shook her head behind them.
With a playful smirk Buttercup wiggled her fingers menacingly, "and I'd do it again!"
Just before she could knock on the door it swung open and Robin beamed at them, Buttercup just held her hand in midair and stumbled when Robin grabbed it and jerked her inside, "get in! Get in!" She couldn't hold back her squeal of delight as she hugged each one of them, "oh, I missed you guys so, so much! How's the break been? Have you been catching up on sleep? Did you get the assignments I dropped off?"
Blossom held up her hands and laughed, "slow down, Robin, we missed you too." Although they hadn't been far they had needed to recover mentally from everything and hadn't been talking to their friends as they usually did. "Where are we setting up?" Usually with study parties they tended to be just the girls and would camp out in Robin's room, or if it was some of the boys they would be around the dining room table, but with several additions they wouldn't all fit.
"We'll be in the back room; Mary, Mike, and Elmer got here about 15 minutes before you did," leading the way, Robin took them past the front room and through the kitchen before turning into the back room.
It had been a screened in porch when the Snyders had purchased the house, but three years ago they put a small addition upstairs and converted the rarely used space. The windows were almost ceiling to floor along the back, and a sliding door lead to the outside on the left. They used it for watching the games or movies, the tv was on but playing some quiet music in the background. The large sectional was pushed close to one of the walls as the other couch was pushed flat against the other wall and the large round coffee table became the center of attention.
Elmer was sitting on several cushions with his laptop open while Mary sat on the couch behind him and pointed over his shoulder at whatever he was working on but as soon as Robin and the girls appeared in the doorway she jumped up and ran over to pull them into a hug, "oooh, I'm glad you guys could come!" Backing up, Mary straightened her blouse with it's cute peter pan collar, actually opting to wear jeans for once. That was the sure-fire sign that Mary was in her 'relaxed' mode, the girl didn't know the meaning of 'casual'.
While Elmer and Mike said their hellos, Bubbles broke off to put the platter on the card table that was set up under the tv. There were bowls of snacks already prepared and a cooler underneath storing sodas and juice boxes, Robin was grabbing one and punched the straw through the hole. She took a sip before commenting, "you look good," smiling coyly around the straw.
Bubbles brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, none of them were particularly dressed up, herself included. Blossom was in a cropped purple sweater with white sport leggings, and her signature long ponytail, except it was held back with a pink scrunchie instead of her usual red ribbon. Buttercup was in a dark tank that kept falling askew on her shoulder, plaid maroon joggers and her hair down just barely concealing the alien head earrings she wore. And Bubbles hardly considered her own pink t-shirt dress with one of buttercup's flannels tied around her waist and her two messy braids to be anything special.
"Um," she pulled the tinfoil off of the platter of cookies and discarded it into a trashcan, "thanks?"
"No, no, that's not what I mean," Robin elbowed her playfully, she was about to explain further when she heard her mom call from the front room about additional guests. "I'll be right back," turning the brunette dashed off towards the door leaving Bubbles amused but curious.
Bubbles was sitting on the floor beside Mike when Mitch, Samson, Pablo, and Princess entered. Buttercup immediately stopped what she was saying and pointed a finger at the former villainess, "no one told me you'd be here."
Robin was leaning her head on Pablo's shoulder and intertwined her fingers with his, clearly pleased that her boyfriend was here and healthy. He'd come back to school that week but was overall caught up, he was wearing some goofy looking transition glasses that dimmed as they came into the room.
"She was our ride," Pablo explained, "my mom isn't letting me drive anytime soon." Princess looked smugly at Buttercup from the doorway before fully entering and placing her bag on the floor.
She was wearing some sort of designer athletic sweatshirt with crisp white shorts and she tossed a dark copper curl over her shoulder, "that's a new way of saying 'thank you', creampuff, don't think I've heard that one before." Smirking she pulled her notebook out of her bag and tossed it over at Buttercup who caught it with a suspicious expression. "The last few pages are the history notes you'll be needing to copy down, Mr. Halsey said it would definitely be on our finals."
Trying to hide her reddening face Buttercup managed to mutter a 'thanks' before putting a half eaten chocolate chip into her mouth and flipped through the notebook.
"So," Mitch began as he slumped onto the couch behind Mike, "are we actually studying?"
Blossom made a half surprised expression, knowing she should have expected this, "why wouldn't we?"
"You're all so boring," Mitch whined.
"You didn't have to come," Mike started to remind him but he was silenced by Mitch's finger over his mouth.
"No, no, someone needs to be here to be the responsible one and I selflessly made that sacrifice." From across the coffee table Buttercup tossed a pillow right into his face, much to Blossom's protesting.
Pablo sat on the couch beside Mary and pulled his own books out while Robin ran back to the front of the house, as they began to settle in Robin led Jeff into the space, he gave a quick wave to say 'hi' but before he could say anything else Samson asked, "I thought the guys were coming with you?"
Locking his chair, Jeff lifted his brows, "am I not enough, Sam?"
"That's not what I said," he pushed his hand through his dark hair, before he could say anything else Jeff waved a hand.
"Relax, they had to stop by next door first," he pulled his laptop from the side of his chair, this one was lighter and smaller than the one he used when he was DJing at parties.
Elmer looked confused, "why is he at your house?" He was directing this to the girls, Princess raised her brows but had a look that she very well knew why. It'd be difficult for her not to be aware.
Quickly Blossom followed with, "their dad is doing some work with the Professor, he wanted to see them before they came over."
"Oh, cool," other than Princess and the girls no one else had really met the 'parents' of the Rowdys, they knew Marion was a guardian and didn't push it further. Nervously Blossom chugged her water before putting the cup down louder than she had intended.
Leaning across, Robin grabbed her glass, "I'll refill this for you, Bloss."
"You really don-," but Robin was already gone before Blossom could protest.
Jeff proceeded to pass some of his history notes over to Blossom since he was in the same honors class as she and Brick were, she was kneeling on a pillow beside him and started scribbling out what he was explaining to her. Something about a paper that was due at the end of March and worth 1/3rd of their grade.
Mitch muttered to the room, his own commentary, "and this is why I don't take any honors classes." Buttercup was already up and snagging another cookie and a juice box but she gave him a light smack on the back of the head.
"We all know that's not why," she smirked and he playfully flipped her off, in truth Mitch could absolutely take a few honors courses, he just decided it didn't go with his plans for the future.
It had taken a few minutes but Blossom realized that Robin had been gone for longer than she should've been, she was just about to stand up and say something when Robin's voice rang clear from the doorway, "look who arrived! Now we have everyone!" The three Jojo brothers followed on her heels, they looked to be in better spirits after their visit with Mojo.
With an over exaggerated flair Boomer pointed at Buttercup, "you! Don't you move a muscle!" She froze awkwardly while the boys said their 'hellos' to the rest of the group. Boomer had both Blossom and Bubbles pulled into each arm, "I'm so glad to see you guys." Bubbles just laughed and Blossom gave him an awkward pat on the back, Brick extracted both sisters from his brothers grasp. He dropped his bag by Bubbles but not before removing a brown paper bag, marching over to Buttercup he said, "hands out."
"Uhhhh," doing as she was told she was confused and silent when he plopped the paper bag into her hands. It was soft and light, realization dawned on her and her eyes darted to meet his, "you didn't."
"I did," he was so smug and proud of himself, she wanted to punch that cute look off of his stupid face.
"Watcha got there, Butterbitch?" Mitch was teasing from his spot on the couch.
"N-nothing!" She was flushed and even her ears were turning bright red at this, quickly she hid the bag behind her back.
Holding up two fingers Boomer beamed, "I'm a man of my word."
"Sh-shut up!" She pushed his face away with her hand before plopping back down on the floor.
Boomer was thoroughly enjoying this reaction out of her, someone as tough as Buttercup rarely let their guard down and seeing her flustered from his actions made him want to do it again. He knew she wasn't big on hugging so he did second-best.
"So what is it?" Elmer asked, which got him a 'leave-it-alone' look from Buttercup.
Snorting from his spot on the couch Pablo took a shot, "lemme guess, two sandwiches?"
"If you don't want 'em I'll-," but Mitch was unable to finish as Buttercup blurted.
"No! I'll eat them…," there was nothing more she wanted to do than to bury Mitch alive right now.
"Alright, everyone," Robin clapped her hands together, "lets get started! I'll order the pizzas in an hour but the snacks are on the table and drinks are in the cooler beneath it, if you want water I can get you a glass- oh!" Turning and dashing out of the room yet again Robin quickly returned with a fresh glass of water and handed it to Blossom, "I totally forgot, Bloss, sorry."
Waving it off Blossom took the glass, "no big deal, you're a great hostess, Robin."
Brick only side eyed how close Blossom was sitting to Jeff but decided to sit on her other side, she was surprised but Brick was already pulling out his own notebook and laptop, "so Jeff explained about this paper, right?" Glad they were all in the same class so he had a reason to sit beside her that wouldn't look like he was vying for her attention. Little did he know that Mary, Robin, and Princess exchanged a knowing look before returning to their previous tasks.
Plopping himself down between Mike and Buttercup, Boomer proceeded to pull out some notecards, holding them up for her to look at he said, "I figured we could put the formulas on here and we can run them."
Tearing off the corner of what ended up being a pb&j, Buttercup popped it into her mouth and nodded, "sounds good." As much as she didn't need to be this close to him after what had happened she also didn't want to toss him away.
Sam scooted so he was behind Bubbles on the couch which Butch wanted to ignore but Sam patted the seat beside him, "dude, sit down already."
As much as Butch wanted to be close to Bubbles he also knew that this wasn't a good scenario, it'd been driving him crazy since they parted ways Wednesday night, and here she was acting like nothing had happened. He thought he'd be fine since their date was tomorrow night but apparently his hormones and feelings were having a field day. Leaning slightly over Sam, Butch tapped Mike's shoulder, "hey man, do you have the print out from Mrs. Lane's class? I can't find mine."
With a laugh Mike held up the print out, "funny you should mention it, I'm working on it now so," he looked around, "Sam, switch with Butch so he can see the prompt." That hadn't been Butch's intention in the slightest but Samson acquiesced and scooted so that Butch was between him and Mitch. He was sitting behind Bubbles who, while copying notes, jotted down a 'hi' before erasing it. She appeared to be smiling to herself as she answered a question Princess had asked aloud to the room, before returning to her work.
Several pizzas had been delivered and only two slices remained in the center of the coffee table in the box. Most of the snacks had made their way onto the table or beside someone as they worked on essays and homework. It being their junior year they wanted it to come to a perfect end, there was an endless amount of pressure for entering the 'real world'.
By the time Boomer looked up from his English paper he took notice of everyone in the room, giving his eyes and brain a break. Buttercup was beside him chewing on the end cap of her pen as she scribbled out additional notes she hadn't caught up on yet. She looked comfortable and at ease being surrounded by friends. Behind him sitting crisscross was Princess, her expertly curled hair now pulled into a messy top knot as they night had gone on. Robin was beside her explaining a theory from their physics class, she was in Pablo's sweatshirt but since they were rather similar in size it didn't swallow the brunette up whole.
Pablo had migrated across the room to work on a group project with Samson, they had finalized the research tonight and were discussing divvying up the slides. Pablo had kept his glasses on the entire time, he explained he was still sensitive to light which had lead to a terrible vampire joke from Elmer. Mitch was still hogging the corner of the sectional, doing some reading for his literature class, every so often he'd roll over and point out a word to Mike or Bubbles sitting below him and then roll back once they'd pronounced it.
Mike was currently marking up a hard draft of an essay for Bubbles, the pink ink getting all over his fingers as he absentmindedly forgot about it whenever Mitch interrupted him. Boomer was shocked and a little worried when he realized that Bubbles was leaning against Butch's leg that was hanging off of the sofa, but what confused him was the fact that Butch hadn't pushed her off or said anything rude. In fact, it seemed like his brother was enjoying the attention and glanced at the blonde any time she seemed to shift before returning to the same book that Mitch was reading for their class.
As if the night couldn't get any weirder Boomer found himself looking over at Blossom and Brick who were in a serious discussion about industrial law, but they seemed to be having fun as they sat close and… Every time she looked away from him Brick would immediately say something so she was looking back at him instead. He'd noticed this kind of behavior lately from Brick but was still in denial, there was no way his boss of a brother was into the leader of the Powerpuff Girls. That would be absurd.
Jeff seemed to be typing away on his laptop, engrossed in a paper he had due next week. He had one headphone in his ear as his head bobbed along to something that Boomer was only sure he'd be able to hear if he focused in. Mary was returning from the kitchen with a glass of water, she'd been working on editing some photos on her laptop for her photography class, helping both him and Elmer when they'd gotten stuck a few times on their own subjects.
Thankfully someone finally said something, Elmer stood and stretched, "if I try to make my brain focus on schoolwork for one more minute I'm pretty sure I'll explode into a pile of mush." They'd all been at it for roughly three hours, it was almost 10 but that wasn't even close to being late on a Friday night.
"Thank you lord," Mitch groaned and bookmarked his place, "I'm pretty sure I've been reading the same paragraph for the last 15 minutes."
Handing over her paper, Mike leaned against the table and skeptically looked over at Mitch, "yeah, I figured that one out when you asked me about 'agronomial' for the third time."
Mitch scowled and tossed his book into his bag, "it's a weird looking word."
Robin pointed at all three of the girls, "did you get all the missing notes?"
"Gimmie a few more minutes," Buttercup shooed at the air and continued to jot down the remaining notes.
"Do we," Pablo seemed a bit concerned, "do we have to leave right away?" Robin practically leapt across part of the table and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend.
"Of course not, baby! Mom said everyone can stay as long as they'd like."
Packing away her laptop Princess chimed in, "besides, we aren't technically out past curfew, we're at someone's house. Last I checked that was still allowed, we just can't be loitering around the streets." Pausing she added, "not that I've ever loitered in the streets."
Jeff figured he could add his own two cents to this conversation, "I mean, we are with the safest people we can be with right now, although my brother is picking me up in an hour." Brick was aware he wasn't going to be Jeff's ride home that night, he'd felt bad enough when he'd taken his spare chair instead of his usual one but Jeff had seemed pleased since he could come out earlier with everyone.
Already Robin was fiddling with the remote and putting a random channel on tv, nothing as serious as the news though. Bubbles stood and stretched, she'd been on the floor for so long, she already noticed that Blossom was doing the same but she was bent over at the waist. While everyone seemed to be moving around Bubbles noticed a quick flash of red as Brick pulled his cap fully down his face and turned away from her sister. He mumbled something about taking a step outside and was across the room in seconds and out on the patio.
Mary and Princess sniggered and exchanged a knowing look with one another, Bubbles was about to ask something when she was interrupted by two hands on her hips guiding her to the side, "as great as this angle is, sugar tits, I need to get up and move too."
It was probably the most typical Butch-like thing he'd said in awhile, and he'd been able to keep a crooked grin on his face while doing it as well. Bubbles raised an eyebrow at him and was about to give him a playful smack when Buttercup growled from across the table, "don't make me kick your ass, Jojo."
"I love it when you talk dirty, babe," he gave her a roguish wink and laughed. Lucky for him Boomer was at her elbow and held her back, however he gave Butch an admonishing look.
"This is why we can't have nice things."
Moving past Samson Butch just shrugged, "you say that like it's my fault."
Blossom decided to step up to be the mother in this situation, "you two, time out from one another. Buttercup, go outside and calm yourself, and, Butch," she wasn't really sure what to say, "just keep your mouth shut for 5 minutes."
Indignant, Buttercup had a hand on her chest, "me? I didn't do anything! He was being gross. To our sister!"
"I can handle it myself, Buttercup," Bubbles reminded her. She began helping Mike move all their bags over to the wall and away from their set up, many of the cushions on the floor got tossed back onto the sectional.
"How does a comedy sound?" Robin looked at those present while Buttercup huffed and joined Brick outside.
He jumped when he heard the door close, turning around he looked confused, "why're you out here?"
"What? Am I not allowed?" She cocked a hip to the side, her arms crossed.
Waving his hands at her Brick defensively said, "I didn't say that, but jeeze, don't get pissed at me." The heat from his face had vanished finally and he'd been considering going in but he felt like he'd be a jackass if he left as soon as she came out.
"Your girlfriend sent me outside to 'calm down'," it had been a little joke to rile up Blossom lately with their weird rivalry turned friends deal.
"She's not my girlfriend," so much for calming himself down, his face flushed and his ears even went red. Immediately he covered his face with his hands and gave a frustrated groan. He really wanted her to be his girlfriend though, not that he knew how she felt about him or anything. If he hadn't known better he would've suspected that Red had bent over like that on purpose, he could just make out the faint color of her pink panties through those stupid white pants and he had never felt like a bigger horndog in his life.
Buttercup went on ignoring his reaction, still bent out of shape that she was being punished for Butch being a gross asshole. "Your brother is a douche."
"Which one?"
Scoffing as if it were obvious she gestured towards the room, "Butch, ugh, I thought he'd become more chill lately and he wasn't being such a creep."
Now Brick knew for a fact that Butch had eased down on his womanizing behavior and flirtiness, so this surprised him to a point, "to you?"
"Not really," she grumbled, "he just keeps calling Bubbles 'sugar tits' and it's gross and shes, ya know, Bubbles!" Even though Bubbles was proving she wasn't as sweet or oblivious lately she still didn't want anyone messing with her.
Rubbing his lower lip in thought for a second Brick said, "look, I'll talk to him. They get along better than I thought they would," honestly they all got along better than any of them anticipated but that wasn't the point. "He's just an idiot."
This made Buttercup laugh, "you're fuckin' right about that." A thought came to her then, "so wait, why are you out here? Bloss didn't punish you."
She absolutely did. "I tend to run a little hot," with a flick of his wrist his palm held a bright crimson flame. Closing his hand and meeting his fingers together seemed to extinguish it, "you know how shit is."
Meanwhile, Bubbles had dropped some of the empty glasses off on the counter and was turning around to leave when she noticed Butch in the doorway. "You know where the bathroom is in this place?" The house wasn't massive or anything but at least he'd had the sense to ask and not wander all over the place opening random doors.
She looked smug, "of course," clasping her hands behind her back she tilted her chin upwards.
"Well," he let Mike move past his back and asked, "can you show me where?"
"If you ask nicely."
Lowering his head Butch raised his eyebrows, he should've expected as much, "please?" He wasn't sure if she was mad at him or not from his comment towards her or her sister, but he didn't need to make his feelings obvious around their friends. She had to know that, right?
Appearing satisfied she turned around and led him out of the kitchen and towards one of the hallways downstairs, "the half bath is down the hall, last door on the right."
"Thanks," he brushed by her, weighing his options in the seconds he had to get to the bathroom. He was barely inside the doorframe when he said, "shit, where the hell is the light switch?" His hand patted the wall beside him, purposefully avoiding it at all costs.
"I know you're smarter than that," Bubbles was walking down the hall, her arm in the door and fingers about to flick the switch on when he pulled her into the room. The door closed and he flicked the light on with one hand while the other held her waist. The fan was buzzing overhead and she felt herself pressed against the sink counter, he wasn't closing the little distance between them though. "Butch-," she was quiet and about to question him when his other hand grabbed her waist before lifting to sit her down on the counter.
This time he had certainly gotten her flustered, pursing her lips she closed her eyes and turned her face away, arms crossed over her chest. Too late to turn back now he placed both hands on the counter on either side of her before leaning in, keeping his voice low he said, "you've been making my brain go crazy since you left the other night, you know that right?"
Curious, Bubbles opened one eye and looked at him, "your lines aren't going to work on me tonight, Butch."
"So," he tilted his head and she opened the other eye to look at him, "they'll work on a different night?" Was there a hopeful edge to his tone?
"You know what I mean," she was close to pouting and he could hear it in her voice. It was the same tone she'd use before making a point.
"Look, you know I wasn't flirting with Buttercup, right?" This got her face to soften, he took that as a good sign though.
She bit the inside of her cheek before responding, "I know, it's just not nice to tease me." It was the first thing that came to her mind, she did like him, and she didn't want to be some Rowdyruff joke.
A little worried by this he leaned back an inch, "you know I wouldn't tease you like that, besides I thought you'd want to keep things quiet for now."
"I do," agreeing with him, her posture relaxed and her hands folded into her lap, "it's just that, I like you, so I don't think my brain is using common sense right now." The other night had truly solidified that for her, it was so easy for her to say aloud and she wanted to use common sense but in those scenarios it felt like all rational thought escaped her. Butch hadn't said anything, he just froze, inside he was in a conflicting bubble of wanting to puke and wanting to kiss her. He'd known he had liked her for awhile, but hearing her say it felt so good.
Worried that he hadn't reacted she peered quizzically at his face, "are you-," but her voice seemed to bring him out of that strange lull, there was a light flush creeping on his cheeks and his eyes looked so bright.
"C-can you say that again?" Just to make sure he'd heard right.
"Um," she wasn't exactly sure what he was asking of her right now, "you mean that I'm not using common sense?" But as soon as those words were out of her mouth she could tell that wasn't what he'd meant. It was sweet, she couldn't help but soften her lips into a smile. This wasn't a side she had been expecting from him, she was pleasantly surprised. Placing both hands on either side of his face she looked him directly in the eye, "I like you."
There it was. A stupid amount of relief flooded his chest when she said it again, he'd never realize it but he'd been starved for affection, genuine affection that didn't come from his brothers or fathers. Her hands felt good on his skin and her words were something he'd been longing to hear. As if it were the next natural thing to do he leaned forward and closed the space between them, he didn't want this to come off as hungry and lingered lightly.
He'd felt her shift back slightly, but before he could pull away her hands were at the collar of his shirt and she pulled him in deeper, her mouth soft and yielding for him. Butch's left hand came up and cupped the base of her head, his thumb grazing the small earrings in her lobe as he pulled her closer into his kiss. He could taste the sweetness of the bubblegum she'd been chewing while studying, and sweet would've been the only way he'd describe her before this. Bubbles was an all consuming flame the way her fingers wrapped themselves around the back of his skull and through his hair, her tongue flicked across his in a teasing manner and lightly along his lips, he could feel her smile every time his breath caught in his throat.
Breathless they pulled apart, her eyes were half lidded and looked darker to Butch, and he could feel the light tickle of sparks dancing off of their skin from their powers reacting, even he knew his eyes were likely ignited. Frozen they stayed clinging to one another, they just barely caught the sound of approaching footsteps before a small knock came at the door and Mike called, "hey man, we're about to put on that Robin Hood parody, you good?"
Blinking with relief that it was only Mike, Butch turned his head slightly before answering, "yeah, dude, had something stuck in my eye but I'll be out in a sec."
"Alright, don't take too long or people will think you clogged the toilet or something," he laughed before turning and walking back down the hall.
As his footsteps faded behind the door Butch looked down at Bubbles who had been biting her lip to suppress a grin, releasing it she said only one thing, "shit." For a reason he couldn't explain that made him want her more but instead he just pressed a kiss to her forehead while pulling her in closer.
"I'll head out in a minute, you should go before me though," he was a bit embarrassed but he'd been aroused and needed some time to slap some cold water on his face.
Forcing herself to keep eye contact with him she pulled her lips in before nodding, "yeah, I'll see you out there." She was backing out of the door, her eyes slipped and her face was red as she tried not to slam it behind her. Clapping her hands over her mouth she squeezed her eyes shut trying to quell the giddiness riding through her. How had that even happened? Exhaling she shook her hands and slapped her cheeks a few times before walking back through the kitchen and into the back room.
Blossom was now tucked into the corner of the sectional, her legs pulled beneath her. Noticing Bubbles enter the room she looked at her, immediately recognizing something was off, pointing to her own lips she asked the blonde, "why are your lips so swollen?"
Freezing for only a second she quickly caught herself, "I think I'm allergic to my new lip gloss, I'll have to toss it when we go home."
"Oh," something seemed off about that statement but she didn't want to be any more overbearing than she had been earlier, "I have some lip balm in the front pocket of my bag, you can use that if it's bothering you."
"Thanks!" She grinned at her sister, but while rummaging through the pocket and applying it couldn't help but think to herself crying, 'forgive me, Blossom, I'll replace it with a new one tomorrow.'
Buttercup was already beside Robin on the couch, as Brick began to pass she grabbed him by the belt and yanked him into the seat beside Blossom before moving to beckon Bubbles over, "hey! Sit here!" Brick was frozen not sure what had just happened. Buttercup forced Bubbles between them, locking her in place by throwing one of her legs over her lap. Bubbles was unsure what had just happened, turning to Brick she was about to ask but one look at his face told her he had checked out for the foreseeable future.
He was already hyper aware of Blossom and he'd been planning to sit next to Mike or Mary, this kind of ruined that chance for him though. Blossom pulled her legs in front of her and wrapped her arms around them, part of her midriff was exposed and Brick averted his eyes. I am scum. For all the time they spent together he could keep his head level overall, he'd almost failed at Princess's party a few weeks ago but he'd gotten his shit together thanks to divine intervention disguised as a puking sophomore.
Butch went largely unnoticed in the room as he entered, but he sure noticed Buttercup narrowing her eyes at him and Bubbles stuffed between her and Brick. That was enough for him to sit on the other sofa next to Elmer and Mitch, he was in no shape to verbally spar with her with his head still reeling.
Boomer leaned over to Mike and whispered, "you know how dogs can sense when a tsunami is coming? I'm like that too, but with people," something felt off to him in the room but he couldn't quite put a name on it. Likely because he'd never suspect his brothers to be the source of the electricity in the air.
"This is one of my favorites," Robin flicked the lights out before jumping back on the sofa between Buttercup and Pablo, the opening music swelled before the intensity of violins and drums escorted in the picture of archers with flaming arrows.
~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~
~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~
Friday Night – City of Townsville
Sitting in the passenger seat of the squad car Miranda pinched the bridge of her nose as she hung up the phone. Beside her was Matsuo flipping the ignition off as he stared at her, "what did Bellum say?" The chief and Sarah Bellum had been in constant contact over the last few weeks, this was the first time that a call had had to be made in regards to an attack since Valentine's Day.
"She said if it's under control to not call the girls," shaking her head Miranda unbuckled herself, "but the mayor is being pushed to lift the curfew since it's been quiet and it sounds like he's going to relent despite her and his son trying to reason with him."
Exiting the vehicle at the crime scene they came around the front of the vehicle to further witness the flashing lights and yellow crime scene tape being put up. The ambulance on scene was bustling and they both knew they'd have to see to the surviving witness as soon as they cleared things up with their people. It was a side street that wasn't frequented much, mostly closed businesses and a popular Chinese take-out place, thankfully with it being nearly midnight the area was clear of civilians and nosey onlookers. Turning down the alley beside Hwongs the carnage was clear.
A crumpled and overturned dumpster was smashed into the back wall, some concoction of garbage was leaking out of one of the busted corners, the smell was almost nonexistent against the metallic stench of blood that coated the ground and brick walls. The carnage was nothing comparable to what had happened a few weeks ago, but it was disturbing all the same.
"Is it bad that I'm missing crime scenes that involved bullets?" Detective Marley's gruff voice came from the direction of the remains of the corpse. He was hovering over it, a sour expression on his hardened face.
Coming to stand beside him Miranda took a good look at what had been done; the guy had definitely tried to get away, he'd been on his belly and the stump of his remaining arm to the elbow was stretched out in front of him. The other arm was completely gone, either those things had eaten it or they'd be finding it in the vicinity. The spine was exposed, looking like the creature had been trying to rip it out of the man's back, the tail end of his spine dangled with sinew on the damp ground.
"Where are the legs?" Miranda couldn't believe she even had to ask that but here they were.
Without looking at her, Marly pointed towards the corner closest to the dumpster, "pieces of his pelvis are still there hanging out inside of the remains of his pants, but the legs aren't anywhere nearby. Thing probably ate them."
It turned her stomach but she went on, "alright then… can you explain why the head is covered?" It was just a white sheet, a spare similar to what the coroners would be bringing along shortly. Marley must've had one in his car.
Straightening up he gestured to past the police tape where Miranda now noticed a pale Officer Morgan standing, one of the EMTs taking her blood pressure. "Kid nearly passed out, she might want to be a detective someday but she's got a weak as shit stomach."
Matsuo crossed his arms, "all the photos at the academy won't prepare anyone for the real deal, cut the kid a break."
Giving an unsatisfied grunt Detective Marley maneuvered by the head and squatted down. Lifting the corner of the sheet he just raised his eyebrows at his superiors. Miranda felt sick to her stomach; the guy's face was practically flayed on one side, the discolored eye hanging out of the socket was frozen in panic. Most of the scalp was gone as was some of the skull itself, fragments of brain leaked out of the side, fluid drained slowly from the corpse. Dropping the sheet, Marley just stood and looked at them both blankly.
"Not so different than some of the suicides we've run into in the past," he was shrugging it off.
Matsuo opened his mouth before closing it again, he looked at Miranda, "can we get a psych eval done on Detective Marley?"
Insulted that the Lieutenant would even bring that up he grumbled, "I don't need to talk to a fuckin' shrink. I'm fine."
"That's the problem," he wasn't going to be pushed around by the grizzled man, "I'm even shaken up looking at that, it's concerning how calm you are-," he was stopped when Miranda held her hand up to silence them both.
"That's enough, we'll talk about this later." She knew Alex had their best intentions in mind but she didn't need to lose a competent detective on this case. "Do you know who he is?"
"Not yet, but from what the witness said I bet we have a photo of him in our database." Shaking his head Marley gave a low whistle, "guy should be dead. I guess God really does protect children and fools."
From the small crowd Miranda could see Dr. Kepner making his way with Elise by his side. "Coroner is here," she noted the heavy camera around Elise's neck and already wasn't looking forward to the photos she'd be overseeing later on. "Lieutenant," she gestured at Alex who was ready to fly into his next step, "you monitor those two, I'm going to talk to the survivor."
"They already got his statement," Marley stated but Miranda ignored him.
Walking back through the alley she noticed Detective Bryant standing outside of the ambulance going through his notebook. He noticed her quickly and smiled but it wasn't his toothpaste commercial grin, it was tense and reserved, "Chief, I just wrapped up with the survivor."
"Good, you can stand beside me while I ask a few questions of my own," she held her hand out for his notepad and flipped through the few pages before returning to the name. Already she was regretting this, "So, William W. Williams," his sluggish voice interrupted her.
"Awh, you can jus' call me Big Billy," he took up most of the interior of the ambulance. His left arm was heavily bandaged and continued to stain a darker red. An IV was already hooked up into him and his one large blue eye was heavily lidded, the EMT who had been working on him was checking his blood pressure once more.
"He wouldn't stop hollering and he wouldn't let us patch him up, I gave him a sedative but we have to leave soon."
"Give me a minute and you can take him away, I just want to check a few things." Crouching in the interior of the ambulance she continued, "so, Billy," the children and fools comment was making a lot more sense now, "can you tell me why you were in that alley?"
Groggy he was slack jawed as he tried to remember, "I was in da alley 'cause the guy who tried to take my money was screamin' for help."
A little confused she asked, "that man back there tried to rob you?"
"Uh-huh," he nodded his large head, ginger colored hair flapped against his skull, "but I don' got the money on me."
"So why were you out here?"
"I like to feed the cats."
It seemed so simple to him, but Miranda gave Bryant a quick look and he explained, "there's a ripped up bag of cat food further down the block. Billy here really like cats," his voice stretched to sound cheery and the incapacitated man smiled broadly from the gurney.
"Ace says m' not allowed to bring any more home so I come out and feed em' an' pet em'."
"Did you see the cats tonight, Billy?"
Suddenly the man looks very worried and struggled to sit up, "no, I gotta go an' feed 'em," he shifted on the gurney and Miranda noticed he had been restrained but she doubted that would do much if he had been able to use his strength.
Thinking quickly Detective Bryant said, "I'll go feed them for you, Billy, you need to go to the hospital first. Where do you feed them?"
This seemed to calm the man enough to where he nodded, "day live down the next street, next to the place where you cans clean your clothes." Blinking slowly with that great glassy eye he said, "don' let that slimy monster get 'em. Days good cats."
"Uh huh," Miranda nodded and looked over the notes again, "so you said this monster grabbed the man when he was trying to take your money that you didn't have?"
"Yup, he ripped up the bag with his knife and I pushed him real far. He tumbled over backwards," he chuckled, "he looked funny." Suddenly Billy's face changed like he was thinking about something really hard, "but then he didn't."
"So when did you get hurt, Billy?" Saying his name seemed to be keeping him focused on her questions.
"I tol' you when the man was screamin', that slimy monster was tryin' ta eat him so I threw the dumpster at it, but then it wrapped it's burny arm around mine and it hurt me. Oh," he shifted but realized he couldn't move, "he dropped his stuff out of his pockets, I picked it up so I could take it to the lost n' found."
Bryant leaned over, "he didn't tell me that."
"O.K., Billy, we'll take that stuff to the lost and found after we get you to the hospital," she nodded at the EMT, "thanks." Then to Billy, "you've been a big help, thanks, Billy." He looked pleased as his head rested with a low 'thunk' onto the padded material. Stepping out of the ambulance she and Bryant closed the doors and beckoned for the driver to come over. "So this thing really is targeting criminals, but it didn't kill Billy even though he's part of The Gangreen Gang."
"They've been on the up-and-up for a while now, but he's got a few more nasty marks that you didn't see, half his back is open, I'm thinking had this thing not been interrupted it would've finished him off."
"Why do you think it sto-," Miranda was mid question when she heard shouts coming from beyond the police tape. The ambulance was already scooting it's way down the street and away from the scene when two officers were pushing yet another familiar face to the ground.
"Whe' is he? Youse tell me right now, whes' Billy?" Ace was frenzied, his dark glasses were skewed on his face as he was forced to kneel.
"Take it easy," Miranda raised her hand, and Ace scowled at her, "Billy is being taken to the hospital, he's a little banged up but he's alive and O.K."
Ace stilled and Miranda signaled for the two officers to let him go, as he got to his feet Ace dusted off the sleeve of his shirt, "Chief, m' not losin' anudder brotha' to dat ting. Youse all said youse had it unda control, Billy wouldn' hurt a fly." Not exactly true, but he wouldn't hurt anyone without one of the gang telling him to do so or if he felt like he was in danger. "Wara' the 'Puffs?"
"This incident was under control so there was no need to call them," Miranda still didn't know how she felt about that but had also seen the burn out in their faces the past few weeks.
"Dose girls woulda come fo' Billy," Ace sounded bitter. He knew that they would've raced to save Billy had they known he was in trouble. He'd saved their lives before and they knew he meant well.
"By the time we were made aware of the situation the creature was already gone, now please, Mr. Coppler," turning to a blank page she scribbled a few things down on it before tearing it out and handing it over to him, "if anyone tries to stop you from seeing him just give them this information, if they are still resistant then call my cell on there and I'll head down myself."
Reluctantly Ace took the paper, looking it over he folded it into a square and tucked it into his shirt pocket, "this don' make us even, Ah'm still fuckin pissed." Turning around he pushed his way back through the crowd of officers and the arriving news vans.
Matsuo arrived by Miranda's side and gestured with his head for Bryant to join his partner. "Looks like the sharks smelled blood in the water. You know what you're gonna tell them?"
Frustrated she huffed, "no, we don't leak the cause of this to the public, no photos or names get out. Nothing." Her free hand was fiddling with the necklace she always wore, "I'll call Blossom in the morning, no point in dragging them out now, and by the sound of things our jobs are going to be a lot harder if this curfew is lifted." Jamming the notebook into her jacket pocket she gestured to Alex, "c'mon, lets get rid of these vultures."
With a tired smile Alex matched her stride, "it's what I do best."