Storm
Trivia: Liberty Bell is from the episode "Super Zeroes".
UPDATED (3/7/2020): Fixed some grammar, fixed writing style, added some more details. And, most importantly, fixed up the ending a little so no one gets upset lol
Check out my Instagram, kiebsmon, for a picture of the aliens!
Chapter 6: The Reaction
She was right there, but he didn't believe it. She was close enough that if he stood and took maybe five steps forward, he could touch her. But she couldn't be here. She was dead, wasn't she? Except... They had never found the body. They had never found a trace of her. No blood, not a hide nor hair. She could have been incinerated, but he had highly doubted that. So where had she been? No…if they never found her and the rebels nor another Resistance branch had had her, that left only one other option…
Was this what Boomer had been trying to tell him earlier?
His surprise was short-lived and Brick fixed Blossom with a steely leer. He could feel the familiar feeling of hate flood his veins at the mere sight of her, something akin fizzling heat that rushed through his limbs. How dare she stand there, a smug look on her face, and pretend that she could easily become a part of his Resistance. She was gone for too long. She was no longer their shining beacon. She had abandoned them all. And if she had been where he thought she had been…
Brick gritted his teeth in displeasure, in anger, in hatred. The hot feeling in his veins was so familiar and something he hadn't felt in a long, long time. He knew what it was. Of course, he knew what it was. He had felt it every time he had laid his eyes on the woman standing before him for many years. His fingers twitched. Heat began to gather in his chest, in his throat.
He took a deep, deep breath.
As he focused on controlling this feeling, trying to keep himself seated and nonchalant, Princess exclaimed in disbelief, "B-B-Blossom!?"
A vindictive and victorious smirk formed on Buttercup's face as she crossed her arms. She looked very haughty as she looked down at the officer. "Who's dead, Prince-ass?"
Cheeks flushed, Princess didn't have a chance to answer as, from an almost imperceptible nod from Brick, Bubbles alighted on the stage. She stood directly in front of Blossom and the redhead stared back at her. She could feel the emotions raging and boiling inside of her blonde sister, but nothing was betrayed on that pale, beautiful face of hers.
They stared at each other for a whole minute before Bubbles asked in the most enthralling of voices, "Tell me the truth. Who are you? List any and all names, aliases, and titles."
"My name is Blossom Utonium, creation and daughter of Professor John B. Utonium, sister of Bubbles Utonium and Buttercup Utonium," she responded, not fully comprehending why she was saying all of this. "Leader of the Powerpuff Girls, defenders of the City of Townsville, counterpart of the leader of the Rowdyruff Boys, Brick Jojo. There was once a time where I went by the name of Liberty Bell, but that was short-lived."
She said all this without much feeling, though something told her she should be worried about how willingly she had. This was information that she would willingly give up, but the way she said it… Something felt off. Frowning, she focused on Bubbles' eyes and, despite her moral sense telling her not to, prepared to read her sister's mind.
However, before she could do so, Bubbles was again asking her something in that very enticing voice.
"Where have you been for the last eight years?"
There was a hint of hesitation and apprehension in her voice now. It didn't mar the strange, alluring tone of it, though. If anything, it made it even more alluring, but Blossom was strangely incoherent to this fact.
A wave of apprehension hit her, but if it was from herself, Buttercup, or Bubbles, she wasn't sure. She knew that at least a little part was from herself, but how much that little part was, she had no idea. She also knew that she had a reason to be hesitant about telling Bubbles where she had been, but her mind was fuzzy.
A familiar kind of fuzzy that set alarm bells off in her head and panic add to the apprehension in her heart. At the same time, she felt perfectly at ease, if only because of that lovely voice. It really was a lovely voice, Bubbles had been thinking of joining choir that summer so many years ago, and time had only been good to her. Blossom could almost ignore the fuzzy feeling, could almost ignore the alarms going through her mind as she focused on her sister's voice.
She knew she had felt that almost feeling of ease before, but couldn't place where. A flicker of red passed her vision and it had nothing to do with the man sitting before her. The lovely feeling muffled the dread that threatened to curl up her throat.
Her stomach felt like it was knotting. She took deep breaths in an attempt to fix it so she could answer her sister.
"I…was taken by the aliens," Blossom finally answered, pressing the heel of her right hand to the spot just above her right eye as a strong throb hit her. The low rumblings from the amassed people present most likely caused this. "And I don't… I can't remember anything else…"
Stunned, Bubbles was silent for a moment before asking softly, her voice losing some of its alluring quality, "You remember nothing?"
Looking at her with weary eyes, the blonde woman was surprised to see how…defeated Blossom appeared. It wasn't clear on her face and it was barely visible in her eyes, but for someone who had grown up with her, who had been born with her, it was more than apparent. Despite the cold, ironclad defenses she had raised over the years, Bubbles felt the familiar throb in her chest. Her leader—
Closing her eyes, she mentally shook her head.
No. Her ex-leader had never shown that she was defeated. Never. Not when facing Mojo for the first time, not when facing the Rowdyruff Boys, not even with Him. She did not show defeat.
Something terrible must have happened.
"Nothing that would prove useful," Blossom answered quietly. She sighed and spoke before Bubbles could ask what she remembered. "I remembered they…fed me well. And that…" She closed her eyes tightly, trying to focus on the gray, fluid-like memories. "And that dark me…Berserk." She spoke the name with enough venom that even Princess was wincing. "She was with me a lot. But I…I don't know why."
Still shocked, Bubbles, almost unwillingly, turned to see Brick's reaction.
The Resistance leader's face was painfully blank, but he was leaning forward as if to better hear what Blossom said. His mouth was pressed against his folded hands, his red gaze narrowed at the stage. There was a flicker in those eyes, but she couldn't read it. It had been a while since she couldn't read him. Moving her eyes from his face, she noticed just how tense his muscles were, just how still he held himself. It looked, if one really looked, as if he was awaiting an attack.
Bubbles knew why, of course. Unlike her and Buttercup (and she resentfully acknowledged this fact), both of whom had pretty consistent exposure to their counterparts, Brick had had no exposure to Blossom in ten years. Thus was why his body tensed, immediately ready for battle, ready to fight, at the mere sound of the pink-eyed woman's voice.
Pulling her gaze from Brick, Bubbles refocused on Blossom. For the most part, she looked the same. Older, yes, more beautiful, definitely, but still the same. Same long red hair, same straight posture, same analytical pink eyes. The look in those eyes, though, that was not the same. That scared and defeated look was not meant to be on her face. It was wrong. Her sister was never scared nor defeated in her memories. No matter what had happened, Blossom had always managed to figure something out, but that had been years ago and the woman before her was very much a stranger to her now.
"Am I really a stranger, Bubbles?"
Eyes widening, Bubbles felt her mouth open. She had been watching Blossom's face and, though she heard her ask that, her mouth had not moved.
"…how did you do that?" she asked, her voice hushed, the alluring quality now gone.
She knew that she should raise her voice, should make it so that everyone could hear, but she didn't want the shock in it to be made known. She had her pride, too, and Blossom's voice in her head was not something she wanted to share.
She would pretend that that she hadn't had the voice in her head for years now, helping her along the way despite her sister's absence.
Sighing softly and pushing some hair behind her ear, Blossom responded in a clear voice, "My second ability is telepathy. Not only can I read minds, I have the ability to project my thoughts into a limit of two people at a time." Her lips quirked a bit and she gave her youngest sister a half-smile. "I suppose that limit may have something to do with the empathy link the three of us share."
"Wait! You can read our minds!?" Princess exclaimed, sounding rather fearful.
The pink-eyed woman found this strange, despite knowing Princess' personality. If she was part of the Resistance, learning that the Powerpuff leader could read minds shouldn't be too much of a shock. After all, the Narcassians had a plethora of abilities. While she hadn't personally met anyone else with telepathy and her memories were still murky, at least half of the Narcassian populace had a special ability. Maybe her distress was because it was Blossom?
The frizzy haired woman took an unwilling step back as Blossom moved a bit to focus her eyes on her. She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes a little.
"Yes. I can read your mind," she answered, eyes glittering in dark amusement. Her brow furrowed and she shifted her gaze from Princess to Brick. "I don't believe you should be having such fantasies about your superior officer."
Princess flushed in embarrassment as multiple people, including Butch and most of the rebels, laughed at her predicament. She grumbled darkly and fixed a glare on Blossom, hating the smirk on the pink-eyed woman's face. She couldn't be the only one who had those thoughts about Brick. Hell, she knew that at least three other female officers in his unit had those thoughts. They had told her themselves, after all. Besides, who wouldn't have those kinds of thoughts about the man? He was gorgeous.
Even Blossom would have those kinds of thoughts after a day or so with Brick. Princess was almost sure of that.
"Please. Don't be vulgar," Blossom responded and Princess flushed again, realizing that she had, yet again, read her thoughts.
"W-Whatever," the officer snapped, looking away huffily. "At least I'm not the one breaking your precious little counterpart thing."
Eyebrows furrowing, Blossom frowned at this. What did Princess mean by that? Was Bubbles in a relationship with Butch or Brick? What did that matter?
Said blonde-haired woman had whipped around before Princess had even finished what she was saying and Blossom cast a curious glance at her sister. Outside of fighting, the Girls hadn't thought much of the whole counterpart thing seeing as they tried not to dwell on the Rowdyruff Boys. It shouldn't, and didn't, matter to her whether or not Bubbles was with her or Buttercup's counterpart. Not that she wasn't curious, she was, oh, she was, but if Butch or Brick was the one that Bubbles wanted, Blossom was fine with that.
"Now is not the time for gossip, Princess," Bubbles hissed coldly, blue eyes flashing.
"It may be gossip, but you have to admit, you two are rather cozy," the frizzy haired woman said, widening her eyes to feign innocence. "And isn't he your superior officer too?"
Blossom felt a sharp throb in her chest.
Startled by the strange feeling, the redhead felt her gaze move from Princess to Bubbles and then finally to Brick. Now staring at her counterpart, she realized that he was the superior officer Princess was referring to. The sharp pain happened again and Blossom, for the life of her, had no idea what it was. It shouldn't matter to her if Bubbles and Brick were together and she didn't care about their "counterpart thing".
She did not like that sting in her chest and chose to glare at said officer. Weird feelings aside, if Bubbles liked him, he had better treat her properly. She hoped she conveyed that with her gaze, refusing to even fancy the idea of sending a thought to him. That would be too intimate for her taut muscles to take.
"That is enough, Princess." Brick's eyes were dark as he pulled his gaze away from Blossom. He stared a moment at the thin woman, before standing. "This conference is adjourned. Bubbles, take your sister to her room."
"Yes, sir." Bubbles saluted Brick and that irked Blossom.
She didn't like how loyal her baby sister was to her archrival. Fixing him with another, darker glare, the pink puff crossed her arms, her chest still throbbing weirdly and the butterflies again fluttering helplessly when Brick turned to her again. His look was painfully blank and she found herself wishing for some emotion, even hatred, to make those dark red eyes burn.
Startled by that ludicrous longing, Blossom shook her head. She turned her gaze away despite the scowl at her unintended show of submission. She was more focused on whatever was wrong with her suddenly to care if he took that to mean she was giving submission of any type to him. If he thought so, he would be incredibly wrong.
Brick continued to stare at Blossom, committing the woman's features to memory. She still looked like when he had last seen her. Yes, less pumpkin-headed and with digits now and defined facial features, but still similar. Long, shiny hair, a scowl on her face, pink eyes that flashed with ice, and that insufferable bow on top of her head. It was ridiculous how much hadn't changed over the years. The burn in his blood certainly hadn't, filling his chest with hatred. Flames still curled in his stomach at the mere sight of her. He knew he would have to tolerate her for a while, but his hatred for the goody-goody had always been much stronger than his brothers' had been.
Taking a breath, he ripped his gaze from her as she shook her head. Yes, he would have to learn to tolerate her, but he would not allow her to become an officer. He didn't think she was trustworthy. Taken by aliens, indeed.
Turning, Brick left the cafeteria, Boomer on his heels. Bubbles watched him for a moment, before turning to Blossom. The redhead was also watching her counterpart, eyes unreadable, before she turned to the blue puff.
Sighing softly, knowing that her sister was going to be painfully cold to her, she smiled bravely at the blue-eyed woman. As much as it pained her to see her sweet little sister loyal to her one of her worst enemies, she decided to show her that she wasn't upset by that choice. After all, it was she and Buttercup who had left Bubbles alone and circumstances had changed.
"Come on then," the blue puff said, walking off the stage.
Blossom followed her, noticing that Buttercup was just a few steps behind her. It gave her an odd sense of completeness as they needled their way through the crowd and out the doors. Her sisters and she were together again.
Sure, two hadn't spoken in nearly a decade, she wasn't sure how much they had changed, and one considered her a threat, but it was nice that all three of them were together all the same. Even considering the circumstances, it was nice.
"So…you and Brick are 'cozy', huh?" Buttercup remarked and Bubbles whirled around, causing Blossom to stumble to a stop.
"And if we were, what does it matter to you?" the blue-eyed woman snapped, scowling at her dark-haired sister. Said woman merely raised an eyebrow and the blonde turned around, growling out, "No. There is nothing between me and Brick."
"You sound upset about that," Buttercup remarked and Blossom looked sharply at her green-eyed sister.
"I am not upset," Bubbles snarled as she stalked down the hallway.
Buttercup seemed oblivious to the anger radiating off the young woman, but with the fiery pangs coming through their empathetic link, Blossom was pretty sure that she was merely pretending. The anger was quite clear, the sharpest of the muted emotions from the blue puff.
With the anger, of course, came those piercing, red thoughts that stung her mind as they inundated it with their rage. Her breathing picked up with the pain, her vision blurring for a moment. Blearily blinking her eyes, she tried her best to keep the thoughts out. Maybe that was punishment for wanting to invade her sister's mind earlier.
"You sure? I mean, Brick is pretty hot and damn that body of his…" Buttercup let her voice trail off as Bubbles' shoulders stiffened.
The blonde let out an aggravated sigh, clenching her fists. "There is nothing between me and Brick. I am merely his assistant and nothing more. I am not his lover."
"Never said you were his lo—"
The deadly calmness of Blossom's voice cut her off.
"Enough, Buttercup," she said softly, eyes glued onto Bubbles' back. As curious as she was, the way her sister was tensing did not sit well with her. When they had been younger and Buttercup had teased Bubbles, the young woman's muscles had never been this tense. No, this tension was too similar to when Bubbles had fought. "It doesn't matter who Bubbles is or isn't with."
Buttercup huffed, crossing her arms. "Aw, c'mon, Bloss! Like you don't think this is a juicy bit of gossip."
Snorting, the red-haired woman raised an eyebrow at her sister. "Since when did you care about such trivial things as gossip?"
"Hey—" And again, Buttercup was cut off.
"You two seem rather close," Bubbles remarked, turning to the left.
Her sisters followed her and Buttercup frowned. "She's our sister. Of course we're close."
"Yes, she is our sister," the blonde conceded. "But she's been gone for eight years. Not to mention the fact that she was being held by the aliens."
Snarling, Buttercup glared at their youngest sister. "So!? You've been working with Mojo for eight years. You don't see me getting up in your face because of that."
"Mojo pledged to help get rid of the aliens," Bubbles responded heatedly, only causing her green sister to snort.
"Yeah, get rid of them and then take over the world for himself," she said darkly and the blonde threw a dirty look at her over her shoulder. "Hey, I only speak the truth."
Blossom watched as her sisters argued, torn between being worried and amused. She knew that they hadn't spoken for those eight years she had been gone and that any contact, she was sure, escalated into an argument such as what was now happening. On the other hand, watching them argue with each other was a familiar experience. The two women had always argued when they were younger. Of course, Buttercup had always been highly argumentative and made it an art of getting into arguments with both Bubbles and Blossom.
As their argument became a game of who could call the other something worse, Bubbles continued to lead them through the halls. Debating whether to interrupt the dispute, Blossom noticed a sign designating living quarters hanging from the ceiling as they made a right turn. In front of them now was an automated door and Bubbles typed in a code, all the while still arguing with Buttercup. The door opened with a pneumatic hiss and they walked through.
If Blossom was expecting anything fancy, she was disappointed.
Except for a change in color (from bright white, gray, and neon blue to umber, dark brown, and orange), nothing much had changed. The three women were still in a hall, but that hall opened up into a large commons. There was a small garden in the center of said area, lit by what looked like a large sunlamp, and there were multiple hallways branching off from it. The open area extended three floors (which Blossom didn't even realize there even were) and doors and more hallways could be seen from the floor of the common area.
Bubbles was stalking towards a hall on the right, still heatedly squabbling with Buttercup. Blossom followed slowly after, still taking in the sights of the commons. She was a little upset that there wasn't a skylight, but considering how unsafe that would be, she supposed the sunlamp made an adequate replacement.
The hallway took them past multiple doors until they finally reached one that had three circles on the door in green, a dark pinkish color, and blue. The argument between Bubbles and Buttercup had persisted until the door and it was finally grating on Blossom's nerves. The nostalgic feeling was gone and had been replaced by annoyance.
Letting out an aggravated sigh, the pink-eyed woman focused on her bickering siblings. Her eyes darkened, as they didn't seem to notice her displeasure.
"Can you two please stop?" she asked in a low voice. When neither stopped or acknowledged her, she spoke authoritatively, "Buttercup. Bubbles."
Immediately the two quieted and Blossom let a satisfied smile form on her face. It was very pleasing to see that her sisters still responded to her authority.
Of course, Bubbles was soon shaking her head and finished typing in the pass-code for the door as Buttercup raised an eyebrow at her redheaded sister. Smiling pleasantly in response, she redirected her attention to the open door.
"This is our…apartment, for lack of better terms," Bubbles said, waving her hand at the small living room. There was a couch, a loveseat, and a recliner in front of a large, flat-screen television with a black coffee table dead in the middle. There was also a bookshelf in the corner with a few books on it and mini-fridge on the bottom shelf.
Across from the entrance were three doors, each one being one of the signature colors of the Girls. On the left was a light blue one, in the middle a pink one, and on the right a light green one. Each door had a keypad next to it and, as the blue puff typed in a code on the pink door's keypad, something on her person beeped.
Frowning, Bubbles' eyes dropped to her communicator and she pulled out the cell phone-like device as Blossom walked into the room.
The rosy-eyed woman looked around, taking in everything. There was a bed in a small alcove on one side, covered in a pink and red comforter, on which sat her container of clothes from Ms. Keane. Next to the bed, but against the back wall, was a desk made of a light-colored wood. There was very little on the desk, save a red penholder and a dark magenta knit bag that Blossom recognized as the one that Mrs. Cavadini had given her. The Resistance soldiers had moved the rebels' possessions in already, then. Walking over to the desk, Blossom noted the open door leading to the bathroom and a dresser on the wall by the door to the living room.
Someone cleared their throat and the redhead turned to see Bubbles watching her with an unreadable look.
"I have a meeting and have to take Buttercup with me," she said and Buttercup looked surprised at that. "Do not leave your room."
Measuring her sister's expression, Blossom slowly nodded. "Okay."
Nodding, Bubbles continued to stare at her for a few more moments before turning. "Come on, Buttercup."
As Buttercup made a face at their younger sister, Blossom caught a stray thought from the blue puff. A thought that made her feel warm and surprised at the same time.
"I missed you, Blossom."
Blinking in surprise, she found herself blushing lightly as she watched her two sisters walk towards the front door. Nevertheless, a smile grew on her face.
Taking a breath, she called out, "I missed you too, Bubbles."
Her youngest sister paused before disappearing through the door.
Buttercup threw her a confused look before following the blonde. The pink puff just smiled at the door, sighing contently as she laid a hand on her crate of clothes. That small hesitation of Bubbles' had made her chest feel that much warmer than it had before.
"I DO NOT WANT HER HERE!"
Princess was screaming at the top of her lungs as the two sisters entered Conference Room B. It was a larger room, covering in dark panels and home to a single, long table with about twelve chairs around it. The room apparently also had wonderful acoustics.
Immediately, Buttercup slapped her hands over her ears as the shouting continued. It wasn't even solely from Princess, either. There were other Resistance commanding officers screaming at each other, each trying to prove that the other's logic was wrong. Butch's voice could be heard ringing out every now and then, mostly contributing with an insult or swear than anything helpful. Occasionally, the Professor, from behind Brick's chair, would attempt to speak, but his voice would die when Princess would send him a scathing glare. It was safe to say that it was complete pandemonium in the room.
Despite the noise level in the conference room being near deafening, Brick remained unaffected by it. He sat in his chair, eyes on the gathered people, but not truly seeing them. He didn't even notice Bubbles walk over and take a chair by him loyally or Buttercup beeline for Mitch, standing by a smirking Butch. His mind was miles away, still turning over the fact that his counterpart was alive.
He didn't want to believe it, no matter what his eyes had told him. It was too surreal, too much like some sick dream. It almost made him wonder if Him had decided to show up after so long and was twisting his mind into believing this warped reality. Because it had to be some kind of mind game, there was no way that she could be here.
And yet, his body still felt tense. A fire still burned in his chest and stomach and throat. If he looked down at his hands, they had repeatedly been clenching, trying to release energy and the desire to punch something. He breathed deeply.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, the noise in the room suddenly came rushing at him and tore away his tangled thoughts. Teeth gritting as the clamor assaulted his ears, he found himself experiencing a grievous headache. Just the icing to his nightmare of a day. He growled angrily, a guttural noise that was hidden by the racket of voices.
However, both Bubbles and Boomer had heard it quite clearly and the two glanced at their superior officer as his crimson eyes began glowing softly. Almost involuntarily, they shared a look as Brick let out an aggravated sigh through his nose and lowered his hand to the table, pushing down as he stood soundlessly.
Red eyes glaring at the angry people who didn't notice that he had stood, Brick barked in a loud voice, "ENOUGH."
Instantly, there was silence and the amassed officers turned to their leader with wide eyes. He regarded them darkly before shifting his gaze and focusing on Buttercup.
The rebel leader unwillingly gulped, shrinking back a bit as the full force of his gaze bore into her. She wondered briefly how Blossom managed to not cringe back whenever he glared at her with those bloody eyes. Then again, she reasoned, Blossom never had to face this Brick, only a younger, less powerful version, one with less stress and worries.
"Hi," she said, trying not to let fear color her voice as Brick glowered at her.
"How long has Pinky been in your care?" he asked, his voice dangerously low.
Shifting a bit, the green puff glanced at Mitch and said, "Three weeks."
The look on Brick's face darkened at that answer and multiple officers took several steps back.
Teeth gritting, the red ruff growled out, "Three weeks?"
"Hey! I'm not the one who found the ice! Butch was!" she snapped, oblivious to Butch's attempts to shush her. At the sound of a slap, she turned to find her counterpart covering his eyes with his hand. "What's with you?"
"What ice?"
This question was significantly angrier than the last and Buttercup winced, realizing her mistake. Looking at Butch, she finally understood that he had not told Brick like she thought he had. Another wince and she turned back to the general. He looked positively livid and his eyes were literally glowing in his anger. In fact, he was so angry his eyes were nearly entirely red.
Cringing back a bit, her only solace was that his attention was no longer trained on her.
Her counterpart, however, wasn't as lucky.
"Butch?" Brick stressed his brother's name as his eyes bore into the green ruff.
"Three weeks ago, my unit was returning from the field, as you ordered," Butch obediently recited, not breaking eye contact with his less than happy brother. "We were ambushed close to the rebels' base by a squad led by the Powerpunks." Brick's eyes narrowed at the mention of the punks. "Before any fighting could begin though, a wall of ice appeared. Berserk flew somewhere then came back and called for a retreat. And that's it."
Brick took a breath, eyes fluttering closed. He rubbed his forehead, trying to soothe the throbbing in his head. Not only had Blossom been around for three weeks with the rebels, who hadn't told them a thing, Butch also had encountered his pink-eyed counterpart.
"Yeah, the ice is still around, by the way," Mitch put in, yelping when Buttercup pinched his arm. "OW! Goddamn it, BC!"
Sighing deeply, Brick opened those red eyes of his and focused on the rebel leaders. His eyes still glowed, but at least he didn't look like he was about to barbecue them.
"The ice…is still around?" he asked slowly.
Grumbling, Buttercup nodded. "Yeah. The Gangreen Gang brought us a chunk. It's in one of the coolers we brought with us."
"Blossom's ice lasted this long? Fascinating," the Professor finally spoke, moving forward so that he could see his middle daughter better. "It lasted three weeks? Before, when you were younger, it barely lasted two days! Did it really last this long?"
"Yup," she said, shrugging. "Hey, all of our powers strengthened. If I can create a hurricane, why can't Blossom create permafrost?"
"…you can't create a hurricane," Mitch pointed out, only to be hit again.
"I probably can. I never tried."
"Well, when you do try, I'm going to be somewhere far, far away."
"…thanks for the vote of confidence."
"You're—"
"SHUT UP!" Princess screeched. She glared at the two rebels, before whipping towards the Professor. "How did Pinky Pie even get in!?"
Professor Utonium shifted uncomfortably, glancing nervously at Boomer before clearing his throat. "I, um, I was working in the Scanning Room and might have, uh, deleted the alert saying that Blossom had passed through the scanner…"
There was silence as his words were absorbed.
Princess stared at him with her mouth agape before making an undignified noise in her throat. Fingers curling into fists, one hand inched to the blade holster on her thigh. However, her fingers stopped halfway there as Brick narrowed his eyes at her. Scowling, the young woman crossed her arms, glaring between Brick, the Professor, and Buttercup, the last of which was glaring back at her.
"So you let her in?" she asked, glaring daggers at the dark-haired man. He nodded meekly, eyes darting between Princess and the still rather angry Brick mere inches from his person. "You…you…let in a possibly harmful person!?"
"Hey! Blossom hasn't done anything that could be considered harmful the whole time she was with us!" Buttercup snapped before her father could speak. "Maybe if you stopped vilifying her—!"
"Ooh! I didn't know you knew such big words like 'vilify', Butterbrain!" Princess snapped back, eyes dancing maliciously. "And what about Emmons? She froze him!"
Making a strangled noise, the green puff snarled, "Your fucking soldier attacked my sister! She was defending herself! And besides, he's still alive, just, y'know, frozen…"
"Ugh. So what? She's still a threat." The way Princess rolled her eyes only served to anger Buttercup more. "If you weren't such a—"
"What Princess means to say is that we have to treat Blossom with a healthy dose of suspicion," Boomer interrupted, glancing at Brick to see if he was saying the right thing. When his brother made no move to stop him, he continued, "The fact is…she was with the aliens and she doesn't remember a thing. How do we know that she won't breakdown and start attacking people? How do we know she's not faking it? We don't, so that's why we're being so critical of her."
Silence again reigned in the room as Buttercup took deep breaths to calm herself.
After a moment, she choked out, "Critical? This is you being fucking critical? You're fucking crucifying her! You—!"
Before she could jump into another rant, Brick cut her off, "I have to keep the people in this facility safe. If I have to condemn Pinky as a threat, then I will. Understand that, Buttercup. Until further notice, your sister is a fucking threat."
Green eyes widening, Buttercup felt her mouth drop open. Sure, she knew that he would be immovable, but she hadn't expected him to drop the case so quickly. She had expected him to look over the accounts that she and the rebels would give. She had expected him to be fairer. She had expected him to not act like a stuck-up prick.
This wasn't going as planned. It wasn't going right. Everything was happening way too fast and-and he wasn't even going to talk to Blossom! To let her vouch for herself! This wasn't how it was supposed to go! Some part of her, some annoyingly logical part that sounded suspiciously like Blossom, told her that nothing always went as planned. (After all, Blossom would know, wouldn't she?)
Mouth opening and closing, she continued to stare at Brick, trying to figure out what to say. The ruff merely watched her with an unreadable expression and then, as he sat down, she knew what to say.
"It's because you hate her."
It was childish and immature and she knew it, but it was the first thing that had come to her mind.
Brick's eyes flashed as he looked at Buttercup. "Excuse me?"
"You won't listen to what I have to say because you hate Blossom," she said with conviction, feeling like she was about to cry for some reason. "You all think she's faking having amnesia. She's not. She's not. You weren't there the first time she said Aterex's name. You weren't there all those times she tried to remember something. You don't know what it's like, watching her, not being able to help. You don't fucking know how it feels, watching someone who was so strong struggle just to remember what the fuck happened to her!"
He merely watched her with a blank look and, as she stood there panting, he asked in the blandest of voices, "Are you quite done?"
Fists clenching, her eyes blazed brilliant green. "No, I'm not quite fucking done, but you've already decided anyway, so why bother?"
Glaring at him, she blasted a hole in his chair with her eyebeams and stormed out of the room, dodging Butch's grasp.
The green ruff moved to follow her, but from Brick's command ("No"), he stayed put. Glancing between the door and his brother, Butch looked conflicted. He crossed his arms finally with a frown.
Brick, on the other hand, looked perfectly unruffled and merely massaged his temple, ignoring the steaming hole in his very comfortable chair. He sighed.
"Everyone is dismissed," he said in a tired voice.
The convened officers jumped at his voice and, after multiple glances to see if he said anything else, slowly prepared to leave. The only noise for a few minutes was of the officers moving about and leaving.
For that lack of clamor, Brick was thankful. His mind was painfully full of everything that had transpired in little more than an hour. He rubbed his forehead, trying to dull the still glaring headache. What was he to do? For all of his knowledge and power, he honestly had no idea how to take Blossom's reappearance. He knew that she was to be handled with hazmat gloves, screw kid's gloves. But how exactly he was to treat her…he just wasn't sure.
Buttercup wanted him to treat her like normal, but normal between him and her was… Well, it wasn't good. His skin still felt too hot, too tight, even though she wasn't even in the room anymore. Princess and half of the other officers wanted her stripped of her powers and locked away. As much as he could agree with that, the very idea of his counterpart being without her powers made him sick. His head throbbed even more at that.
Frowning, without opening his eyes, he asked, "Why are you still here?"
"I wanted to see if I could help any."
Sighing and reluctantly opening his eyes, he focused on the straggler. "And what do you propose you can help with, Lieutenant Utonium?"
Smiling a bit at his forced light tone, Bubbles placed a hand on Brick's cheek. "I don't know…why don't you tell me?"
Watching her, Brick took her hand and brought it down to the tabletop. He didn't let it go, gently squeezing it as if it was the only thing tethering him to the present. With how lost he could get in his thoughts, Bubbles didn't doubt that that might be the case.
The look in his eyes was painfully like the one that Blossom had and Bubbles found herself desperately trying to keep the hardened walls around her heart intact. She knew that she and her sisters shared physical similarities with the ruffs, but that look, that weary defeated look, in his eyes was too similar to the one that Blossom had had only an hour previous. Her chest stung to see both her leaders with that look. It hadn't looked right on Blossom's face and it certainly didn't look right on Brick's.
Neither of them moved for a moment, both lost in their own thoughts. She awaited his answer to her question, her hand still captured in his grasp.
After another painfully quiet moment, Brick closed his eyes and murmured softly, "I don't know either…"