The rain slapped against Buttercups skin, but at the moment she didn't care. Her face was numb, all that was driving her was pure adrenaline.
"Its Blossom,"
Those words left a chilling impression. They had to mean that the worst had happened with the way Brick uttered them, quick and short, panic in his voice, and Brick never panicked, it was unbecoming of him. Nothing else mattered to her at that very moment; all she wanted was to see her sister.
The others close behind her as she cut through the storm. She raged through, green and blue streaks painting the grey sky.
In a way, she was glad for the rain. This way, no one could see her tears.
"I should kill you" Buttercup growled. Teeth gritted she had Brick backed into the kitchen counter, trapped like a deer caught in headlights. Brick had his arms up in mock surrender as Butch restrained her from lunging at him while Blossom protested from the living room couch. Her injured leg propped up on a pillow.
"Look, I don't even know what I did".
Brick feigned calmness, but beneath the facade, he was sweating. If Butch's grip was to let up even only for a second, he was doomed.
"I flew here through the damned rain, worried out of my mind cause I thought Blossom was at death's door only to find out that it's just a fucking broken leg, and you wonder why I'm mad," she growled
"Butters,"
"Can it Butch, I'm wet in places this fucker can't even begin to imagine, and he wants to play innocent. Fuck you, Brick."
This was bad, Buttercup only cursed when she was pissed, and by the evidence of the obscene words that dripped from her lips, she was unhinged.
Brick dropped his hands, his shoulders falling as he exhaled.
"Look, I didn't realise that I did anything wrong, Bloss was truly hurt, and I guess I sorta panicked, I didn't realise that I somehow overexaggerated the extent of her injury."
Buttercup breathed out, simmering down from her high. There was something about his tone that seemed genuine, sincere even. She shrugged her shoulder, and Butch spun her around, lightly massaging her pressure points as they walked to the living room, sitting next to the blues.
"Easy there,"
She scoffed.
"I'm not a dog Butch."
" Oh, I'm sorry I kinda got confused over your barking."
She punched him lightly.
"Whatever"
Brick exhaled, dropping his guard and made his way to the living room as well. Blossom scooted over on the couch, making enough room for Brick to sit next to her.
"Well, now that Buttercup has finally calmed down we can actually get into the matter at hand. The reason I called you guys here. Of course, I apologise if I made you guys worried, I simply allowed my emotions to cloud my judgement for a second."
An apology? There must have been something wrong if he even managed to sweep his pride for a split second and apologise. Perhaps this was urgent after all.
"Anyway, as I said, there's a reason I called you guys here. And it does have something to do with Blossoms injury."
Brick lifted Blossoms injured leg and propped it on his lap. Well, would you look at that?
Buttercup forced her mind out of overdrive and focused on the matter at hand.
Blossom nodded at Brick's words.
"It's not about the type of injury but on how I got the injury itself."
Buttercup raised a brow.
"Okay continue,"
"On our way to the city hall, Brick and I encountered three monsters in our section. The first two were easy enough to take care of, but the last one proved somewhat different. It secreted some kind of slime that nullified my powers and caused. I couldn't move fast enough to evade the attack, and if Brick hadn't been there then I -"
Brick frowned as he lightly massaged Blossoms feet.
"Let's not focus on the what-ifs Bloss, and get into the crux of the matter" Brick interrupted.
He held the bridge of his nose and exhaled.
"We managed to get a sample of the slime which the professor is currently analysing, but I have a couple of theories on what it is.
There was only one thing that could do that Antidote X. But how could the monsters have gotten their hands on it? Could it have been Mojo? He couldn't have.
"I know what some of you guys may be thinking, but the old ape couldn't be responsible for this one. I've personally been keeping an eye on him. The old fuck has taken up gardening. Fucking creepy if you ask me."
"Butch language!" Bubbles shrieked.
"Sheesh, sorry pigtails."
Brick cleared his throat.
" We know Butch. We've been keeping an eye on Mojo too. You see things have taken a pretty annoying turn now."
Blossom squared up, adjusting her position on the couch.
" I'm sure you're all aware that Brick and I have been carrying an investigation."
Blossom looked directly at Buttercup. Accusingly, if you were to ask her, not that Blossom was off the mark.
"You'd all know if you looked into the weekly reports I email to you all."
Brick scoffed.
"Forget it, Bloss, we both know that Bubbles is the only one who actually reads those things. I'll just fill these fool's in myself. I'm pretty sure you guys have realised the surge in trend of monster attacks and the fact that the monsters have proven to be somewhat harder to kill, even attacking in what seems to be organised syndicates. Well, obviously we're not the only ones who've noticed the surge. So have the people of Townsville, and we actually found out that one of the Professor's former colleagues; Professor Morrison was actually doing private research of his own."
Bubbles perked up at the mention of Professor Morrison.
"Ooh Uncle Morrison, I remember him from our sixteenth birthday."
Buttercup smiled, it was a distant memory but a fond one nonetheless.
"Naturally, we thought it would be best to have a chat with him, we've been pushing for a meeting for weeks and yesterday we finally got an opening." Brick continued.
Former Colleagues? Broken bones? Monsters? Where the heck was this whole thing going?
"The thing is we finally got a break in our case today and scored ourselves a meeting ith Professor Morrison."
"Well that's good news then, isn't it? You finally got the answers we need, right?' Boomer asked
Blossom bowed her head and wrung her fingers.
"Professor Morrison is dead. He died in a lab fire today. Everything burned up, including his research. And given the nature of the case, it's been closed and ruled off as an accident. So no investigations will be running for it."
The air hit sub-zero.
"W-what?" Bubbles said"H-he's dead?"
Boomer pulled Bubbles into a hug, whispering sweet soothing words as she found solace in him.
"Yes, it's a regrettable situation." Brick replied.
Professor Morrison was one of the kindest men she'd ever met. She couldn't even begin to comprehend that he was gone.
Buttercup swallowed a lump and geared her mind on the case at hand. She couldn't afford to mourn at a time like this.
"But don't these professors keep hard drives and stuff of their work? Isn't they anything they recovered from the fires? Why didn't you guys just pull rank? We have provisional clearances for a reason."
Blossom leaned into the couch and exhaled. Reaching for her pink government-issued tablet. They all had one exclusive for heroeing work.
"Well, here's the funny thing. I tried to gain access to the case details and guess what..."
She faced the screen to them, red piercing letters glared back.
ACCESS DENIED
"What?' Buttercup exclaimed, grabbing it from her.
"I thought we had complete access to all kinds of classified information, given that we are the heroes of Townsville."
Brick leaned in, rubbing his chin.
"Accordingly, yes. The details of this case have proven to be quite singular. They've closed it off from us and its as if they're trying to brush it under the carpet, my intuition is telling me something else."
"Well Sherlock, hit us with it. We ain't got all day."
"It was so hard for Bloss and I to get a meeting with this guy, and when we finally get a break they off him. Something peculiar is going on here, I'm certain of it."
"So what are we going to do then? What's our way forward?" Buttercup pushed.
"We've decided to launch a full-on investigation, covertly of course since quite frankly we aren't sure who we can trust." Brick replied.
"So that's why you chose to have the meeting here?" Boomer said as he rubbed Bubbles back.
"Yes, Boomer, you finally caught along, would you like a cookie for your troubles." Brick deadpanned.
"Hey!"
"And here's the thing with the monster we killed today, it spoke," Blossom said, drawing them back to the main issue.
Bubbles sat up, her eyes puffy and red but focused, determined even.
"Well that not necessarily surprising, I mean we've met tons of monsters capable of human speech. It's naive to think that human beings are the only species capable of evolving."
"Yes, that's true Bubbles, but the thing is it more on what it said."
Buttercup drummed her fingers on her knees.
"Well, spit it out, Blossom. We don't have all day, you know."
Blossom licked her lips, her eyes clouding over.
"It said, Morrison. Coincidence? I think not."
Buttercup leaned against the car window, fogging up the glass as she exhaled. Neither Butch nor her had uttered a word since they left. Butch had the radio on, playing at mid-volume as he focused on the road.
They were all just getting settled down. It was their first year in university, their first bat at adulting. They'd all just formed solid routines, and now things were proving to be more challenging than they'd initially thought they'd be. They could catch a damn break.
This was different Buttercup knew that much. It wasn't some bloody brawl or test of brute strength that she could just barrel through. This was a secret investigation where she had to be careful. The enemy was already several steps ahead. Clearly, they knew who they were up against, and they didn't even have a fogs clue who they were after.
Shit
Buttercup hated this. She had more questions than answers, and it pissed her off. Who were they dealing with? Clearly, someone dangerous enough to murder threats. What did they want? This guy knew the risks, and they had no qualms going after whatever it is they wanted.
"Did you see that?" Butch asked, finally breaking the silence, "The reds are definitely fucking."
Buttercup was floored. This was what he was thinking of after that intense meeting?
"Butch,"
"What? Okay, tumbling in the sheets, getting their romp on, bumping fronts. What the heck do you want me to say? Bottomline their fucking, and you can't convince me otherwise."
Buttercup exhaled and shook her head.
"You're so stupid,"
She knew he was but affirming it out loud sealed the deal.
Butch, the fool, shrugged.
"But I'm not wrong. Didn't you at least feel a bit uncomfortable in that long ass meeting? Finishing each other's sentences, their stupid lovey dovey looks. Then Brick put her legs on his lap and started rubbing her feet, out there in the open. It drove me half-mad. Ugh, it felt like we were intruding on some kind of private moment. Fucking disgusting,"
'Pfft Yeah, whatever."
The reds did seem extra cosy today. She saw that, too. They made it so obvious that it hurt. It wouldn't be a surprise if those two were dating with all the pining looks they wore. It made Buttercup sick. Gosh, she couldn't believe Butch actually managed to drag her onto this train of thought.
Butch leaned into his seat as they arrived at their apartment parking he swiped out the card on the sensor. The red and white gate arm rose, and Butch slicked in, one arm on the steering wheel. He grinned, that god awful annoying smirk that irked her innermost depths.
"What? Feeling left behind Butterbabe? Just say the word, and I'll make an honest woman out of you. I mean its a work in progress but I'm sure we can work something out."
Buttercup punched his shoulder hard. Butch hissed.
"Shut up Butchie boy" Buttercup laughed.
Butch smiled as he pulled into their parking, seemingly pleased that the atmosphere had somewhat thawed. He leaned back, pulling the hand brake and turning off the engine.
Buttercup opened the door and stepped out of the car. She turned around grinning.
"Thanks, Butch, I needed that,
He smiled a genuine toothy grin.
"Sure thing wifey.
She laughed slamming the door.
"You're insufferable.
"You like that, though, that's why we're the best duo."
He locked up the car door, and they made their way to the elevators.
"I think I'll make some lasagna today, Bubbles sent me an archaic Italian recipe she translated. Apparently, it's incredible, and I trust Bubbles palate, so I guess I'll try it out today."
" Need any help." Buttercup offered.
Butch pressed the button to the 16th floor, where their apartment was.
"I mean you could help with the salad. It's not like you're as hopeless as Brick in the kitchen."
They walked down through the loft to their apartment.
"Yeah sure," she said as she followed Butch only to run into his back.
"Hey! Why'd you just stop like that?"
"Buttercup, it looks like we had some visitors while we were gone."
True enough, their apartment door was unhinged.