Blossom managed to make her way back in Townsville. Every bone in her body hurt, but she could feel the wounds mending, flesh and bone regenerating.

During her flight she got to think about what her counterpart said.'You've never been to Kilimanjaro? You weren't curious at all?

'Yeah, why wasn't she curious? They could travel huge distances in the blink of an eye, yet they never really took advantage of it properly.

Her phone had broken when Brick encased her in ice, so she couldn't check on the others yet, but the trip shouldn't take that long.

It was nice and quiet above the clouds. She avoided using her powers ever since Mojo's departure, so she hadn't flown properly in a long time. Maybe it had been her attempt at a normal life, but her powerpuff nature hunted her down... Alex could confirm.

Blossom could feel a metalic taste in her mouth and realised it's her own blood. 'He could have captured me easily but he didn't. What is he trying to do..? What's his point? Needless to say, this is probably only the beginning. I need to get home before everyone is worried sick.'

She entered Townsville close to midnight, arrived at their house and noticed a crowd of policemen occupying the porch. As she closed in she saw Bubbles and the Professor.

'Blossom!' the blonde shouted and flew over to embrace her tightly. 'You came back!'

'Of course I'm back, you big baby. Sorry I didn't get to call you, my phone got damaged.' she said reassuringly, patting her head. Bubbles looked like she had the worst night of her life, huge black circles around her eyes and disheveled clothes.

'Blossom, thank God you're alright!' She could hear enormous relief in the professor's voice.

The officers briefed her on what happened after Brick took her. Apparently a few people were hurt when her counterpart smashed through the ceiling by the ensuing rubble, but everyone else was fine. It was going to be all over the news and on the internet in the morning, as press flew in like vultures after everyone was safely out of the Maharaja.

After everyone left, the professor started mending her remaining wounds in the lab.

'Tell me everything, Blossom'

The years hadn't been kind to him, deep frown lines had marred his features and his hair was almost entirely white.

'We fought. He could have captured me but he didn't. I don't know why.'

The professor squinted his eyes

'Did he say anything about his brothers or Mojo Jojo?'

'No.'

'So that's everything that happened? you just fought and he just let you go? he gave her a quizzical look.

'Yes.'

'Alright, then. We'll be prepared if there's a next time. Meanwhile, sleep. Your wounds need to heal.'

As she lay in her bed, Blossom wondered why she hadn't felt comfortable to tell him about Brick's questions, and about him pining her to the wall and whispering in her ear. 'Well, that was part of the fight, you didn't need to give him every tedious detail. ' she said to herself. But she knew that wasn't the case.

The next day she was woken up by a knock in her window. Blossom went to draw the blinds and she saw the face of a journalist with a smartphone in his hand.

'Aw, geez.' she thought.

'I don't have anything to say, leave please.' and drew the blinds back on.

Down in the kitchen Buttercup greeted her with a large grin : 'Lady of the hour, heard you saved lots of people last night at the Maharaja. A bow to that.' she bowed mockingly.

'Too bad you went for the action without me, forgot we're a team, eh?'

'Buttercup, I'm not in the mood for this. You weren't here. I did what I had to do.' she said exhausted while grabbing a piece of toast.

'Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm just messing with ya. I'm really glad you're ok, coulda gone much worse than it did. Did you hit him good at least?' she said mimicking a punch.

'I tried. He's much stronger now.'

'If you didn't, then I will. Hoping his punk ass brother is gonna reach out. Imma show him a good time.'

'I hope he doesn't. I hope they all leave again.' Blossom said massaging her temples.

'Ok, killjoy. Watch out for those paparazzi when you leave the house. Cya'

Blossom had classes around noon, but somehow they felt like a part of another life, a distant life. She wondered what's the best way around the house to avoid the journalists, and decided that getting out of the house through the skylight and flying over their heads might be the best idea.

When she got to the campus everyone looked at her admiringly and she could hear appreciative whispers, and one girl actually had the courage to approach her and say: 'Thank you for what you've done last night, I was in the club and you saved us all!'

'Oh, you're welcome..just doing my job!' Blossom said, slightly uncomfortable.

A few more came to congratulate her.

Looking around she realised this was a weird transition, she wasn't just the freaky superpowered sex girl anymore in their eyes, she was the savior superpowered girl now. And it felt nice, yes? It felt great. It felt... somehow the same?

Mindy joined her for lunch: 'Blossom, I had no idea you're so fuckin cool. God, you're blowing all over Insta. It's everything I could see this morning, clips from last night.'

Blossom gave her a quizzical look. 'My phone got broken last night, I wouldn't know.'

'Jesus, just you see! it's insane!' 'She played a loop of 10 seconds of Brick dropping the prisoner then leaving together through the roof.'

'Who's that guy, anyway? He kinda looks like you.' Mindy said, squinting her eyes.

Blossom shifted uncomfotably in her chair, avoiding her gaze.

'Very long story..I'd rather not right now.'

During the rest of the day she could feel everyone's eyes on her, all the time, and now the gossip she heard was different than before:

'Heard she blew that guy to smitheens'

'Blossom froze him to death in the Antarctic ice caps' And among the other whispers:

'He probably came there to fuck her but didn't know about her deadly electric pussy. RIP Maharaja dude haha'

Blossom could feel her blood boiling. The nerve! She risked her life for this?

'It's just this one stupid guy, it's just this one stupid guy.' she said to herself.

Somehow she managed to make it through the day, Mindy kept trying to get more juicy info out of her, but Blossom wasn't feeling it.

Back home she collapsed on her bed, and when her eyes lazily opened she saw a brand new phone on her bed, fresh new case and all. The professor sure was considerate, she thought.

As she logged into all her accounts a flood of tags and messages overwhelmed her on Instagram. She had never posted anything there in an effort to lay low. As she scrolled through the enthusiastic notes she noticed a slew of message requests in her inbox. She reckoned most of them to be press, but one profile made her hastily stop her scrolling. It was blank, and had the username 'Brick Red'. Her heart pounded as she opened the message.

'I know you could feel it, too. Don't fight it.'

Blossom felt a blush creep over her face as she remembed the way he held her arms over her head and closed the distance between them.

'What the hell is he talking about? she muttered to herself. 'What is he implying?' a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach told her she knew exactly what he was implying. Her brain managed to intervene:

' He's mocking me for sure. Yeah, that must be it. He's fucking with me because he's getting a kick out of it. 'He's just trying to fuck around with me, thinking I'm an impressionable 18 year old who dreams of bad boys abusing me, pinning me on a mountain top and whispering in my ear. Yep, that's exactly it. How stupid of him to think I'd fall for that trick.'

She spent another hour staring at the words, transfixed. As more time passed, they grew and warped in her head as she drifted off to sleep.

'Don't fight it.'

'Don't fight it'

'Don't fight it.'