Author's Note: This story will feature references to the series of stories that began with Michael Weyer's Infinity Crisis. Just a warning.
Earth-192
Townsville, USA
It had been a good deal of time since Professor Utonium had turned to dust, but he still felt shaken by the experience. He remembered it like it was yesterday; Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup had just saved Cardiff from being destroyed by a giant killer squid the previous day and, as a thank you, the government of the city offered to give his family an all expenses paid vacation tour of Wales. The four had been debating if they should accept the invitation around the breakfast table it had started to all go wrong. The phone that the Mayor used to call the girls for help rang and Buttercup had answered it, only to hear nothing but a scream before it had turned to absolute silence. Worried, the girls went to check on the Mayor, only to see what was happening with a bird's eye view; people were disappearing into thin air all throughout Townsville, and, as they would soon learn, the entire world. Thankfully all three of them survived, meaning Townsville's sworn guardians, the Powerpuff Girls, were there to help in the chaos. While they helped people, however, the Professor was among those who were taken to some strange, alternate realm. It had been so strange, like he was on an alien planet, but not exactly that. After being brought back with everyone else, the Professor was relieved to see his daughters safe, and shortly after, standing alongside the world's other heroes who aided while it all went down. Still, the event haunted Utonium, if only in short bursts. He was getting better at hiding it.
"I sure am not troubled by any huge world changing events while I eat this cheesecake!" he proclaimed.
He was getting better at hiding it from his tween daughters, yes, but that didn't mean he was any good at it whatsoever.
"Um, okay then, Professor." Bubbles said.
The Powerpuff Girls and their creator were all sitting down in a restaurant together at a table next to a large window. Traffic was very slow, giving a very peaceful air to their surroundings. As they ate their slices of cheesecake, the waiter came up to their table and set down their bill. Blossom picked it up and looked it over.
"Sorry, but I am afraid this isn't our bill." the red haired Powerpuff Girl notified.
"Huh?" the waiter asked.
"This is for three sandwiches, two salads, one slice of cheesecake and four drinks." Blossom explained. "All four of us have had the cheesecake and some water, but nothing else."
"Oh, my mistake. I'll go get that to the right table." the waiter blushed as he took the bill from Blossom's hand.
The waiter walked off.
"So, um, I've been thinking about changing my look." Buttercup said.
"Why's that, Buttercup?" Professor Utonium asked.
"We are getting older now. I'm not sure I should be dressing almost exactly like Blossom and Bubbles." the black haired Powerpuff Girl answered.
Bubbles looked at her sister with a sad look, appearing a bit offended.
"Bubbles, you know it didn't mean it like that. I wouldn't change too much." Buttercup groaned.
"You don't think I dress bad?" Bubbles asked with her already huge eyes looking even bigger.
"Of course not!" Buttercup answered quickly.
"Yippee!" the blonde Powerpuff Girl squeaked.
Blossom chuckled at this, then noticed the waiter from earlier coming back to their table. He placed another, now correct, bill on the table. Just as she was about to thank him, the waiter gasped and stepped back, pointing towards the large window near the family's table. The four noticed this and looked out to see the familiarly red haired, yellow clad figure of Princess Morbucks, who had appeared in the street with an enraged expression, darting her eyes around.
"We'll take care of her." Buttercup said while cracking her knuckles.
The Powerpuff Girls flew out of the restaurant to confront Princess, only to be met with an odd sight; a young man was running towards their regular foe on all four of his limbs. He was a slender but obviously athletic black teen wearing a sleeveless black top, pants, boots and gloves. He had a shaved head and had dark tattoos on the top of his head and exposed shoulders. He had striking amber eyes. Buttercup flew up in his face, causing him to halt in front of her with a surprised response, stare at her, then at Blossom and Bubbles, then turn and run away at great speed in the same fashion he had before. Blossom and Buttercup flew up to Princess, who was frustratedly trying to get her suit to activate its weapons to no avail. Buttercup flew up to her as well.
"Who was that guy? I want answers now!" Buttercup snapped at her.
"Yeah, what were you up to, Princess?" Blossom questioned.
Princess tried to ignore them, but knew she couldn't just fly away with her gear out of function.
"If you stupid Powerpuffs have to know, fine!" an upset Princess responded as she stomped her feet in frustration. "I saw a kid flying around with big wings. I wanted to know if he was a new bad guy on the scene, so I followed after him to check. I tracked him to the park, but then that other guy jumped out of nowhere and hit my suit with an electric blast or something and he broke it! Did that boy not realize how expensive this was?!"
"He looked older than you." Bubbles said.
"Shut it!" Princess screamed at her.
"Well, if you're so upset about your costume, I think we should bring you home to your dad." Blossom grinned.
Buttercup grabbed Princess and the three then took off to do precisely that. Professor Utonium watched from the restaurant with a pleasant grin. He placed some money on the table, which the now less worried waiter gladly took before leaving to get the receipt.
"I wonder who that teenage boy was. Oh well, I'm just happy that things are back to normal here in Townsville." the Professor smiled.
Little did he know that that was far from true. A short distance away, the nimble stranger had just ducked into an alleyway, where four others had been standing in the shadows. The four emerged, revealing themselves to be oddly garbed and all roughly around the same age range as him; One was a Caucasian male with red hair and blue eyes, who wore a high collared black jacket with red piping meant to resemble a star shape, blue pants, and red gloves and boots. On his left wrist he wore a light gray gauntlet that was clearly a piece of advanced technology. One was a fair skinned girl with long, light blond hair and blue eyes who wore a chestplate, an armored skirt, gauntlets, boots and a winged headpiece that were all mostly gold in color, all over a darker garment, as well as a large red cape. She held a massive sword in her right hand. One was another Caucasian male, who had near white hair and dark eyes. He wore mostly black clothing, such as his shirt and pants, while his jacket had white segments in addition to black, such as the straps and pockets on it. He held a bow in his hands with a quiver full of arrows slung over his shoulder. Last was a younger male, who appeared to be half Caucasian and half East Asian. He had short black hair and wore a black jumpsuit with large yellow painted gauntlets on his forearms and a similarly blocky chestpiece, as well as black and yellow boots.
"Azari, are you alright? What happened after you went ahead of us?" the redheaded teenager asked.
"I'm fine, James. That girl who was chasing after Pym won't be a problem; I think this place has its own superheroes." Azari answered.
"Good then." the very light haired teenage boy said. "That means we end up distracted while trying to get back home."
"We all know we have to focus on getting home...Francis." the younger teen said.
"I told you to call me Hawkeye, Pym." Francis grumbled. "I get what you mean though. We all know we have to get back. Right, Torunn?"
"Yes, Hawkeye." the girl with the sword, Torunn, nodded. "There is no reason to argue. First though, I think Azari should tell us about the superheroes he encountered."
"You got it, Torunn." Azari agreed. "It all started when I was chasing down the girl stalking Pym. Just when I was about to pounce on her and tell her to stay away, a girl just flew up to me with a green streak behind her. She had slightly larger eyes than anyone else I saw while I ran through the city. They were a bright green, just like her short sleeved jacket and skirt, which she wore over a black shirt and long white socks. She had black hair with a split in her bangs and flipped upwards behind her ears. There were two other girls a lot like her just nearby, but in pink and light blue; one was a redhead whose hair was kept in a long, wide ponytail with a huge red bow, and the other had blond hair she kept in ringlet pigtails. They wore similar outfits to the green eyed girl, but their tops were more like proper blouses."
"So...we have the oh so essential information that they do the whole 'coordinated colors' thing." Francis said dryly.
"Plus, they can fly." Pym said. "Don't forget that. Maybe they're using tech like that girl who chased after me."
"It's possible, but we shouldn't rush to conclusions." James added. "This is a whole other universe after all; an alternate reality with its own people, its own history."
"Lucky them." Francis said.
"What do we do?" Pym wondered.
"We could learn more about this place and find someone who could help us." Torunn suggested.
"We'll have to do better at blending in then." James said.
"...or maybe not, James." Azari said.
The others looked at Azari with perplexed looks.
"What do you mean?" Torunn asked.
"I mean that if this world has superheroes, that can be how we blend in; as superheroes." Azari explained with a smile.
Earth-555326
Yet-To-Be-Named, New York
When the survivors talked about the fallen heroes of the all too recent past, it was almost always about the Avengers. Sure, there were talks of the Fantastic Four and some of the more famous X-Men on occasion. Once in a blue moon someone would even mention the Champions, the Agents of Atlas, or the Winter Guard. Often it was just to compare them, negatively, to the Avengers. Something about that upset the elderly Tony Stark, and it was hard to keep it contained as he looked over the various glass cases laid out before him. It upset him because he knew he had rarely mentioned them either.
"I had almost forgotten about some of these men and women." Tony said to himself.
Tony placed his withered hand on one of the glass cases and looked down at it, his long white hair hanging around his face. Inside was a torn white and red superhero costume.
"Stingray. You were a genius in your right. I think you'd have liked this facility we've built." Tony said.
Tony turned and looked down at another glass case, which contained a large cowl designed to look like the head of a wild hog, a single yellow glove, and a single yellow boot.
"Spider-Man told me about you, Razorback. You travelled from Arkansas to New York to save your little sister. I...I like that." Tony said.
He gazed over more and more of the remains and trinkets, sadly saying more and more of the names to himself.
"Firebird...Arabian Knight...Gravity...Triathlon…" he sighed to himself as he placed his hand down on yet another, which contained a pink and black bodysuit with diamonds grafted onto it. "Diamondback. Heh, you almost got Steve for yourself until Natasha told him how she felt. At least you joined SHIELD instead of rejoining those slimy snake stooges after."
He then looked over at the two he had set aside earlier, propped up against the wall. One had the broken, mangled remnants of a black and gray armor resembling his Iron Man suit. The other was a slimmer costume left in better shape, which was purple and had large gray armor on the shoulders and wrists. Tony fell to his knees before them and tears began to well up in his eyes.
"War Machine...Jim, I'm so sorry for what I did to you and Cybermancer." Tony said, fighting back his tears. "I created Ultron and he killed you and Suzi. It's my fault Ultron made you into a trophy. You deserve to be remembered and honored...that's it!"
He turned around and slammed his hand down on another of the glass containers, which had a red martial arts uniform with black and golden trimming.
"You do deserve to be honored, Shang-Chi."
Tony stretched out his arms, as if motioning to the entire room.
"All of you deserve to be remembered! I'm going to make a museum for all of you!" the old superhero exclaimed. "Your legacies will...wait."
Tony looked around erratically and then ran out of the room into the hallway.
"Kids? Kids?" Tony called out. "Are you here?"
He didn't receive any response, at which point, he dragged his hand over his face.
"Ugh, right, they went off to check out that disturbance in the desert. Oh well, I'll tell them when they get back." Tony said to himself as he shook his head. "I better go write this idea down before I forget."
"Good, Tony Stark. Do not worry for the children. Their test has yet to truly begin." a woman spoke.
Tony spun around to see who said that, but saw no one. He shook his head and muttered to himself about how his must've been playing tricks on him, before walking off back to his quarters.
Earth-192
Morbucks' Manor
The Powerpuff Girls landed on the immaculately kept lawn of Princess Morbucks' family home with their restrained foe in tow. The building was as huge and as pretentiously decadent looking as one would surmise to be the property of a man as opulent as Princess' father.
"I think you should go to your room." Blossom said.
"Shut up!" Princess barked. "You suck and everyone at school hates you and your ugly ginger hair is proof that all redheads are ugly!"
"Princess, you're a redhead too. I think it looks cute actually." Bubbles innocently observed.
"Um...ah…well...um…" Princess stammered. "Fine, I'll admit that I didn't think that jab through."
"I'll say." Buttercup quipped.
The three sisters walked Princess up to the entrance of the house. The massive door was cracked open and there were sounds of a ruckus of some kind from inside. Blossom looked around and realized there were no cars parked near the house, so it was unlikely that there was company over for a party or some such event occurring.
"I think there's someone here who shouldn't be." Blossom stated.
"Yeah, you three bugbears." Princess bleated.
"Hey, can you keep your mouth shut for once in your life?" Buttercup asked rhetorically.
A loud crash from behind the door could then be heard, with wild hooting and hollering following shortly after it.
"Alright, it's time to figure out what's going on!" Blossom declared.
"I'm big and strong like a gorilla!" Bubbles yelled as she busted down the door.
Her sisters were going to question why she said that, since she never had before, but were distracted from Bubbles' odd battlecry by the sight before them. It was several delinquents who they were able to easily recognize from their signature green skin. They all noticed that they were no longer alone and stopped wildly wrecking everything around them.
"The Gangreen Gang?! In Princess' home?" Blossom gasped.
Ace, the tall, sunglasses wearing leader of the Gangreen Gang, stepped forward and smugly grinned.
"That's right." Ace said. "I figured we'd have some fun. You don't mind, do you?"
"Don't mind? Why wouldn't we mind? You shouldn't be doing this to another person's home!" Blossom shouted at him.
"So you three and Princess are buds now?" Ace mockingly asked. "Don't go pretending you don't like seeing all this stuff she don't deserve get smashed! Morbucks is loaded; He owns places like this all over the country. Is it really that bad if we just party and one?"
"It's...not like they've actually hurt anybody." Buttercup said.
Ace nodded at Buttercup in approval. She noticed and darted her eyes away from him. Blossom's gaze grew more serious.
"This is still breaking and entering and we aren't going to let you get away with it." Blossom said, raising her fist at Ace.
"Yeah, ugly weirdos like you have no place in a nice house like mine! You're almost as bad as filthy immigrants!" Princess yelled.
Bubbles gasped and even Ace looked a wee bit taken aback at what Princess said.
"Hey, I'm an immigrant!" Lil' Arturo, the most diminutive member of the Gang shouted at Princess.
Lil' Arturo took a small item out of his pocket, which resembled a switchblade.
"Oh, you're sssso in for it now!" Snake, a strangely serpent-like member cackled.
"Hey, don't try and act scary!" Bubbles objected.
"Allow my daughter Maria to teach you a lesson in not disrespecting a proud Argentinian!" Lil' Arturo cried out as he jumped onto Princess.
"No! Get off me! No!" Princess yelled panically.
Lil' Arturo then revealed 'Maria' to actually be a comb. He laughed as he climbed off of Princess and rejoined the other Gangreen Gang members, who joined him in his laughter. Ace patted him on the head as if he was a dog. Grubber, a rather squat and gross looking member blew a raspberry as a sign of approval and Big Billy, a huge, fat oaf who was the last member of the Gang, clapped his hands like an excited child. An angry Princess pounded the ground and snarled angrily, but instead of attacking the Gang, turned to the Powerpuff Girls.
"Why did you let them do that?!" Princess complained.
"Honestly, I just wanted to see you have to face some consequences for that 'filthy immigrant' comment." Blossom answered calmly.
Ace casually strode up next to the Powerpuff Girls and Princess and plucked the the tiara-like headpiece off of the latter's head and tossed it into a tall white vase near the door, causing the vase to shatter into pieces.
"I'm sure your old man can replace it." Ace sneered.
"Okay, that's enough!" Blossom said, getting up in Ace's face. "Surrender now, Ace. We're taking you boys to the cops."
Ace snapped his fingers and Big Billy ran up towards them and tried to attack, but Bubbles flew up, caught him effortlessly, and then threw him across the room into the other Gangreen Gang members, knocking them all to the floor. Ace tucked at the collar of his white shirt and gulped.
"Alright, we give up. We've had our fun." Ace chuckled nervously.
Buttercup flew off and, in less than a second, came back with a long rope. She tied up Ace, Lil' Arturo, Big Billy, Snake, and Grubber in just as short an amount of time and lifted the tied up Gangreen Gang above her head with a confident grin.
"Wow, I had no idea you was into this kinda thing, Buttercup. Gotta say, I kinda like the idea." Ace said as slyly as one could when tied up to several other guys.
Buttercup blushed and tossed the Gangreen Gang out of the front door.
"Bubbles, could you please go bring them to the police?" Blossom requested.
"You got it!" Bubbles replied.
Bubbles flew out, grabbed the restrained Gangreen Gang, and then continued to fly with them in tow. Princess watched and smirked.
"Serves them right!" Princess laughed.
"We didn't do it for you." Buttercup grumbled.
"Oh, I know." Princess said smugly as she picked up her headpiece. "Of course, you hating it makes it better for me. Almost worth seeing this place be made a mess of."
"Princess, do you know anything else about that teenager from earlier? Or that kid you said you were following?" Blossom asked seriously.
"No, I have no clue who they are!" Princess answered. "Even if I did, I probably wouldn't tell you, dummy."
Buttercup angrily pushed Princess to the ground and stepped on her chest.
"I've had enough! I can't stand you, Princess!." Buttercup bellowed.
"Buttercup, don't…" Blossom began, but she was ignored and her sister.
"We help you, you spoiled brat. How do you thank us? An endless parade of insults! Who do you think you are? At least your dad did something to get all the money he showers you with. All you do is waste it on ways to try and be stronger than us. None of which ever, ever work! You want to know why they never work?! Because we're better than you; we're stronger, faster, more unique and have more friends. People like us because we do good things for Townsville. You can't bring yourself to do that though. You think it's 'lame' to treat others nice. Sure, some of that's on your dad for not raising you, but you could've done good stuff. The change in your pocket could probably get a homeless man off the streets for the rest of his life. He'd like you if you helped him, but you won't even consider that because you're a selfish creep who only thinks her life matters, that only what she wants is important. You may be rich, but you're trash in my book. No wait, trash can be used for biofuel. You're worse than trash! You're poison, Princess, and I'm glad the Gangreen Gang broke a ton your fancy pants crap. I'm glad that guy from earlier apparently broke your suit and left you helpless. I wish I'd never met you! Townsville gets attacked by giant monsters at least once a week, but it's people like you that keep it from being perfect. So just shut your fat mouth and enjoy me flying off. I won't be coming back even if your life depends on it."
Buttercup took her foot off of Princess' chest. Princess didn't say a word and just stayed there on the floor, looking utterly defeated. Buttercup walked over to Blossom, just passing her before turning back.
"I'm going back to the Professor at the restaurant. I'll see you there." Buttercup stated.
Blossom watched the green trail in the sky that followed Buttercup as she zoomed back the way the girls came earlier. She looked back at their regular foe and frowned as she sat down to wait for Bubbles to return.
"Any day I see that louse again will be too soon." Buttercup said to herself as she flew.
Buttercup quickly arrived back at the restaurant, landed in front, and walked back in. Professor Utonium was still seated at the same table as before, but a man Buttercup didn't recognize was now sitting across from him. He was a rather old looking Chinese man with a completely bald head, and was wearing a green flannel shirt tucked into withered looking jeans. As Buttercup walked up, both smiled at her.
"Ah, Buttercup, welcome back!" Utonium greeted cheerfully. "Come and meet my new friend."
Buttercup sat down where she had before. The stranger extended his hand to her and she half heartedly extended her own for a handshake.
" I am Chen Lu. Nice to meet you, Miss Buttercup." the man said as he shook her hand politely.
"Lu introduced himself and we started talking after you left with your sisters." the Professor explained.
"About what exactly?" Buttercup asked.
"Why, we were discussing that teenage boy who appeared in the street." Chen Lu answered.
"You see, I got a better look of the young man from here by the window than Lu did." the Professor added.
"That and the fact that he is the creator of you and your sisters." Chen Lu chuckled. "I couldn't pass up such an opportunity to possibly meet the Powerpuff Girls."
"Did you really need an excuse? We aren't exactly hard to find." Buttercup asked.
"I suppose not, but I have been busy with my business." Chen Lu replied. "How do you like it?"
"Huh, what do you mean?" Buttercup asked.
"How do you like my business? You've already eaten. Was it nice?" Chen Lu asked.
"Wait a minute, are you saying you own this restaurant?" Professor Utonium asked.
"Oh! I forgot to mention that? How embarrassing." Chen Lu chuckled.
The man motioned around the room and smiled.
"Yes, this place is all mine." Chen Lu affirmed. "I set it up shortly after I immigrated here. It isn't much, but I am very proud of it. Back where I lived before, all I did was destroy things."
"What exactly did you do?" Utonium asked.
"Oh, um, I was a employee. An employee of a...garbage dump." Chen Lu awkwardly answered.
He got up from the seat.
"I am afraid I have to go now." he said to Buttercup and the Professor. "Have a nice day. It was nice to finally meet you."
He then walked off and touched the shoulder of one of the nearby waitresses. She turned to him in response.
"What is it, boss?" she asked.
"Mairead, go and give the Powerpuff Girls' creator a coupon. Any one will do." he told her.
"You got it!" she responded with a wink.
With that done, Chen Lu walked over a door with a 'Keep Out' sign on it and opened it with a key from his pocket. He entered the room and locked it behind him. It was a small room barely larger than a closet with unpainted walls and a poorly carpeted floor. A small lamp on a stool was the only light source in the room. Chen Lu pulled a black smartphone out of his pocket and dialed a number in his contacts for a video call. After a short while, his screen displayed the one he was calling; another older, bald man. Unlike Chen Lu, he was Caucasian, had on a pair of glasses, and was wearing a white lab coat not unlike Professor Utonium's.
"What is it, Radioactive Man?" the man asked a rad grumpily.
"Egghead, I need to know something and I need you to be forward about it." Chen Lu answered.
The man called 'Egghead' nodded and waited for the one he called 'Radioactive Man' to ask him about.
"I know this sounds odd, but is it possible for there to have been...rifts in reality recently?"
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter in this new story!
A few notes:
- In case you're wondering, the Powerpuff Girls' described looks are taken from the FusionFall game. I never played it, but I thought it'd be fitting. So yes, they're a tad older here, as you might've assumed.
- Earth-192 is named after the year 1992, which is the year Cartoon Network was founded, as well as the year The Powerpuff Girls was originally developed by Craig McCracken.
- Earth-555326 is the canonical number for Next Avengers in the Marvel multiverse.
- The villains' deal will be explained later.