A/N: I'm really happy that this chapter finally got finished. I don't want to say much more because it could spoil you all, but it's exciting to see what I've been planning for years start to slowly come together. I don't know how many readers of this fanfic are still around, but if you're reading this right now, I just wanted to thank you for your patience and support with my slow, sporadic updates.

I know the world's in a state of chaos and suffering right now due to the pandemic, but I hope that you all are staying safe and healthy and that this chapter brings a smile to your face or some joy and relief. With all that said, enjoy.

CHAPTER 12:

A week had passed by since then, and strangely enough, the massacres had died down. No one understood why, including Momoko, Miyako, and Kaoru. With everyone becoming accustomed to a group massacre happening per day, this turn of events caused everyone to tilt their heads in confusion and left them in anxiety and anticipation.

Momoko, Miyako, and Kaoru were finally able to schedule an appointment with the Mayor and Ms. Bellum; ideally, it would've been sooner, but due to the massacres happening left and right, the Mayor had been busy trying to ease the public with public announcements and working with the police department to figure out who the culprit behind the massacres was.

And now, here they were, standing outside the doors of his office and just about ready to enter. When they did, they were surprised to see that Ms. Bellum was the only one there, standing in front of the Mayor's desk with a clipboard and notepad in hand. She then gestured to two couches facing each other with a low coffee table placed in between. Soon enough, she and the girls sat on opposing sides with Momoko sitting in the middle, directly facing Ms. Bellum; Miyako on Momoko's right; and Kaoru on Momoko's left.

"If you're looking for the Mayor, he had to leave due to an emergency meeting with the Chief of the Police Department in Tokyo City," Ms. Bellum said, already knowing what the girls were going to ask. "It was scheduled at the last minute. Otherwise, he would've been here to meet with you girls."

"You sure he's not avoiding us—specifically my temper?" Kaoru asked, raising an eyebrow as she leaned back on the couch. "He seemed pretty reluctant this past week to meet us, especially after finding out about Momoko's theory."

"Well, you girls know that you're vulnerable right now. If we lose our symbol of hope, it'll only drive our citizens further in panic."

"Ms. Bellum has a point, Kaoru," Momoko said, pursing her lips. "Although I don't like being kept out of the loop, they're doing it for our safety, especially since we don't know how well our uniforms work anymore or how protective they even are. And considering who we're up against…" Momoko's voice trailed off, not wanting to continue, but Kaoru and Miyako both knew that Momoko was not only referring to whoever's behind the murders, but also the Rowdyruff Boys Z.

Ms. Bellum sighed. "That aside, what did you girls want to talk about? The Professor was rather vague"—at this, Ms. Bellum raised an eyebrow—"when he said you girls had wanted to set up this meeting. I'm hoping that it's not what I'm thinking, but knowing you girls, it most likely is." She paused, waiting for the girls' answer, but none came. "Am I right?"

"We can't just stay silent and watch people die, Ms. Bellum," Miyako finally replied. "It's not right, even if our powers are gone." She then paused, pursing her lips. "Besides, the sooner we get it cleared about who the murderer is, the sooner the boys will be cleared of all suspicion."

"Who are these boys you're talking about?"

"The Rowdyruff Boys Z," Momoko replied.

Ms. Bellum blinked in recognition. "Oh, that's right. The Professor had mentioned to us that they're back."

"And shittier than ever," Kaoru mumbled.

"Kaoru, not now," Momoko muttered to her.

"I was under the assumption that you girls wouldn't care about them anymore after finding out what they did to you," Ms. Bellum said, bringing the girls' attention to her. "Then again, I should know better than to assume, shouldn't I?"

Kaoru snorted, sensing a glare from Momoko that signaled her to stay quiet, so she quickly averted her gaze and clicked her tongue in frustration.

"Putting the Rowdyruff Boys Z aside, Ms. Bellum, we need to find out who the murderer is, so we can stop them for good," Momoko replied sternly. "If the culprit is a supervillain with a grudge against the boys—"

"Girls," Ms. Bellum interrupted. "You know that I can't share any further information with you other than the fact that we're working on it."

"But—"

"That includes the updated status of all the supervillains in Tokyo City."

Momoko was about to retort until her eyes slightly widened in realization. "The police have already looked into the list of supervillains, haven't they?"

Ms. Bellum stared at her in silence.

"I'm right, aren't I?"

"Wait, then why the hell haven't we been told about that?!" Kaoru exclaimed.

Ms. Bellum sighed. "Need I remind you all that you're vulnerable right now and need to proceed with caution?"

Miyako's eyes widened in protest. "But Ms. Bellum—"

"No, you girls need to understand that we cannot let you know anything about this. You three are our symbol of hope right now—"

"Even though we haven't done shit?" Kaoru grumbled, scowling as she averted her gaze to the floor.

"I don't ever want to hear those types of words coming from any of your mouths," Ms. Bellum said, her stern tone coming through this time. "You three are the Powerpuff Girls Z and represent hope, peace, and protection to this city. At the end of the day, our citizens know that they can always rely on you to save the day, no matter who the enemy is. Even if you've lost your powers, it doesn't change the fact that you and your superhero alter egos are one person—you're one and the same. Right now, however, you girls don't have your powers. This means you can get hurt, and if you're hurt—or dare I say it, worse—what does that mean to our city?"

All three girls remained silent in response.

"I repeat, what does that mean to our city?"

"The city loses its hope," Momoko answered, her lips pursing and eyes in conflict. "Each and every citizen will lose faith in us—lose faith in hope—that this nightmare will be over."

"That's right," Ms. Bellum said. "And I want you girls to never forget that—because that's the reason why we can't let you get involved right now."

"But Ms. Bellum, we may be onto something!" Momoko exclaimed, her face in protest. "You said it yourself that even if we lost our powers, we're one and the same with our superhero alter egos. Blossom is a part of me. That means as Blossom, as Momoko, as me, I need to get to the bottom of whatever is happening to this city! We, the Powerpuff Girls Z, need to get to the bottom of this for our citizens' sake!"

"No, I refuse—"

"Don't pull that on us!" Kaoru immediately yelled. "As much as I hate Momoko going down this route, she's our leader, and I believe her when she could be onto something here. Besides, I'm sick and tired of getting reminded of how weak I am just because I'm only Kaoru Matsubara by you, the Mayor, and the Professor! I'm Buttercup, damn it, and I'll handle anything that comes my damn way—murderer or not!"

"We need to know, Ms. Bellum," Miyako added, her face also becoming stern and posture straightened. "As the Powerpuff Girls Z, as the protectors of this city, we have the right to know what's going on. You're right that we're still the Powerpuff Girls Z. Deep down, Bubbles and I are one and the same, and I'm thinking that you tell us what's going on, so we know how to do our part—superpowers or not." Miyako then paused, her face falling. "Besides, I need to know what's going on for his sake…"

Momoko's gaze softened as she looked at her. "Miyako…"

"Not just for his sake. All the boys' sake." Miyako paused again, this time her lips pursing. "They're hiding something. Momoko-san and Kaoru-san have made that much clear. They don't want to involve us, so they took away our powers."

"Or they're trying to get rid of us," Kaoru muttered.

Miyako sent her a sharp glare.

Kaoru immediately placed her arms up in defense. "I'm just saying."

Momoko then held up her hands to Miyako and Kaoru, halting their potential argument from continuing. When Miyako and Kaoru got her cue, Momoko let her hands down and looked at Ms. Bellum again with a look of determination. "Ms. Bellum, you need to let us know. We have the right to know—as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup of the Powerpuff Girls Z, powers or no powers."

A couple of seconds of silence passed as Momoko, Miyako, Kaoru, and Ms. Bellum stared at each other, their gazes not faltering in the slightest.

Finally, Ms. Bellum sighed in defeat, even though a smile appeared on her face. "All right, you girls win. I'll tell you what we've learned so far." She then paused before pursing her lips. "To answer your question, Momoko, yes, the police department looked into the list of supervillains to see if there was a connection once black light was found among the evidence from the first massacre. Many of the supervillains are currently inactive, meaning that they don't participate in crimes anymore. A supervillain who is an example of this is Mojo Jojo. We found that supervillains such as Fuzzy Lumpkins, Sedusa—although she's a bit of an exemption, considering her state—and others have, in a way, 'retired' from their life of crime and mishaps."

"And?" Momoko asked. "Who are the active ones?"

"No one's active, per se," Ms. Bellum said, her lips pursing further, before she sighed. "When I said that many of the supervillains are inactive, I meant those were the ones we could account for, contact, go undercover to see how they are, and so forth. There's no one active because the rest all went missing—truly under the radar—and there were only a few of them." She paused again, her gaze softening. "Before you girls confirmed their identities, the Rowdyruff Boys Z had already been deemed as missing when the police department checked in with Mojo Jojo years ago. Just recently, they confirmed one more person went missing. If anything, the police department is surmising that all signs point to that person, not the boys, but—"

"Who?" Kaoru immediately asked.

Ms. Bellum stayed silent for a few seconds, her lips pursing again. "Ace."

"What?" Momoko exclaimed.

"I don't believe it," Miyako muttered.

"You don't mean of the Gangreen Gang, do you?" Kaoru demanded, her eyes narrowing.

"Kaoru, you need to calm down," Ms. Bellum said.

"No! If that guy is the murderer—"

"We don't know where he is, Kaoru. We only know the Rowdyruff Boys Z's statuses because of you girls, but as for Ace, we don't know about his whereabouts." Ms. Bellum sighed. "When the police checked in with the Gangreen Gang, they said that their group—as a gang, as criminals, to be accurate—had dispersed a long time ago because their leader had gone missing. They're all still friends and hoping that Ace comes back to them one day, but from their perspective, he just got up one day and left—except for Snake."

"What did Snake say?" Momoko asked.

"Well, Snake said that the last time they had interacted with each other was years ago and that Ace was extremely angry at the Rowdyruff Boys Z to the point that he wanted to 'teach them to not mess with the Gangreen Gang' with his own hands. One of the Rowdyruff Boys Z in particular had really angered Ace."

"Let me guess: Butch?"

Kaoru immediately flinched.

"Bingo," Ms. Bellum replied.

"Why?" Kaoru managed to ask, but her voice came out soft.

"I'm afraid that's something we don't have an answer for."

Kaoru pursed her lips, resisting the urge to retort and yell at Ms. Bellum that the police department could've done more—that even she could've done more—to find out the truth of whatever this was going on. Millions of thoughts swirled in her head as she recalled how beaten and bruised Butch was from supposedly encountering Ace—if the culprit was even Ace, to begin with. At that thought, Kaoru blinked. "Wait."

"What is it, Kaoru?" Momoko asked.

"The boys are stronger, right?"

"Yes…" Miyako replied, furrowing her brow as though the answer was obvious.

"And Momoko, you brought up that the culprit could only be a supervillain, right?"

Momoko nodded. "Where are you—" Momoko immediately stopped herself from continuing before her eyes widened. "Oh, my God."

Miyako furrowed her brow in confusion. "What? What is it?"

"Are you girls onto something?" Ms. Bellum asked.

"Ms. Bellum, did the Gangreen Gang look any different from the last time we had seen them?"

Ms. Bellum shook her head. "No, the police department described them as looking as they had years ago, aside from looking older now, of course. Why?"

"Oh, my God," Momoko muttered before she groaned and held her head in anguish. "Oh, my God, I feel like an idiot now."

"Hey, if you're thinking what I'm thinking, then you're not the only one," Kaoru muttered.

"Girls?" Ms. Bellum asked, a tone of concern seeping through her voice.

Miyako then started tugging at Momoko's sleeve. "What is it? I don't understand what you're both thinking."

Kaoru licked her lips. "Miyako, remember what Ace looked like years ago?"

Miyako tilted her head as she pondered, humming softly. "Let's see… He had black hair, green skin, pink eyes, and black sunglasses. That's about as much as I can remember, though. It's hard to remember anything else other than the color of his skin and eyes since all the Gangreen Gang members also looked like that…"

"That's exactly it, Miyako," Momoko replied before she sighed. "If Ace is the culprit, then how is he able to beat up a Rowdyruff?"

Miyako's eyes widened in realization. "You don't mean…"

Momoko nodded grimly. "We know for certain that the boys have gotten stronger, most likely from drinking Mojo Jojo's potion. That means at the very least that they're no longer the same boys we had encountered when they were first created—meaning that if Ace were to face Butch the way he was back then, then he would've lost, but instead, Butch was the one who lost." Momoko paused, pursing her lips. "If we put that together with what the boys have told us, then the only logical explanation left is that Ace has gotten stronger."

"But what about the massacres?"

Momoko shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know why Ace could be the one who's behind all the killings. It's even stranger now that they've abruptly stopped. If he's become a serial killer since we last saw him years ago, then that means something happened."

Kaoru scowled as she scrutinized her gaze. "Meaning?"

"Meaning that if we piece in what Ms. Bellum just told us, something must've happened between him and the boys years ago. Remember? The boys went under the radar for a few years and then came back. If Ace is tied with them, then that explains his disappearance and return."

"But we don't even have proof that it could be him—"

"No, it has to be him," Momoko interrupted, and before she would let Kaoru retort, she turned her head to Ms. Bellum. "Am I right, Ms. Bellum? None of the other supervillains would be able to pull any of these things off—going on…on killing sprees, beating a Rowdyruff who's clearly gotten much stronger than before, but still managing to avoid public detection."

"Well, when you put together what you've just said, Momoko, it's much more difficult to believe that it's not Ace, at this point," Ms. Bellum replied.

"There's one more thing that's bothering me, too," Momoko muttered.

"Which is?"

"If Ace is back and he's gotten stronger, but none of us have been able to find him, then I wonder…" Momoko's voice trailed off as the look of hesitation appeared on her face. "I wonder if his physical appearance has changed, too."

"What?" Kaoru screeched.

"You must be kidding," Miyako muttered, her eyes wide.

"Hear me out, girls. We know the Rowdyruff Boys Z physically changed, but who's to say that Ace hasn't either? If him having green skin and pink eyes is a dead giveaway that he's part of the Gangreen Gang, then he could've done anything for all we know to change his appearance." Momoko paused. "I just…don't know how he could've achieved something like that when it was caused by black light."

"I think that's enough for one day," Ms. Bellum said, stopping Momoko to continue further as she stood up. "I'll be sure to relay what you girls have said to the police department, especially you, Momoko, but right now, I need to attend to another meeting soon. They'll be able to handle all these cases, so you girls need to continue to lay low and stay safe. Would you like me to show you on your way out?"

Miyako shook her head. "No, Ms. Bellum, we'll be fine."

"Yeah, we know the way out," Kaoru added.

Ms. Bellum nodded before she waved and said her good-byes to Momoko, Miyako, and Kaoru while the trio left her office.

Once the door shut behind them and they went to the elevator, Momoko finally let out a sigh.

"What's with the sigh?" Kaoru asked.

Momoko made no response—at least until they got into an empty elevator with just the three of them. Once the door shut behind them and the elevator began to head down to the lobby, Momoko said, "We need to do something."

"Do what?" Miyako asked.

"I'm not 100% sure, but we need to do something—anything that'll solve whatever in the world is going on."

"You're not making sense, Momoko," Kaoru replied, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm talking about what we just discussed with Ms. Bellum."

"Except she said the police department will handle it."

Momoko shook her head. "No. They're not going to be able to do it."

"What do you mean?" Miyako asked.

"Miyako, Kaoru, this is going to sound crazy, but…I think we're going to be on our own moving forward with finding anything related to this case."

"What?!" Miyako and Kaoru exclaimed.

"Momoko, are you crazy?!" Kaoru then hissed softly.

"Just hear me out, okay?" Momoko paused. "I meant that as much as we can trust the police, we don't know when the massacres will strike. Right now, everyone is lured into a false sense of security, thinking they've stopped, but we know who could be behind it, and we don't know when he'll strike—"

"Momoko-san, you're forgetting the fact that we can't conduct our investigations," Miyako whispered softly, raising a knowing eyebrow.

"I know, which is something I'll need to figure out." Momoko paused, frowning. "The best choice right now is to lay low until we come up with the best strategy while we wait for our powers to return. Outfits or not, we're still who we are."

Kaoru scowled. "What about the assholes?"

"Who?"

"The boys," Kaoru deadpanned.

Miyako's jaw dropped. "Kaoru-san, they're not—"

Kaoru groaned. "Miyako, please, not now."

Momoko frowned, pondering as she crossed her arms.

"Momoko?"

Finally, Momoko shook her head. "We need to lay low."

"What?"

"If what I'm thinking is right, then we can't interact with the boys."

"And what exactly are you thinking?" Miyako asked.

Momoko licked her lips. "Do you both remember when I brought up patterns of the serial killer?"

Miyako and Kaoru slowly nodded.

"I've been thinking a lot about it, especially after our meeting just now with Ms. Bellum, and one thing has been made clear from that—why that pattern exists, if the culprit really is Ace."

Miyako and Kaoru both blinked, looking at each other in confusion before glancing at Momoko again.

"Momoko, spill," Kaoru said, frowning.

"Yeah, I'm…I'm not following," Miyako muttered.

However, the remnants of fear and anxiety began to grow on their faces, especially when Momoko let out a deep breath and looked at them with the commanding, determined face of a leader they would always see during difficult times.

"If the culprit really is Ace, then it's no surprise that he's after us and the boys," Momoko finally said. "He has every reason to hate us, just as much as he hates them. We know now that he'll go as far as…killing someone. That's why if we see the boys, we can't interact with them."

"Because he'll find us," Miyako murmured, her eyes widened. "And them."

Momoko grimly nodded. "Exactly."