Pry with Prejudice

Princess Morbucks clacked away at her laptop, ignoring the class around her. The teacher had given her a sour look but said nothing. He didn't dare speak against her.

Princess had just been expelled from a very exclusive private school for girls. It was a Christian institution and their values had obscured their common sense. Expelling her would be a fatal move for their part, she would ensure. Her father was more upset with Princess, however, and had decided she would spend the rest of her senior year in a public high school.

Even so, she had ensured high placement, evidenced by the honors class she was currently ignoring. This was only one such class, but she paid the others as little heed.

Princess shot a glare at Blossom, who was legitimately present and engaged in a mild debate with the teacher over something of no interest to Princess.

She bet those girls could effortlessly get away with more than Princess ever could, even with the vast resources at her fingertips. All princess had done was have a little fun with some guys and arrange for some very...interesting parties.

Well, that was most of it, anyway. At least she'd gone out of her way to stick with guys; some of her friends had turned to each other at least once. A lot of people would probably hate Princess even more if she'd done the same and been caught.

Princess sneered when the teacher congratulated Blossom for her insight. She'd bring those girls down a few notches. It wasn't fair, after all, that Princess should suffer a decline while they walked about freely.

She started a chat with her favorite private investigator. Like everyone else she held under her thumb, he was available day and night by any and every means of communication.

Or else.

She told him where to show and when, so after class she met him beside the school. She didn't care if she'd be late for the next class.

He was already there when she showed--a wise move. Danny Rye, Private I. Or Daniel Smith, according to his birth certificate, but he kept that to himself. He was forty-one and divorced. Permanently on retainer for Princess, he spent most of his time drinking or smoking, and it showed.

"I want you to watch the Powerpuff Girls. I want dirt. Real or fake, so long as it holds."

"Anything in particular in mind?"

"The worse the better. I know they've got problems, but I don't want evening news. I want CNN. Puffgate. Show everyone those whores aren't any better than the rest of us."

"What do I have to work with?"

"I already wired the funds. You should have plenty. Don't be stingy with it--I'll reimburse your expenses. Spare no effort. Do this right and you can retire if you want. Do it wrong..." Princess grinned malevolently. "You won't have a choice."

He swallowed hard. "I might bring in outside help."

Princess waved her hand. "That's your prerogative. Under no circumstances does this come back to me if you raise someone's suspicions."

"Do I have a time frame?"

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, there's a time frame. I'm not sure what it is just yet, but let's not try and find out, all right?"

He nodded. "How should I contact you?"

"You shouldn't. No direct contact. My people will talk to you."

"When and where?"

"Whenever and wherever."

He nodded again. One way or another, his career was over. If he pulled this off, even if his name wasn't associated with it, he was out of here. He wasn't about to risk Princess pulling him out of retirement next time she wanted something done. He knew how to hide, and if he hid well enough it would take another P.I. to find him, maybe that would be enough to keep her interest off of him. He'd seen enough of Princess's handiwork to know that one day's success paved the way to another's bitter end.

He respected the girls and all they did, but he had to hope he succeeded.

Within hours he had two trusted colleagues doing some digging for him. He also obtained some pretty advanced surveillance equipment. He wasn't used to using money to obtain the unobtainable, but the size of his bank balance was more than he could think about. It took the fun out of the job, really. Unfortunately, there was no fun in this job to begin with.

He was back at the school with time to spare before final bell. A pink streak shot towards the suburbs. He swore at himself for not thinking to wait near their home. It wasn't easy to trail a superhero. But he saw no signs of the other two girls at first.

Then he saw them together, with some grungy looking boy. His hopes were immediately raised. He'd learned that people could really surprise you, but like with most books the cover made a good starting point. To him the boy smelled of pot, beer, and sex. Unfortunately, even that would be little more than "evening news" as Princess had phrased it.

Still, it was a start. He watched the three climb into a convertible and drive off. Danny started his car and slipped in a few cars behind. Most of the after school traffic had thinned, at least in the parking lot. When he got onto the road he was careful to keep his distance. A one-man tail could be a hit-or-miss ordeal, and you had to balance the risks and gains. In this case, he couldn't afford any risk.

It wasn't any surprise when he lost track of them. Normally he'd have done his homework from more of a distance before moving in like this, but he had other people on that and no time to waste.

His first real breakthrough was on day three. By then he knew the boy's name was Mike and was familiar with the girls' various friends and acquaintances. He'd planted bugs here and there, too. Long distance microphones and laser microphones, aimed at the places he was interested in. He might have just been paranoid, but it seemed less likely they would be spotted. With the kind of money he had it was nothing. Plus, he seemed to remember something about someone planting bugs inside the girls' home one. It hadn't ended well, as he recalled.

He didn't hear much of interest. Common sense told him to keep an eye on Blossom, who went off alone more often. His hunches led him to the other two.

Bubbles, Buttercup, Katie, and Alice were at an outdoor pool. The pool was closed because the pumps had failed but Alice, employed there part-time, let them in. Danny watched and listened from a roof across the street. Not even the dirty old man mentality could keep the scenery interesting for that long, but he kept watching.

Eventually Katie and Alice let themselves out and locked up. Bubbles and Buttercup could fly out, after all. All four would have just left together, but it sounded like Bubbles, who'd been lying on her belly and tanning, had fallen asleep. Danny knew the girls had been involved in some late-night superheroics last night. Something involving a meteor. The other three girls had agreed to leave Bubbles to her nap for a while longer.

He watched Buttercup walk and sit beside her sister.

"Are you up?" Buttercup asked softly. There was no reply.

Danny watched closely, though his eyes were strained from spending so much time looking through the device. It seemed... But, no, that can't be right. Buttercup seemed to be giving her sister a good once-over with her eyes.

Bubbles had undone her bikini top to avoid tan lines, leaving her back fully exposed. Buttercup started to reach out, but drew her hand back. She looked around and grabbed a bottle of suntan lotion. She spurted some onto her hands and then hesitated. When she started rubbing it into her sister's back, something didn't quite feel right to him.

"Mmmm," Bubbles moaned groggily. She leaned up a little and turned. "Buttercup?"

"Oh. Hey, sleepy. I was just, um... Suntan lotion."

Bubbles sat up, holding her top in place with one arm and rubbing her eye with her free hand. "I'm sorry. Guess I dozed off."

"Let me get that," Buttercup said, sitting behind her sister and fastening the bikini top.

"Where is everyone?" Bubbles asked.

"They just left. We were going to let you nap. Do you just want to head back?"

She yawned. "Prolly should. I could stand to get to bed early."

After they gathered their things and left, Danny sat and thought for a while. It didn't seem right, but he couldn't ignore it. Something about Buttercup's mannerisms seemed off to him. He hadn't overheard anything interesting going on at the Utonium home, but he had to admit, those girls did keep to themselves a lot. Especially those two.

He wasn't sure, but he thought he might be onto something. Maybe it was just tired eyes, a throbbing headache, his own battle with fatigue, and a desire to find an end to this search. But maybe it wasn't.