Bubbles had flown with the rowdyruff boys a good distance away from the area that they had fought Mojo's robot at. They were landing at a rougher kind of neighbourhood. They were in the back alleys as they approached a metal shutter. Bubbles was keeping close to her blue counterpart.
"Remember; don't touch anything of ours," Brick ordered. The blonde girl nodded, understanding this. She was there only to get her injuries treated, and then she would leave. She was grateful for all the help, but she was hoping to inquire about what was going on with them and what was affecting their personalities so drastically. She watched Butch grab the metal shutter and force it open. Inside was nothing but darkness for the most part. The four entered inside. One tug at the string of a loosely dangling light fixture gave illumination to the room. It looked like an abandoned mechanics workshop. There was a television set up there, presumably thieving cable off another nearby building, and there was one long sofa that looked like it had been taken from a junkyard. The other pieces of furniture available didn't look much better.
"Whoa…" Bubbles could only say upon seeing this place, hearing the metal shutter slam shut behind them. So far there was nothing for her to be concerned about.
"I'm going to go grab a bite to eat," Butch said before walking away, heading through the door into assumedly the front of the mechanics where people normally came in to pay for the vehicle repairs, though the blue puff realized that most of the machinery one would normally see here was missing. Safe to say the prior owner took them before leaving, if he wasn't forcibly evicted by the ruffs.
"Boomer, you can handle taking care of her right?" Brick asked. His brother nodded while putting a hand on his counterpart's shoulder to reassure her everything was fine.
"Of course," Boomer nodded. They saw Brick go over, resting the power core they had taken from the stolen robot on one of the many junk filled shelves before he went and plopped down onto the couch, seeming like he wanted to watch television right now.
"Come on. I'll treat you in the bedroom," the blue ruff insisted. Bubbles nodded, following him off to another room of the mechanics. As they walked, she noticed that any window they passed was boarded up and covered thoroughly that nearly no light was able to get in. It was as if they didn't want anyone outside to be able to view inside. Even then, that was the point of a hideout that was secret and hidden. Bubbles was led through an open door, seeing the bedroom ahead. There were posters of various bands lining the walls, and there were three mattresses lining the floors with what could only be assumed to be stolen blankets and sheets. There was a small TV resting on a desk, but it had a game console hooked up to it. The television was only able to play video games, apparently. There was also a shelf lined with a good amount of books that could be read.
"Have you guys been spending a lot of time here?" Bubbles quirked, seeing Boomer going over to one of the drawers of the desk, searching for the medical supplies that he and his brothers needed often.
"Well, since our other place got trashed, this is going to be our home for the time being," Boomer answered. He sounded honest, but the topic sounded like a cautious area to touch upon. She was going to be as delicate as she could.
"Home? I thought you called these hideouts," she chirped, pointing out his small discrepancy in the difference of words that he and his brothers chose to use to describe the location. He looked a little disheartened by this.
"Boomer…" Bubbles got beside him, seeing him holding a small box that was used to store the medicine in. He rested it on the desk before he put his hands on it. He looked upset, but not angry. She never saw any of the rowdyruffs like this, but it made her feel bad for all the times she beat him up in fights. Bubbles had a sharp hunch on what struck the nerve and decided to go from there and keep pushing the conversation.
"You don't live with Mojo anymore… do you?" Bubbles guessed that they no longer lived with their father, Mojo Jojo, and that was why they beat up his robots without any hesitation, and extensively why they all were acting so different. That was something the blue ruff himself would have to inform her of. Boomer sniffled, looking at the contents of the box filled with medical supplies.
"He… he threw us out after we botched that last thing he told us to do…" Boomer stated. Bubbles was thinking hard on that, but the last time any of the powerpuffs saw the rowdyruffs was when they were trying to rob the docks at the south part of Townsville. They stopped them, of course, but it was another stalemate fight.
"He wanted some mi-military chip. When we didn't get it, he called us wastes of time. And that we didn't deserve all he did for us. He gave us two hours to leave," Boomer explained. It was after that, that Mojo had them pack their things and get out. Thankfully they had all these hideouts they could use as homes.
"Oh… B-Boomer… I'm sorry," Bubbles stuttered and apologized while wrapping her arms around him, seeing him so upset. He clearly needed some support. Recalling it alone was emotionally scarring on his heart. It showed how attached he was to his father, and considering their other father was deceased, it must have been quite a traumatizing experience from. He broke her embrace.
"Come on. You're the hurt one here…" Boomer said, trying to brush it off immediately. She felt horrible for having pried in the area, but now she knew why the rowdyruffs were acting so different, and that they seemed more hesitant to even consider the idea of battling. Bubbles let him begin treating her injuries.
After about an hour, he had done the best he could to tend to any injuries on her, including redressing her previous burn marks that had been caused by that monster last night. She was feeling a lot better soon enough.
"Thanks, Boomer," Bubbles said. He did an impressive job, having assumed her counterpart had handled a good deal of injuries himself. He smiled, glad she was happy, all things considered.
"Sorry about… bringing all that out," she apologized for forcing him to talk about his family affairs. Boomer sighed at that.
"It's alright… that's what I get for being weak, I guess," Boomer lightly chuckled. He always felt emotionally weak, despite the hiding of it. His actions shown how much he changed over a short time.
"I guess I better go," Bubbles didn't forget. Brick had ordered that once she was healed she was supposed to leave. She was greatly appreciative that all the boys trusted her enough to show her one of their hideouts, or their new home as they had classified it.
"Yeah. It was nice having someone to talk to. Take care, Bubbles," the blonde ruff bid her farewell. He felt better having her to confide in. His brothers would have made some joke about him being a wuss for having all these emotions. The blue puff left the bedroom, making her way out to try and head for the exit of the mechanics workshop. The only exit was that very metal shutter that they had entered through. When she approached it, however, she heard a voice.
"Yo. You feeling better?" Brick chimed. She saw the ruffs' leader sitting on the couch laid back. She nodded to him.
"A lot better. Thanks for helping me," Bubbles extended her gratitude, aware that as leader, he had to take a lot of consideration into each decision, and aiding an enemy was one not made lightly.
"Don't mention it. You made Boomer happy, as I can well see," Brick added, brushing off the kind act as nothing major. However, mentioning how she cheered up her counterpart was embarrassing that it gave her a light blush to her cheeks.
"Mind if I ask what you were doing trying to fight dad's robot alone?" the red ruff inquired, wondering what had driven her to fight alone. It was not the smartest decision, clearly, and she had gotten badly hurt from it all. She rubbed her arm nervously, wondering if it was worth telling her troubles to him.
"I wanted to beat it alone. I'm the weakest out of my sisters, and thought if I started working alone it'd be better. I don't want them to get hurt because of me," Bubbles explained her woes. She didn't expect much of a reaction from him, though she saw the orange haired boy lying his head back.
"You know that was a stupid thing to do, right?" he rhetorically asked. Bubbles didn't know how to take that, but knew that was the truth.
"If ya wanna get tougher, you gotta train and be around people stronger than you," Brick explained his view on becoming stronger. The rowdyruff boys were all tough in their own rights. But, this clicked an idea in her head. She took a step toward him.
"People stronger… like Boomer? And like you and Butch?" Bubbles wondered aloud. Brick looked at her confusedly, though he appreciated her rubbing his ego. He flexed his muscle on his left arm, though he didn't have much to show for it.
"Yeah. Good example," Brick agreed, appreciative of the compliments anyway. But then he noticed her close and giving him a sad puppy dog look that caught him off guard.
"Will you and your brothers please help me get stronger?" Bubbles pleaded. Those light blue eyes of hers could pierce anyone's tough defences in a conversation. Brick processed her request. A puff requesting help from a ruff, it was something he only would imagine in an odd dream, though having their enemies begging for mercy was more what he had in mind.
"Uh… I really don't know. What can we do to help you?" Brick responded, feeling awkward. He hated when the conversation wasn't in his favour. Unbeknownst to him and Bubbles, Boomer was around the corner listening in on them secretly, having heard the two from down the hall.
"Pleaaasssee? I don't deserve to be a powerpuff if I can't do anything! I'll do whatever you want, but please, I really need the rowdyruff boys' help…" Bubbles begged. Hearing her feel so ashamed to be weaker than her sisters struck a heart string with the red boy. He tilted his head, trying his best to think of anything he could gain from this, maybe some entertainment, but there really wasn't much the young girl could offer them that they would be interested in.
"What if we let her become a rowdyruff?" they heard, both of them looking at Boomer standing there, having decided to show himself. Both of them picked up on the fact that he had been eavesdropping. Butch was notably absent, however.
"Uh, Boomer, do I have to tell you what rowdyruff boys means?" Brick stood up. If they let a girl join them, they would be forced to have some form of name change. That or they just drop the 'boys' part from their tagline, but rowdyruffs didn't sound as catchy alone. Though it was easy to tell that he was more against the idea of helping someone they considered an enemy that much.
"Names don't matter. It'd be nice to have someone like her around to brighten our moods," Boomer argued. Bubbles was happy to have her counterpart on her side on the matter, even if her idea sounded well beyond ridiculous.
"Ugh… go get Butch. We'll have to have a vote, I think," Brick groaned. He was unsure what to do and whenever he wasn't able to make a decision, it came down to a vote between the brothers. The blue ruff stepped toward him.
"Brick! You know what will happen. I'll say yes, Butch will say no. We'll both give five reasons, but in the end, you have to decide," Boomer argued. No matter what, Brick had to decide. In fact, that gave him an idea. The messy haired boy turned around.
"Unless you aren't fit enough to handle being a leader anymore," Boomer suggested. His idea was implying Brick couldn't handle being the leader of three super powered children instead of two. That visibly struck a nerve on him.
"What'd you say? You know I'm the best to call the shots around here! I could lead a hundred people!" he fumed, stomping one foot. Bubbles wondered if she was going to witness a physical squabble between the two. She had never seen such heavy tension with the ruffs.
"Prove me wrong, you're the swing vote here," Boomer reminded. It was the red brother's call. Brick looked to Bubbles.
"Alright! I'll show you how good of a leader I am! Bubbles, as of right now, you're a rowdyruff boy… err… a member of the rowdyruff gang… or rowdyruff crew?" Brick began to ramble off. He couldn't come up with any other catchy words to put after rowdyruff, but the bottom line was that she was a rowdyruff now. Bubbles had a gleam of excitement across her face, surprised at how smart the blonde boy had played that.
"Thank you so much! I promise I won't let you down!" Bubbles exclaimed, hugging them both tight. Brick was still lost in his own thoughts, not caring much. Boomer returned her embrace, glad to have helped. He owed her after all for listening to his problems.
"Uh, did I miss something?" they heard, seeing Butch. He had just come back from another one of the rooms, but looked confused to see the three in a glorified group hug, even if their leader looked like he didn't have much care right now. The three broke apart.
"Bubbles is a rowdyruff now!" Boomer stated, Bubbles beginning to feel embarrassed to receive this much attention. Their raven haired brother glared at them all.
"What?! You've gotta be kidding! Why is it every time I'm not in the room, something crazy happens?!" Butch practically shouted to no one. It was going to take some time to convince him, but he clearly was against the idea just like Boomer predicted. Bubbles knew this would be a long day, wondering what she had gotten herself into. She could only hope her sisters wouldn't mind. After all, she couldn't inform Buttercup or Blossom of any of this.