Bubbles had followed Butch all the way to the center of Townsville. This was just their destination. There was a volcano, and a top that was the lair of Mojo Jojo. It was odd how helpful it was really to have that volcano plugged up, which was one less risky problem to worry about with Townsville. The powerpuff girls themselves had helped the villain create it a long time back, well before they had learnt of his evil intentions. In fact, it was back when the town was against the idea of those super powered children running around, it was hard to believe how much had changed since then.
"How do we get inside?" Bubbles questioned, seeing the metal dome of a lair looming ahead as they approached it, flying along around the side while she carried the power core. They had to be sneaky about this, and she wondered if Butch could handle that without randomly resorting to brute force.
"The old man has a special access. He usually sends the robots out through there. It's around the back," Butch claimed they could get in through the same way the robots get sent out. She followed Butch along to the back of the fortress, watching him approach and the feel around the wall. He suddenly gripped his fingers tight into the metal. If there was anyone who would know the best way inside, it was the children who used to live there.
"I'm sorry for all you've been through," Bubbles extended her condolences while seeing him grit his teeth and strain, seeing that huge piece of the metal structure begin moving. He only moved it slightly, but it was wide enough for them to enter through. He panted when he stopped. It had clearly taken a lot of his strength and energy to do. Being stealthy was annoying to him already.
"If I pretend to care, would that make you shut up sooner?" Butch retorted in a very hostile manner. It surprised her that she almost dropped the rigged power core, though fumbled to catch it. He didn't even care to look at her though, she assumed he was trying his best to tolerate her, but clearly any reminder to Mojo's disownment had emotionally left a rage inducing wound in his heart.
"Sorry…" Bubbles quietly muttered as they carefully flew inside the robots deployment bay. When they got inside, it was quite dark, though the light illuminating into the huge chamber. They could see mostly emptiness in this room.
"Assembly room should be this way," the raven haired boy pointed to the left. His memory may be slightly vague, but he still knew his way around. They were in the lowest part of the base. Bubbles kept close to Butch as they made their way to the neighboring room. It was just as intimidating in size. There were tools lining the walls and scrap metal lying everywhere on the floor. It was scary for Bubbles to see huge leftover pieces of unfinished robots in various positions.
"I-I never imagined making robots was so scary…" Bubbles confessed her surprise. Blueprints were overfilling a filing cabinet. The robots that were here but unfinished looked like metal skeletons with wires dangling from them, their armored bodies being incomplete.
"You'll get used to it," Butch said, though he clearly was doing his best to hold back right now, trying to resist burning the entire room to the ground and everything in it. He went over and swiped the power core away from her.
"Alright… which one to jam it in?" he pondered aloud while his fingers tapped away on it. There were so many robots that looked to be in various percentages of completion.
"Hey look, this one isn't dusty," Bubbles called out, standing in front of another scary robot. This one however seemed to share a more smooth style to it with only one eye. However its chest was exposed, the power core in it looking attached only by two wires.
"Well, if being clean is the best clue we can go off of…" Butch shrugged. Logic was the only useful thing they had that wasn't blind guessing. He carefully pulled the cables off and removed the robot's power core from it before he tossed it aside, letting it fall into one of the many piles of scrap.
"Eek!" Bubbles squealed, covering her mouth quickly after. Butch quirked an eyebrow, looking at her, though he realized what startled her. He saw a light illuminating from the next room, and it was coming from the stairwell.
"I swear, you're bad luck," he growled, quickly putting the power core in and attaching the wires. They had only two options now; either they hide or run. But they doubted they could get out in time without being spotted. Bubbles was looking around, trying to figure it out. The two of them flew upwards to the ceiling. They had to stay quiet and stay floating in the air, and hope they will be fine.
"Project 819 sadly failed. I suppose it's time to consider a different method of tactics," they heard. They saw someone entering the building room. It was an anthropomorphic monkey, who was wearing a purple attire with a massive helmet to cover his brain. Here he came; Mojo Jojo, the father of the rowdyruff boys, or at least formerly. He had a massive grudge against Townsville and the powerpuff girls, but he had become a joke of a threat as of late.
Bubbles was trying to stay calm, aware that she will hear nothing but insults from the rowdyruffs if she carelessly gave away their position. Her heart was racing as they were floating right above one of the most well-known villains in the town. She looked over to Butch who seemed to be calm, like he was hoping to be found. He wanted to just beat his creator up, and his forest green eyes showed it.
"Ah, my beauties… which one of you to work on today?" Mojo questioned, looking at the robots around him. The time he spent in this workshop had given him the bad habit of talking to himself and treating these machines like they were alive already without being active. His attention was gained by the robot that Bubbles and Butch had just tampered with, to his lack of knowledge.
"It's almost like you're looking at me," Mojo chuckled to himself while approaching it, seeing the one eyed robot that was poorly together. He decided it was time to put it to the test and activate it, just to make sure its programming was ready to be fully finished. He raised one of his gloved hands, unveiling a remote before hitting a button.
Bubbles and Butch were astonished to see the one eye of the machine begin to glow red, the power core sparking as it began to become animate. They both had the same thought right now. Did Brick mess up? If so, then all they did was waste a lot of time replacing a robot's battery.
"Excellent! Project 833! I was forgetful of how much progress I made on you yesterday," Mojo was happy. But before he knew it, the simple test activation began to go array. It was beginning to spark more violently. The power core was glowing, and its red eye was getting brighter each second. Suddenly, it violently exploded, part of its right arm falling to the ground.
"Wha-?!" the intelligent primate had no real time to react. The power core was glowing brightly. It was failing instead of immediately ruining the robot calmly. It was about to explode. All he saw a blue blur before he took cover. Bubbles had come out of hiding quickly, creating a light blue energy projected shield. Butch watched the room get engulfed in a gigantic explosion. The power core had overloaded and destructed the robot, and there was no way anybody could stop it.
"Bubbles! Are you okay!?" Butch called out, having trouble breathing through the smoke. He could see his father lying on the floor with only had scrapes and bruises, but he was clearly out cold. Not far from that was Bubbles who lay against the wall. She had blocked most of the explosion, but she seemed badly shaken by it. He rushed to her side, unable to tell what injuries she had suffered, but assumed that they were covered by the bandages she had already.
"Oww... my head," Bubbles sniffled. She felt like she had taken quite a bad beating. Her gentle blue eyes were quickly focusing once more. Butch looked not much better than her, though. He had a burn mark along his left arm, and his hair was a little singed.
"I'll take that as a yes," he sighed a breath of relief. The remnants of the robot lay all over the room. Its head had landed on a workbench, looking like it was loosely together at this point.
"Why'd you protect dad?" Butch requested while holding his hand out to her. He was being oddly nice now. She took his hand gladly, before being helped up. The blue girl didn't have a really good answer for him.
"I don't want to kill anyone, evil or good," Bubbles exclaimed. That was something she would live by until she died. The only villain that had really forced her to break that code would be HIM, who had forced her and her sisters into committing their final battle.
"Let's get out of here, he'll be fine," Butch stated. She nodded, the two of them taking off to get back to their hideout. This prank went wrong and all they could hope for was that Mojo would wake up with a bad headache and assume it was a malfunction. They both flew out the same way they came in, leaving their green and blue streaks of light behind them as they flew.
"Why did you suddenly care for my well being?" Bubbles wanted to know what had made him change his mindset. The spiky black haired boy felt his eyes glaze over almost. His mind had just switched to that protective mindset.
"I'unno… you're a ruff, too. After all, we gotta take care of ourselves," Butch gave the immediate first two answers in mind. No matter how much he hated her, no matter what was in their past between their fights against each other, they were both rowdyruffs and they had to take care of each other now. She found it kind of sweet.
"And besides… if I don't, Boomer would kill me," Butch added. Bubbles could only suppress an embarrassed giggle, aware that the blue ruff was the main advocator supporting her now. She doubted this kind side of his would last forever, but she was happy to know that the green ruff was relaxing to the idea of her sticking around. The two of them just continued their flight through the air.
Barely a few minutes after they had left, Mojo was beginning to reawaken groggily. He was in horror when he saw the wreckage of the room, having been nearly destroyed by the explosion.
"Wha…?! My machines! What caused this-…" his eyes narrowed as he began to remember. He knew that the robot was about to explode, but the last thing he recalled seeing was something blue with yellow hair. He kicked one of the nearby metal scrap pieces away in rage.
"If I'm not mistaken… my children are actively trying to kill me now!" Mojo snarled in presumption. His memory couldn't recall anything more, but he had mistook Bubbles for Boomer entirely. He was thinking the rowdyruff boys now were out for revenge against what he had done toward them. He looked at the workbench, seeing the robots head lying on it. A plan began to form in his head.
"If that's how it's going to be, then fine… but I refuse to have 6 super powered children against me. When I'm done with them, I'll make them regret ever being brought into this world by me!" Mojo spoke to himself while slowly crushing the robot head in his hands, watching it rumple apart and topple to the floor in tiny pieces. An evil scheme instantly brew in his head for revenge.