Boomer and Butch must've followed their leader for about forty or so minutes until they saw skyscrapers on the horizon. Because of their superspeed it shouldn't have been that long of a journey, but the blue and green ruffs were thinking over what the red one had said.
Another city? A new life? All they've ever known? Staying neutral? They weren't even sure they could do that.
How were they supposed to eat, or where would they live? They knew Brick only wanted them to be safe, but was he really making a smart decision? Butch thought over all the possible ways they could live their lives, and every conclusion he came to was turning back to crime.
But, he decided to give Brick a chance, give this a 'wait and see' thing. He hated that prison just as much, but he just knew in the back of his mind this was a faux attempt at a so-called 'new life.' People would only ever see them as criminals.
As they flew over this new city, Boomer looked down and observed all the hustle and bustle going on below. It was much busier than Townsville. He wondered where exactly Brick was taking them. How would they live their lives? There was no doubt in his mind about not going back to that awful prison, or any other for that matter. But he knew they didn't have the best reputation, like Brick had said. A lot of people in this city probably knew who the boys were too. In truth, he felt scared about what the others would think of him and his brothers, and what they would do if they saw them.
"Um, Brick?"
"Yes Boomer?"
"Well, it's just that, when we-, um, other people, what will their reaction be? Will they send us back there? Will-" he sounded so scared and unsure. Brick noticed this and interrupted him in a calm voice.
"They can't just send us back without good reason to Boomer" he looked at his blue brother with a more reassuring expression and tone. "As long as we don't do anything that will get us into trouble, and just keep a low profile, there won't be any reason to be taken back." He gave him a quick smile and nod and turned away.
"But to answer your question bro," he sighed. "Don't expect to be met with happy smiles. Like I said, the people probably won't hate us. Our history will not be forgiven so easily, and to be honest I doubt it ever will. But whatever people say to us, or do. Do not lash out, at all" he warned them.
"May I ask, where exactly are we headed?" Butch spoke up.
"I don't know yet," Brick honesty replied.
"What?" Butch exclaimed and both he and Boomer stopped. "Did you even come here with a plan?"
"I did. Find a place to live, and some way to eat, and stay out of trouble."
"That's it? Oh great plan 'great leader', we could be looking around this stinking city all day!"
"No we won't." Brick looked around, using his x-ray vision, studying certain places. "There" he finally spoke and pointed in a direction.
His brothers looked to where he was pointing and saw a warehouse, by the looks of things abandoned. It was in a run down part of town inbetween a bunch of other run down buildings, alleyways either side of it.
"There what?" Butch looked unimpressed.
"We hide out here" Brick flew down to it.
"Wait you can't be serious?" Butch followed him down as did Boomer.
Brick zipped through an open window near the ceiling of the warehouse. It was definitely abandoned. It was full of empty cardboard boxes, and nothing much else really. One wide door which was presumably for vehicles, with another door for people by the side of it.
There was a third door on the other side of the room which led out to the alleyway. The only windows were up high close to the ceiling. It felt drafty. There were a few radiators on the walls but he doubted whether they actually worked. Judging by how old it looked, by the lack of items in the place, and the padlocks on the doors, this place was no longer in usage.
That also meant there was no electricity or plumbing. But beggars could not be choosers. Boomer and Butch followed him in, and examined the place for themselves.
"Well this is our storage room but where do we actually live?" Butch remarked sarcastically.
"We live here Butch" Brick informed him.
"Yeah I was afraid you'd say that. You mean you want us to live here? In this cold, damp, dirty lego set?" He pushed over a few cardboard boxes that were piled up.
"It's the best I could find," Brick stated honestly.
"A frickin' dog kennel's more luxury than this" Butch protested not pleased at all with the start of this 'new life'.
"Look boys, I know it won't exactly make a comfortable bed, but anything's better than those prison bunks right?" he formed a smile at his brothers in an attempt to humour them. Unsuccessfully however.
And when he put one of the boxes down, two rats scurried out of them and ran towards a hole in the wall. "See, there are pests in this place" Butch argued.
"No it's okay" Boomer spoke up, and floated over to the hole the rats ran into. He went down to its level and made some squeaking noises. Amazingly, the rats stuck both their heads out of the hole, and looked directly at Boomer. They squeaked back something, before turning back into the hole.
"I asked them if they could possibly stay out of the boxes that we're sleeping on. They also told me they're not diseased or anything so we should be fine" Boomer informed.
"So can you do that with all animals or what?" Butch genuinely wondered.
"As far as I know only rodents," replied the blond.
"All the doors are padlocked so security should be fine. And there are some old newspapers here for blankets." Brick picked up a newspaper from two years ago. He was about to set it down when he noticed the headline:
ROWDYRUFFS, ATTEMPTED ROBBERY.
He grimaced. He remembered that day. Well no more. Not anymore.
"I don't think chemical X users have to worry about security too much Brick" Butch pointed out.
"You're right, not if no one knows we're here we won't" he responded.
"I thought you said people couldn't do anything to us without good reason to?" Boomer reminded perking his head up.
"He probably means vigilante groups" Butch remarked not even attempting to put a positive spin on it.
"I'll, go and make myself a bed" Boomer, becoming more worried, floated over.
There was a silence between the super-powered boys for a while. Neither sure of what to say. "So we are actually going to be living here then?" Butch gave in, and no one answered him. "There still is the question of food y'know."
"I'll find something. You two stay here, and try your best to make yourselves comfortable." Brick then flew out of one of the windows leaving Boomer and Butch to talk amongst themselves.
Something's changed. The two brothers acknowledged their leader's new and uncharacteristic way of speaking to them. He wasn't addressing them in the manner he would before the prison. Demanding and barking orders. No this was far from the angry and imprudent boy they had come accustomed to.
"Boomer, let me ask you something" Boomer turned to face Butch.
"Do you really think this'll last? I get that Brick may have good intentions for us but is it really possible for the Rowdyruff boys to survive without committing any sort of crime? I mean we don't exactly have any money to pay for anything."
"But Butch, you know if we do anything criminal, they'll only send us back. And probably somewhere worse!" Boomer worried, putting his hands to his cheeks.
"Exactly. And do you know what we did wrong last time Booms?" Butch smiled floating over to Boomer, putting his arm around him.
"Assaulted the police officers?"
"Apart from that."
"Tried to rob a store?"
"Apart from that."
"Endangered several civilians-?"
"No Boomer! We were captured and arrested by the police. They got us in the end. And since we're in a new city, they're not going to have supply of antidote X are they? If we avoid making the same mistakes as we did last time, we'll be fine. We'll have food in our stomachs and people will be too scared to mess with us" Butch persuaded.
Boomer looked at him. "We'll be caught eventually, and who knows what they'll do to us this time!"
"They won't be prepared for us. Let's just go and get ourselves some real food. We'll be back here before you know it" the green ruff assured gesturing with his arms and rubbing his belly.
Boomer thought for a while before finally agreeing. "Alright, but only because I don't think Brick will be able to get us anything." The two brothers opened another window and flew out into the city.
Brick drifted down the alleyways of this new city. Although he didn't show it when he was there, he honestly didn't know how he and his brothers were going to have simple things like food, drink, and warmth.
He was lucky just now to find a ten dollar bill lying on the ground. But money wouldn't exactly be in abundance. It wasn't like getting a job was an option either. They were too young anyway for an official job. You can't exactly hire a seven year old. Even then who would hire them? Ex-criminals? Not a chance.
The city was so foreign to him. It was strange flying inbetween the alleys of unfamiliar buildings. Come to think of it, his brothers and him had never actually been outside of Townsville before. Apart from the prison of course. Despite being able to fly anywhere they wanted.
The Rowdyruff pondered his decision for a second, whether it was right or not to bring the three of them here. At least they knew Townsville in and out. But with Founders city, this could give them the new start they needed, or at the very best, the least amount of attention. It wasn't the cleanest of cities by first observation. The streets were scattered with litter and, at least in the area he was currently, run down with faded paint on everything.
He overviewed the street beneath and spotted a store below. Memories of him and his brothers attempting to rob that supermarket in Townsville flooded his head. He swallowed and flew down to the entrance, floating inside. He didn't make eye contact with anyone, and despite not being in Townsville, it didn't take long for people to recognise who he was. Brick didn't even need his super hearing to hear their whispers.
"Is that a Rowdyruff boy?"
"The leader too."
"He's here? What are they doing here? Where are the other two?"
"Of course they'd come here. Founders is the perfect place for people like them."
Brick decided not to make any sudden movements, but it didn't stop people from rushing out of the store or hiding for cover.
A bit bewildered by this, he resumed with what he was doing and grabbed some sandwiches alongside bottles of water. He left the ten dollar bill on the counter and didn't take any change.
He needed to get away quickly, since he overheard the worker who was supposed to be at the counter, calling the police. Carrying a bag of food in his hand he floated down the alleyways, back to what would now be their home for a while.
He came to a crossway in the alley, and he heard something rather unnerving to his left. He turned to see two people in suits, and another man in regular clothing with his hands up and his back to them. One of the men in suits had a handgun pointed at the regular man's head.
"This ain't personal Stevie, but when you decided to testify, the boss wasn't very, shall we say, appreciative" the man holding the gun said this in a tone as if it was some business deal.
"What the hell is she doing importing those sort of things anyway? Since when did medical equipment start making her money?" the man, apparently called Stevie, retorted. Fear very clear in his words.
"What matters is that you were going to tell the court" the other man in the suit said.
Brick was about to turn away from it. It wasn't his business to get involved. Himself and his brothers were neutral. Neither committing crime, nor fighting it. And this wasn't any ordinary crime going on, they looked organised. He wouldn't get involved in anything, it'll only look bad or be misinterpreted.
But then he looked up again, and saw some sort of fear in the man's eyes, the same fear he saw in his brothers eyes when they were going up against the other inmates in that prison. The same fear of probably going to die. The familiarity of it all overcame the boy, and made him do something. He dropped the bag and flew over to the scene.
All the two guys in the suits saw was a streak of red, before having their heads smashed against the wall rendering them unconscious.
The regular man lowered his hands and jumped aback. "What? Wha-, you're a, a Rowdyruff boy. But I thought, you were-,"
"Don't tell anyone I was here" Brick then floated away without another word. Leaving the man utterly dumbfounded, but he didn't stay around for long anyway and soon high-tailed off.
'Why do you care what those men were doing?' Something in the Rowdyruff's head gnawed away at him. A genuine sounding question for an invisible voice.
He stopped mid air. "I, don't." He picked up his bag and continued along his way. 'It reminded me of Boomer and Butch, that's all.'
When he got back to the warehouse he didn't know whether or not to feel surprised at his brothers being gone.
"Ah I should've known-" he spotted another window open that wasn't before. He dropped the bag and flew out of it.
'They could be anywhere in this damn city. Okay don't panic, I just have to do my best to find them, somehow.'
He flew higher, and used his x-ray vision to look around for them. 'Nowhere in sight. They're out of my visual and audible radius, which means they must be quite far.'
Brick looked up to see two small holes made in the clouds above. 'Only two things could've made holes in the clouds that size.'
He followed the trail through the sky, using his x-ray vision and super hearing all the way. The cloud trail eventually came to an end. All those detective stories, all those Sherlock Holmes books; it was amazing how handy a lot of them were coming in right now.
'They must've spotted something here. Knowing them they're probably after food' he sighed zooming desperately down an alleyway hoping and praying to find them before they did anything too destructive. He didn't know what he'd do if they ended back in that prison. He was searching and scrambling through his memory for anything; anything that could help find his siblings. Going over a hundred possibilities of where they might be or where they might go.
'Ok, think! Think 'd go for something small. Even they know they won't receive the best reception from people. And I know they flew past this area.' Brick noticed very faint burn marks on the walls which must've been caused by his brothers flying past them at such a speed.
He looked around the street. 'Candy store, there!' He flew up to the window and looked in, but surprisingly, they weren't in there. Luckily no one was on the street to see him.
Just then, he overheard something with his super hearing which sounded like Butch's voice. Brick cursed himself. "Dammit guessed wrong. Candy store was too obvious."
He flew over to the source of the sound, and it was a cake shop, or some sort of bakery, and Brick entered to find Butch taking items from the glass counter display and Boomer behind him holding a bag of other things. The man behind the counter was backed up in a corner. Brick floated in, not looking very pleased.
"Brick? Brick! We managed to get so much from this one store and-" Boomer tried to say.
"Put the bag down, Boomer" Brick said quite sternly.
Boomer looked a bit surprised. "But Brick-"
"Now. Boomer."
Boomer hesitantly obeyed. Butch knew Brick would probably get like this. "Find any food then?" the green Rowdyruff boy turned to face him. Unfazed by the sudden appearance of his leader.
"I managed to buy some food with money I found on the street. And I told you to wait for me at our home."
"That god awful place? Waiting for you to come back, not knowing whether you'd have anything?"
"This is not the way to get food."
"You never complained about it before."
"Haven't you been listening to anything I've been saying since we were released? We've just gotten out of a hellhole, I am not prepared to watch yourself get sent back!"
"As long as we don't get caught we-"
"We will be in the end if we keep doing things like this. We'll continue this discussion at home. Put the stuff down. We are not stealing from anyone, ever." Brick flew over and grabbed the items from his brother's hands and put them back.
"And why should I do that?" Butch questioned challenging him.
"Remember, loyalty to a leader?" Brick knew that Butch would not go against him fully. And Butch did decide in the end to listen to his brother.
"We are going back, now." Brick led his brothers out and flew them back to the warehouse. He was angry, and didn't speak at first. Eventually he turned to Butch.
"What were you thinking? We've only just come out of that prison, and you might as well have turned yourself straight back in! Plus you could've taken Boomer into that same fate" Brick scorned, knowing that it was Butch who must've come up with the idea and Boomer just followed.
"We're going to end up in some sort of prison again eventually, why delay it?" argued Butch, having no idea why such a change in their lifestyle was needed.
"I'm afraid you've already doomed yourself. That shopkeeper is a witness to what you two have done" Brick countered.
"But Butch, I thought you said we wouldn't get caught?" Boomer spoke up, becoming really worried again, terrified even.
"We won't Boomer. Not if we stay out of everyone's way. Just keep to ourselves and survive." Brick turned back to Butch. "And never, try anything like that again, period."
"The way I see it, our reputations are already dead. There isn't a chance or a hope that people will see us as anything but criminals" Butch stated very sure in what he was saying.
"Then let's not prove them right. I bought a few sandwiches and bottles of water. That's what we will eat tonight" Brick handed his brothers the food.
They sat in silence for a while, not having tasted food in a while that was at least decent. Boomer finally asked "What do we do in the meantime then? Y'know, for fun?"
Brick sighed. "I'll see if I can find any more money on the street to buy a pack of cards or some sort of game." The red Rowdyruff cleared his throat, preparing to say something not usually accustomed for him:
"Look boys, I'm sorry I reprimanded you just now. I, I don't want either of you to-, when you were both beaten by-, ah don't worry." He was never any good with words, or at least when it came to that. Instead he gave them a smile, floated over to Boomer patting him on the back and humoured: "You always enjoyed poker didn't you Booms."
Boomer was the last to fall asleep that night, trying to stay warm while shaking under the newspapers. Now he knew something was different. Brick was always making fun of him before. Getting him to do things he initially never wanted to do or insulting him all the time.
But now, he was gentle. He was being nice. He, didn't seem like Brick anymore.
The blue ruff then spotted two rats crawling about sniffing for food, looking as hungry as he was. He took some crumbs from the napkin that came with his sandwich and called over the rats. "Eat up buddies."
So here's the fifth chapter finally written. I'm going to try and make the boys develop first before they get involved in any acts of heroism. For now, they're just trying to get by. I thought there should be a little conflict between Brick and Butch too, the same way Blossom and Buttercup argue. And the girls will be in later chapters too, so you will see them.
Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.
