CHAPTER SIX: "Savior?"

The RowdyRuff Boys dressed themselves up and got ready for school. They had already given Him the ringed jewel that they had taken last night. However, they kept the part about being seen by the security guard a secret. They felt that Him did not need to know about that until there was something else to report.

They could not fly to school or they would be recognized by the citizens of Townsville. Riding the school bus there was too risky since the PowerPuff Girls could have been riding it as well. Because of this, Brick used Princess' money to by a car. It was a simple, silver Nissan Altima, which would be nonconspicuous and avoid drawing attention to them, just as he had wanted. It was parked in the loading dock station of the warehouse, where ships used to pull up beside to unload their cargo.

However, Butch was not so simple. He wanted his own vehicle and after much arguing eventually Brick let him buy a black Harley Davidson motorcycle. It came with a black helmet that had a darkly tinted visor, a black leather jacket, and a pair of black biker boots.

"Brick, I'm telling you that we would have been alright with that other car that was two blocks down the street," said Boomer.

"It was a jet black Lamborgini Diablo, Boomer. We would have our cover blown the moment we showed up at school, dimwit," replied Brick as he got in the driver's seat and pocketed his forged driver's license. Even if he was pulled over he doubted the Townsville police would be able to discern that his driver's license was a fake. The policemen of Townsville were by far the most incompetent idiots he had ever come into to contact with.

"Yeah, but we would have had it blown with style," the blue ruff fired back as he took the passenger seat.

Brick put the key in the ignition and started the engine.

"Bro, do you even know how to drive a car? We're only fourteen." said Boomer.

"Relax, Boomer. With my advanced intellect this should be as easy as coloring inside the lines," confidently replied the leader.

"You got it in the wrong gear, dude," said the blue ruff.

"Shut up, Boomer. I'm trying to concentrate," said Brick.

Boomer immediately closed his mouth, put on his seat belt, and sat up straight.

Brick hit the gas; however, he had ignored his brother's concern. The gear was in reverse and the car went backwards right into the ship loading dock, off the ramp, and plunged into the water.

There was a long silence inside the car as it floated with the waves. Boomer opened his mouth to speak.

"Don't you say a word," calmly snapped his leader.

Boomer quickly shut his mouth. In mere seconds the sound off running water could be heard as the vehicle began to fill up with ocean water. The two ruffs lifted the car out of the ocean and shook the water out.

Butch silently got on his motorcycle, wearing his biker gear with the leather jacket over his camouflage one. "That is why I got a bike," he thought to himself as he watched his brothers. His green eyes vanished behind a darkly visor before he rocketed off towards school on his own.

"Stupid goodie-two shoes Blossom," Buttercup mumbled to herself as she walked to school, repeatedly kicking an empty soda can in her path.

Kicking butt was a distinct part of her personality. If that part was not allowed to get out she didn't know what she would do. She continued on her way to school.

Meanwhile in the shadows nearby...

Four pairs of eyes plus an extra large eye gazed at the lone chemical X charged teenager.

"Hey, look. It's Buttercup," said one.

"Yeah, Ace. Sssssssssso whatsssss do we do with hersssss?" said another with a slimy voice.

"Daaaaa we could play ball with her," said another.

"Phabo plplplplplplplplplplpl burrup," came the seemingly senseless babble of one of them.

"Good idea, Grubber. Let's get to the construction yard and head her off," said the one called Ace.

Meanwhile with Buttercup...

Walking along the cement sidewalk, the green puff continued her way toward school and passed a construction yard.

"Maybe, Blossom was right. It is my fault that I am grounded and she was just trying to fight crime without disobeying the professor," she had settled in her head to what she thought was a reasonable conclusion.

"Help! Help! I'm being robbed! Somebody help!," shouted a young woman's voice.

Buttercup's heart jumped with joy at the sound of distress. "Yes!" she shouted as she took off toward the voice.

She followed the cries down an ally and found an odd looking lady with green skin being held at knife point by none other than Ace of the Gang Green Gang. Surprisingly, Ace hadn't aged much over the years and still looked relatively the same as when she had fought him as a little girl.

"Don't worry, ma'am! I'll fix your little problem!" she yelled.

Ace turned around and in an almost overly dramatic manner said, "Oh no! It's a Power Puff Girl! Whatever will I do!"

Buttercup was just about to smash her fist clean into Ace's face, but something didn't feel right. She suddenly noticed that her shadow was growing and she was suddenly in shade. It was still morning and the sun was at an angle so Buttercup turned her head toward the blockage only to find that it was a wrecking ball swinging toward her at high speed. It slammed against her head and knocked her into the construction yard. She landed hard and skidded through dirt and concrete before finally slamming into a pile of steel beams that stopped her cold, the steel ringing from the impact.

Groggily, she slowly regained her footing. Her eyes followed the wrecking ball's chain to the vehicle that swung it and found non-other than Snake manning it. He hadn't aged much either. The green puff felt a sudden, crushing force slam her back down into the ground. Snake had dropped the wrecking ball on top of her.

"Quick, tie her up, Big Billy," came the familiar Spanish accent of Little Arturo.

She felt the ball lift off of her. Buttercup was too disoriented to see Big Billy grab one of the large steel beams and, with his incredible strength, he bended the beam around her body and effectively restrained her.

"You're getting slow, Buttercup. Lack of crime, making you slack?" taunted Arturo.

Buttercup's vision was blurry. Her head was still reeling from the blows she took. Her body was throbbing with pain and the beam felt too tight around her. When her sight came back into focus she discovered that she was surrounded by the Gang Green Gang and they all remarkably looked the same as they always had.

"Uh oh," she thought to herself.

Meanwhile…

Butch continued his route to school. He longed to fly. He missed the speed, but the bike was not a bad form of transportation. At least it had some adrenaline that came with it, unlike the bus. He was almost there. He only had to pass the construction yard and he would arrive at the school parking lot. However, as he was passing the yard he decided to glance in an opening near the fence, wondering if he could find a nice secluded spot to practice his boxing. To his surprise he saw a strangely familiar girl wearing black and green who was at the mercy of non-other than the Gang Green Gang. He recognized her as the irriating green PowerPuff Girl.

He immediately stopped his bike and pulled over. He thought Brick might want to know about it.

Meanwhile…

Brick ran another red light and made another ridiculously sharp turn at a ridiculous speed in a ridiculously packed intersection.

"Brick, slow down!" shouted Boomer.

"I'm just trying to get a feel for driving," he said calmly. "Relax. Take a nap."

"Watch out for the old lady!"

Brick swerved around an old lady crossing an intersection and missed her by inches. The sound of tires screeching on the street and dust filled the air. The lady continued on and didn't even notice her close call with death, typical of a citizen of Townsville.

Boomer looked at his leader and was amazed at his calm demeanor even though he was driving like a maniac.

Brick immediately began to slow down and drive like a normal law abiding person when he neared the school, careful not to draw any attention to himself.

"You know, Boomer, I like to drive," Brick said very calmly as if nothing drastic had happened. He looked over at Boomer just in time to watch him stick his head out the window and expel his breakfast.

The lead ruff calmly waited at the red light. As he did so Brick began to replay the fight last night in his mind and a question arose. "What were you thinking about when the PowerPuff Girls appeared?"

"I don't know," replied Boomer.

"I saw you hesitate to fight. What made you slow down?"

The blue ruff paused for a moment. The truth was that when he saw Bubbles he was absolutely stunned. She was extremely beautiful. The first second he saw her he almost completely forgot about the incidents when they had been kids. It seemed like the old grudges he held against them were of little concern anymore. He really didn't want to hurt her. There was no way he was going to tell his brother that because he feared of being thought of as weak.

"I was just really surprised to see them. I didn't expect to wind up in a fight with them so soon," he answered.

"Good. For a second I thought you were turning into a sissy," Brick replied.

Suddenly the red ruff's black berry went off and he picked it up. "What's up?" he asked.

"Hey, I think you should know about this," came Butch's voice. "Buttercup is at the construction yard and the Gang Green Gang got her," he said.

"Why should I care?"

"Well, It looks like they're about to kill her," he said.

Brick knew why Butch called about this and it was a good reason. Him had specifically stated that he wanted the pleasure of destroying the PowerPuff Girls. If they had let that pleasure go to anyone else, then Him might be displeased. "Good going, Butch," Brick said. "I know you're going to hate me for this, but you need to stop the Gang."

There was a brief pause on the other end. "Is that really necessary?" he replied with attitude in his voice.

Brick was slightly surprised. Butch was rarely one to question orders. He usually preferred to leave the thinking to others and expected everyone to leave him alone to use his fists. Maybe he just didn't want to save his mortal enemy.

"Butch, do it. That's an order. And try to see if you can keep her from recognizing you," he stated.

"Got it," came the response.

"And don't kill any of them," said Brick. "You are in broad daylight remember."

Meanwhile…

"Hey, Ace, what should we do with her now that we have her?" asked Big Billy.

Snake immediately jumped in. "We should kill her. The wrecking ball should do the trickssssssss," he said.

Ace had different plans in mind. "I think we should have a little fun with her first. She's growing up to be quite a babe if you get what I mean," replied Ace with a perverse smile.

Buttercup's eyes went wide and a sensation of fear pulsed through her.

"Wha… What are you gonna do to me?" she asked.

Before they could give an answer they suddenly heard the sound of a motor bike fill the air. The Gang Green Gang all looked in the direction it was coming from and saw a biker with a black helmet and a darkly tinted visor racing toward them at an amazing speed. At the last second before impact the biker popped up the front wheel and it smashed right into Ace's face. He plowed right over the leader of the gang and continued on. The mysterious rider took a crazy left turn and skidded to a halt. Eyes behind the darkly tinted visor glared at the gang.

Ace somehow managed to get up from the blow, holding his bruised face. "You're going to pay for that you freak!" he angrily shouted as he pulled out a switchblade.

The rider didn't say anything. He just revved the engine several times and let the bike's deep, fearsome roar display its power.

The green men all charged at him. However, right before they were about to make contact the biker then hit the gas and twisted the back of his bike towards them. The back wheel skidded along the ground and kicked up a cloud of dust that blinded the gang. He shot forward and drove in a wide curve before finally twisting back into the dust cloud he had kicked up.

"Whoa… cool," said Buttercup with awe as she watched the anonymous figure disappear into the cloud.

Suddenly she heard the sounds of an ugly fight. The members of the Gang Green Gang gave several howls of pain as the sound of fists pounding flesh radiated throughout the yard. When the dust cloud settled she saw the biker standing over the gang, all of which had been heavily beaten and knocked unconscious. A glint of sunlight reflected beautifully off the visor into Buttercup's eyes.

He then started walking towards her. With great strength he unraveled the steel beam from the green puff's body and freed her. The strong individual extended a hand to help her up. She took the hand and a strange feeling came over her. An electric jolt shot through her hand at the contact. She felt like she had butterflies swarming around in her stomach. Her knees went weak and she relied almost completely on the strength of the biker to pull her to her feet. Her face slowly started to turn a shade of red. Her whole body felt slightly lighter, despite the fact that she had been hit by a wrecking ball twice. For some reason she felt the urge to fix her hair as best she could and did so.

"Um… thanks," she said scrambling for words.

He didn't say anything, just stared back at her. "She's actually kind of good-looking," he thought to himself.

Suddenly his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that it was a text message from Brick. "What's taking you so long?" it read.

"But, she's not worth disobeying Brick," he thought again. Butch realized that he needed to get away and didn't want her to follow him. The green ruff slammed his fist into her stomach.

The blow was enough to knock the wind out of her and made her collapse back on the ground. This allowed the ruffian enough time to get back on his bike, hit the throttle, and speed away. She never knew who he was.

"You jerk!" Buttercup shouted at his back.

Red Crown: Sorry it took so long for me to update. I have been bogged down with college and it has been driving me nuts. Please Review. It motivates me to write and the next chapter will come sooner if you do.