Chapter 9

Brick's POV

"Fucking doll" it's 6 in the morning, I don't have to go to school for another 2 hours and this damn doll is getting on my nerves. It started crying two days ago last Saturday after bubbles dropped it off, oh dammit, I'm thinking about the kiss again. It's been on my mind since then and I have no idea on what to do next. I get up and go over to the doll, I turn it over from side to side "where's the off switch on this thing?" It continues to cry loudly and I continue to get pissed about it, I sniff the doll realizing that it doesn't need a diaper change. Diaper bag, where is that diaper bag, ah there it is next to the bed on the floor. I still remember how to change the diaper from watching bubbles…ah shit, I'm thinking about it again. While I dig into the Diaper bag for the pretend bottle of milk and the pretend formula that goes with it, I think about what happened that day Bubbles came over. That kiss was insane, I've never felt anything like that before and it comes from bubbles? Is this the twilight zone or something? I connect the fake bottle into the dolls mouth and it makes a sucking noise. I chuckle at the cheap sound effect that comes out of the doll, this shit is hilarious, it's funny how this school can waste money on creepy little shit like this but we're still using textbooks from all the way back in the 80' I'm done feeding my pretend baby, now I gotta get ready for school, My mission today is to avoid the blonde until I can sort out how I'm feeling.

An hour later

How the hell did it come to this, me hiding in the Men's bathroom? Ugh I shouldn't have come to school, it's not like I'm missing anything important from missing it for one damn day but how was I supposed to know that this chick would follow me everywhere. I feel a vibration in my back pocket and I reach for my cell phone, its Sergio, must be important if he's calling me directly. Someone comes into the bathroom while I answer the phone, no one special thank god "hello?"

"Hey, are you alone?"

"No" I walk out of the bathroom and out into the hall, there I hit the nearest staircase, it's in the middle of class so nobody is around right now to bother me "ok now I am".

"Little Red, it's been a while since we've heard from you, the money is still coming in but your social skills can use some work".

"Sorry about that", something fucked up is coming my way, I just know it. This is how it starts, I hear from this guy at least once a year. I make the sales, push his stuff and send him his cut, so as far as he is concerned I'm doing what I need to do, so there are no problems between us. The fact that he's calling me makes me worry "so how can I help you?"

"Well I'll get down to the point; we had to take care of one of a client recently".

Soooo, why the hell am I hearing about it? I couldn't care less what poor schmuck he had to kill "I see".

"It got me questioning just how and where you are doing business, and I got a bit concerned. The client is one of yours, he was sent to the hospital and they questioned him on where he got his shit from. I think you know who I'm talking about".

My stomach hits the floor and I suddenly feel like throwing up "uh, Mitch Mitchelson?"

"So you do know who I am talking about? Interesting, didn't know you were dealing in school. How lucrative are you huh?"

"You didn't have to do it" I'm surprised I can even speak right now, my throat is totally dry.

"Excuse me? "

"What you did was unnecessary? He obviously didn't rat me out to the police and no one knows about you" I'm a bit surprised at myself at the fact that I'm actually upset about this. I hear laughter over the phone, that's not exactly a good thing.

"You know the one thing I like about you kid, you remind me of myself at your age. Always questing, persistent, money motivated and always asking questions. Then one day I asked the wrong questions to the wrong person and well… that explains why I only have one ear".

"I've….always wondered about that" I really have wondered about that, but I always thought he lost his right ear in a knife fight or something.

"The moral of this story little red, is that questions are dangerous and the only one that is allow to make decisions on what happens in this line of work is the Boss, this getting to you kid?"

"Look I'm not trying to go against you or anything" I get a bit nervous at this point, people who make the boss mad have a way of disappearing without a trace " I knew Mitch… he didn't have to die…"

"Brick, understand one thing and one thing alone, I DECIDE WHAT IS NECESSARY AND WHAT'S NOT, YOU DO WHAT I FUCKING TELL YOU, NO QUESTIONS ASKED. THAT UNDERSTOOD?"

I can feel the anger well up inside of me, if I had my powers I would tear off his other ear and chew on it like bubblegum, then I would force him to fucking swallow it "yes boss, whatever you say". He sighs on the other end of the phone as if he was sorry for disciplining his own child, condescending prick.

"Look little red, I hate to be the heavy here, you're a good kid and you do good work, you're smart. Which is why I know you understand that what I tell you is in your best interest, I'd hate to see my favorite salesman getting himself into trouble just because he decided to get nosey. Behave yourself, keep your nose clean and maybe someday you'll be a big time boss like me. How does that sound kiddo?"

Fucking narcissistic, condescending son of a bitch, if I ever get my powers back I will end you and your entire pathetic operation. I will obliterate every single last fucking thing you have ever worked and labored for and leave you in ruins, you will pay for every god damn thing you have done, especially to Mitch, you dickless, motherfucking asshole. Alright calm down, relax, my day will come, just breath, smile and say "that sounds fantastic boss, when I grow up I really do want to be just like you".

"Good boy, stick to the script kid and you'll do fine".

And he hangs up on me, stupid old fuck, ugh what the hell, for some reason the thought of Mitch made me sick and surprisingly sorrowful. My god, I lean against a nearby wall, I put my hand to my mouth, I'm going to throw up I just know it.

"Brick?"

"Boomer?" he approaches me, what's with his face? I've never seen him make a face like that, he seems deeply concerned "what is it?"

"Are you sick? You look pale" he walks towards me and I instantly become annoyed, he really is like a male version of bubbles. Always prying and coming near me and fucking looking at me with those annoying blue eyes "go away Boomer".

He turns around looking like he was going to walk away, but he doesn't. He turns toward me and looks into my eyes. It's like he's searching for something inside of me, I feel like slapping him, what the fuck is he looking at? Suddenly, he says something I never expected him to say "you just found out something truly horrible, something that wouldn't have and shouldn't have happened if it weren't for your indirect involvement with the wrong kind of people. You're handling it all by yourself, which is fine, but sooner or later you're going to hit that point where you can't handle it anymore. And when you do, promise me you'll come talk to me about it, ok?"

Wow, talk about a true WTF moment, "how did you even know any of that?" He doesn't even look at me, but when he finally does there's this supreme moment of clarity in his eyes which shocks me even more.

"I can see a lot of things when I'm not talking so much, and I can feel something's wrong with you even though you don't tell me anything. I know that you are making and selling drugs, I know that bubbles is stalking you and I can only guess that the guy you were just talking to is responsible for Mitch Mitchelsons disappearance".

For once in my life, I'm speechless "wow, careful Boomer, or I might actually think you have a brain". Boomer grins at me.

"I don't know about you but I'm starting to feel awkward from all of this brotherly bonding. So if you want, I'll go back to being stupid and you can go back to denying your true feelings for bubbles". Boomer's too observant for his own good, he finally walks away but stops before heading out the door "I really liked Mitch; he wasn't bad for a troll".

"Yeah, you're right, he wasn't" In the past Mitch was one of the only people who ever came near us when the collars were placed on us. Course it was so that he could tease and taunt us without the fear that we might completely fuck him up but afterwards we all got along and he even accompanied us on a few acts of mischief and vandalism. Regardless, he definitely didn't deserve to die "Thanks Boomer".

"No problem, Brick" As he walks away I find myself actually feeling better then I did before. I'll make a mental note to avenge Mitch's death but for now there's nothing I can do.

Meanwhile

Butch is in weight lifting class, he has been working out for the past hour. The other members of his team were separated from each other in the gym doing their own think on the work out machines. They had a game in a few days just before the big festival, so they really had to train. He finishes his lifts and gets up, wiping the sweat off his brow with his towel. Suddenly the doors to the gym open and Jack storms in making a beeline for Butch "you fucking son of a bitch".

Butch doesn't really react to him and would have ignored him had he not stepped up to him "yes?"

"You think you can take my spot behind my back" Jack says getting in his face.

"Let's get one thing straight, Jack off" Butch says getting back in his face "I would never do anything behind a person's back. I wanted your fucking spot and I went for it, and I'm telling you that right to your goddamn face. I wanted to be captain, everyone else here wants me to be captain and I'm 10 times better at it then you ever were". He drops the towel on the work bench and stands there daring him to throw a punch "you got a problem with that, spaz?"

Jack grins at him "maybe I do"; suddenly out of nowhere he throws a punch at Butch, the raven haired male ducks and upper cut his stomach. But when butch upper cuts him his fist bounces off Jack's abs like a rubber ball bouncing against a brick wall. Butch pulls his hand away flinching from the pain. Jack laughs at him "what's the matter butch? Did I hurt you?" Jack grabs him by the neck and launches him across the room causing everyone else around them to scatter in different directions. Butch's body collides with the wall and slumps a little sliding downward to the floor. He stays there hunched over in pain while Jack approaches him "hey I thought you were Mr. Tough guy, kicking ass and taking names, remember?" He grabs Butch by the neck again and holds him against the wall "Right here right now, I'm going to take back everything that was denied to me". Suddenly Butch starts to laugh wickedly as he hangs from Jack's hand by the neck, Jack sneers at him "what are you laughing at?"

Butch gives him a dark look "you broke my collar", that was all Butch had to say before he kicks jack in the balls forcing him to lean over in pain. Butch then delivers a powerful jab in his face smashing his nose, jack is launched through the gym door and out into the hall colliding with the floor.

Meanwhile

Blossom is in the library making copies of the fliers for the festival on Friday, the printer in her counsel office is broken. She then hears her watch beeping and instantly drops what she is doing to look at it. The watches that she and her sisters have alerted them when and if the collars on the boys were disrupted. Since they were the ones to put it on them, they were in full control of the boys freedom and were notified if they have been compromised. Blossoms watch glows green indicating the disruption coming from Butches collar "oh no". She rushes out to investigate.

In Chemistry Class

Boomer and Brick are in class trying their best to pay attention to the lesson, suddenly their collars beep. Brick frowns and touches his "what's going on?"

Boomer looks out the window on his side and hear police sirens in the distance approaching the school "something's happening". He gets up and head for the door, along with Brick as they ignore the teacher's quarreling.

In the hall way

Bubbles runs into Buttercup as they head towards the crowd "you got it too".

"Yeah, Butch must have taken off the collar" buttercup says running ahead of her.

Back to the fight

Jack gets up and lunges after Butch "YOU BASTARD, I'LL KILL YOU", he takes a swing at butch, but the other teen dodges and fly's backwards.

Butch round house kicks him in the face, throwing him towards the crowd that has gathered around them. Butch simultaneously grabs his foot and swings him down onto the floor cracking the ground beneath them. He then picks Jack up by the neck and hold him in the air "now where the hell did you get the extra chemical x from?"

Jack looks like he is about to answer, there was a look of sheer desperation on his face as he scans the room "NO, I …I'm not suppose to lose, I'm just as powerful as you".

"SHUT UP" Butch says slamming him against a locker " I don't give two shits about how powerful you think you are. I'm going to knock the Chemical x out of you fucking ass".

"FREEZE POLICE"

Butch looks over at the police officers coming in through the door into the school with their gun trained on him. He immediately gets agitated "relax pigs, I'm not hurting anyone".

"PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR" the police yell at him.

"DIDN'T YOU IDIOTS HEAR ME" Butch gets even more agitated and drops Jack "I said that I'm…."

Blossom pushes her way through the crowd to get to Butch "BUTCH, listen to them, ok?"

Butch looks over at Blossom "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW….?" He approaches her to talk with her but suddenly a shot is heard in the air. The crowd of students instinctively duck in shock from the sound, Butch stands still from the shock and looks back at them "what did you just….." he feels something on his neck and brings his hand up to it. His eyes widen when he realizes it's a dart, an antidote x tranquilizer. He pulls it out of his neck and glares at the police "you fuckers", his world becomes dark and blotchy and the last thing he sees is blossom rushing to his side.

Brick and Boomer make their way to where Butch and blossom is, they are stopped in their tracks as the police now train their guns on them. Blossom instantly stands in front of them to protect them "DON'T SHOOT, its ok, hold your fire".

Bubbles floats to where brick is and Buttercup comes to Boomers aid, Buttercup glares at the police "what the hell do you think you're doing? These are unarmed men".

The police chief cuts through the police force "its ok guys, the girls are here", the other officers lower their weapons but still keep a watchful eye on the boys. The chief goes up to the teens and looks concerned at blossom "we got the call, Butch has clearly violated his court order".

Blossom frowns at him "he didn't violate anything, it's a mistake, I'm sure it is".

Jack, who has been watching the situation carefully, speaks up "he's a maniac, he took off his collar and attacked me".

"He wouldn't do that" Blossom yells at Jack angrily, she then turns to the police chief "come on chief, the boys have been living among us for the past 6 years, do you really think that he would snap out of nowhere and suddenly start attacking someone?"

"she's right" Erick from the football team emerges from the gym along with the other members of the team "Jack's got some kind of freaky shit going on with his body, he came in and just went ape shit on Butch".

Chief looks back over to Jack "this true kid?" his eyes widen as he and everyone else in the room realize that Jack has disappeared. The chief gets serious "alright men we have a runner, spread out and search for him". the front line of officers scatter in all directions in search for Jack, but the second wave of officers raise their guns again at the two remaining Ruffs.

Blossom tenses a bit as they also start to approach a still unconscious Butch "what are you doing?"

The chief raises his hand for a moment to ease her mind "relax, you know the procedure, when the collar of one of them gets broken or disrupted we have to take them all under custody".

"In other words" Brick said frowning as the cops close in on them with handcuffs "they want to make sure we don't go nuts and start killing everyone in sight. Which, mind you, we have never done that before".

"Until 10 years ago on that Fourth of July" The chief glares at Brick "you boys were the ones who started this whole thing, don't get pissed at us for finishing it". He turns around to the other officers "take them all in, then contact Utonium", he then heads out as the others apprehend the boys.

Bubbles looks at the scene conflicted, a part of her wanted to stop them but another part of her knew that this was necessary " Brick…..I'm sorry…But…"

"Don't worry about me" Brick said as he is being handcuffed "worry about yourself, Jack's still on the loose and most likely he might come after you again". The police slowly drag him away as he talks "just be on the look out, see ya later pigtails", Bubbles watches helplessly as he is led away.

Buttercup sighs and crosses her arms "well this blows", she then notices a number is students from their drama class surrounding Boomer just before an officer approaches him.

Boomer gives them a small smile "hey, don't worry, I'll be back, it's not like this hasn't happened before".

Buttercup walks over to him "doesn't make this suck any less" she ignores the officer cuffing boomers wrists and cups the side of his face "anyway, the sooner you leave the sooner you can come back to me".

Boomer blushes a little "you mean come back to school, come back to the real world?"

Buttercup closes in on him "I know what I said"; she kisses Boomer softly on the lips stunning not only the officer arresting him but also the other students around them. She breaks away from him and slowly walks away from him ignoring the stares of her fellow students, the police lead a very happy Boomer away to his imprisonment.

Blossom turns to the crowd of students "nothing to see here; everyone back to your classes". She glances over at the officers dragging Butch away but forces herself to ignore it for now to make sure the area was cleared. She sees Erick standing there with a look of concern on his face; she approaches him with care "Erick, its ok, return to class".

Erick frowns at her "is it really? I mean this whole thing is really unfair and I am not the only one who thinks so".

Blossom frowns but chances a glance around her seeing that the crowd lingered around a bit longer. Everyone there looked worried and concerned for the ruffs, they were criminals and delinquents when they were children, but at this moment they were ordinary students just like the rest of them. Within the 10 years they have blended in with the general populace, they have also bonded with them. Their friends and fellow classmates wanted nothing more then for the boys to be ok. Blossom smiles at them kindly before turning to Erick "I know it's unfair, but we have to put up with it for now until their court order is over". She turns to the crowd again "I promise they will all be ok and back by tomorrow, now please, back to your classrooms", the crowd slowly disperses and Blossom joins them returning to her normal routine.