A/N: Thanks again to everyone who reviewed! :D My responses will be at the end of this chapter, so be sure to check that out!

"Oh mio dio," Arturo groaned when Snake turned on their bedroom light. He took his pillow and held it in front of his face. "Turn it off, will you?"

With a sigh, Snake complied. "You know this is my room too, right?" he said. "I need to get ready for my interview at Si Senorita, it's in less than an hour. Besides, don't you have a shift tonight?"

"I called off."

Snake let out an exasperated noise. "What's gotten into you lately? These last couple days it's like you've turned into a mini Ace. Getting drunk everyday, blowing off work? Unless you and Antonio have some sort of arrangement like Ace did with Melinda, you better be careful otherwise you won't have your job much longer."

Arturo lifted his pillow and gave Snake a disgusted face. "That's nasty, bro. Guy's like an uncle to me."

"Well, I'm sure even he has his limits of what he's willing to put up with," Snake said. Without warning, he switched the lights back on, earning a cry of surprise from Arturo.

"Dude! What the hell?!"

"Come on, get up," Snake walked over to his bed and pulled on his arm, earning him a yelp as he yanked his smaller friend out of bed. "I've got some Aspirin you can take, but you got to go to work. If you lose your job, then we're in the exact same place we were before. Or do you want to go back to living in the dump?"

Arturo glared up at him. "You're making a big deal out of nothing. No one's gonna freak out over a couple missed days," he said. "You called in, what? Maybe five days since you started at Super Savings? You'd come in early, stay late, and what did it get you? Canned, the second having you around was inconvenient for them."

Snake let go of Arturo's arm. A pained expression formed on his face, and Arturo immediately regretted his words.

"I'm sorry man, that was uncalled for. My head is killing me and I'm not thinking straight," He stood up and sat down on his bed, rubbing his head.

Snake sighed. "You're… not wrong," he admitted. "But it doesn't really matter, does it? We got to do what we gotta do. No one's ever cared about us, so we got to care about us. And that means being responsible and doing our jobs."

"Well," Arturo started. "Maybe we won't have to, not for much longer."

Snake raised an eyebrow at him. "Why? You win the lottery or something?"

"Or something."

Arturo got a look on his face that Snake recognized immediately. It was the same one he got whenever he was trying to keep a secret.

"Okay, what is it? If you robbed Morbucks Manor or some wealthy drug lord I won't rat you out, but I'm also not gonna take the heat for it when you get hunted down."

"Snake," Arturo cut in. "I know you don't watch the news much, but have you overheard anyone talk about the Powerpuff Girls recently?"

This caused Snake to pause. "No, why?"

"They lost their powers," he said.

"Wait, what?" Snake said. "How?"

"I don't think I can tell you exactly," he said. "At least not yet. But trust me, they're gone, and they're gone for good."

"Arturo," Snake said. "What did you do?"

Arturo was silent.

"Tell me! What happened!?"

"Me and Ace, we might've done… something," Arturo started. "He got this potion from HIM-"

"HIM?!" Snake said. "When the hell did Ace talk to HIM?"

"He showed up during his shift apparently," he said, as if he didn't fully believe it himself. "Showed him all his past memories and how pathetic his life is and what he had to do to change."

Snake blinked. "Okay, that's it. Now I know you're playing some type of weird joke on me so I'll leave you alone."

"No I'm not, man!" Arturo said. "If you don't believe me, go turn on the TV right now! They've been running the story about the Powerpuffs all day."

"Fine, I will," Snake stormed out of their room and into the living room. He grabbed the remote on the coffee table and turned it on, switching the channel from the kid's show Billy was watching earlier to the local news.

"And there you have it," A male reporter said. On the screen flashed pictures of Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup.

"The former superhero trio known as 'The Powerpuff Girls' are now powerless. Sources differ on the cause. The girls' creator and father figure Professor Utonium claims the most likely cause is a side effect of puberty, but there's suspicion a line cook from local restaurant Si Senorita might've had something to do with the girls' mysterious condition. As of right now, no charges have been made and his identity remains secret due to the culprit's age. But there are rumors he might've had connections to Mojo Jojo-"

"Okay, bad example. That dude clearly doesn't know what he's talking about, " Arturo quickly grabbed the remote out of Snake's hands and changed the channel to some sort of talk show.

"Well if you ask me," a middle aged woman with dark hair said. "The police shouldn't be protecting this criminal. So what if he's a teenager? He made the adult decision to work with Mojo Jojo and ruin the careers of three little girls. Three little girls, mind you, who have risked their lives over and over for Townsville, and he should face the adult consequences."

"Apparently, one of the boys working there was acting pretty creepy towards them," another one of the hosts chimed in. "My sister-in-law's cousin was there that night, and he was chatting them up and asking for their autograph. It was making everyone uncomfortable. If I had to guess, it was him that did this."

The woman shook her head. "What type of world do we live in where the guilty are protected and the innocent left vulnerable? I tell you, that's what we get for being soft on crime. I say drop the kid on Monster Isle and let whatever happens, happen."

Arturo shut the TV off and threw the remote on the table. He took a seat on the couch and put his head in his hands.

"Arturo," Snake said softly. He took a seat next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "What the hell is going on?"

Arturo shook his head. "This was a mistake. I should've just kept my mouth shut like Ace told me to-"

"'Like Ace told you to?' How long have you been keeping this, whatever this is," Snake gestured wildly with his hands. "A secret?"

"Jesus, can you keep it down? My head is still killing me."

"No Arturo, I can't!" Snake's voice rose. He got up off the couch and looked directly down at him. "How long have you and Ace been plotting behind my back?"

"Not that long, okay?" he defended. "And we were planning to tell you as soon as things were set in motion. Ace was just worried you'd freak out, and clearly he was right."

Snake took a deep breath to calm himself down. Arturo, the one person in his life that he could genuinely consider reliable and trustworthy, and even he was willing to cast him aside-

"Just tell me what you did," he said. "And most importantly; is this going to come back to bite us later?"

"It shouldn't," Arturo said. "Ace set things up so if anyone got suspicious, they'd blame someone else."

Snake's mind went back to what he just heard on the news.

"There's suspicion a line cook from local restaurant Si Senorita might've had something to do with the girls' mysterious condition."

"So what if he's a teenager? He made the adult decision to work with Mojo Jojo-"

"You framed that kid you work with," Snake said. At Arturo's guilty expression, he knew he was right.

"Why? Why would you do that?"

Finally, Arturo looked up at him with pain in his eyes. "I didn't want to get him involved," he said. "Ace said they'd never even look at him. If only he just did his job and didn't make such a big damn deal about that autograph-"

"Did he know?"

"No, that's the worst part," he said. "He never would've done it. Never, not in a million years."

"Jesus, Arturo," Snake sighed. He sat back down on the couch, and put his hand to his forehead. "I can't say I'm too upset about those former death machines no longer being able to kick our asses to next Wednesday, but… what was all of this for? To impress Ace? To get out of work?"

"No man," he said. "It was to save my dad. With the girls out of the way, we actually have a shot of breaking him out of the cooler."

"So, what you're telling me, is that Ace told you he'd break your dad out of jail if you did what he said?"

"Not just him, obviously," he said. "All of us, together. Just like old times."

"That was a pretty bold promise," he raised an eyebrow. "Even with the girls out of the picture, we still have to worry about the cops, and their guns, tasers, pepper spray-"

"But we can do it," Arturo cut in. "We know how. Sedusa left us with that much."

Snake sighed. While Ace took her betrayal the hardest, it was a sore subject for all of them. For him specifically, she was the only person he'd ever met besides Ace that told him his snake-like lisp was cool, that he reminded her of her "little babies" that she loved so dearly. He remembered being weary when she first wanted to join forces, but as embarrassed as he was to admit it now, all it took was a few compliments and free beers to get him on her side in the end.

"That was a long time ago," Snake said. "And if we fail-"

"Come on man, I'd do it for you," Arturo pleaded. "You and your sister are getting close again, right? Well, what if it was her stuck in some horrible prison where people could do whatever they wanted to her and you could never see her? Wouldn't you want to get her out?"

"Arturo…"

"Please?" he said.

Snake took a deep breath. "I'll think about it."

"So," Ivy asked as they sat across from each other at her dinner table. "How did the interview go?"

Snake twisted a few strands of spaghetti on his fork absentmindedly. "It went fine. Antonio seems nice enough and said I can start next week, but I'm starting to have second thoughts."

Ivy nodded, before taking a bite off her own plate. So far, it had only been the third time that Snake and Ivy have met up since reconnecting, but already they've started to fall into a pattern. Ivy would come over and pick him up, and offer to cook something like Boeuf Bourguignon or Quiche Lorraine that Snake felt was way too over the top. They'd settle on something simple, and the two would make awkward small talk or bring up old childhood stories. Ivy wouldn't bring up their parents, Snake tried to avoid talking about his criminal past, and then she'd drop him back off at home and they'd go their separate ways.

It was a good arrangement, better than anything Snake had expected. And yet he still couldn't help but inwardly fear she would run away screaming at any moment.

"I get it," she said. "I wouldn't want to work there either, especially with everything going on. It's… weird."

Immediately, Snake felt himself tense. "Yeah. Can't say I was looking forward to another work related scandal."

"Yeah," she agreed. She gave him a hesitant look as if she was trying to work up the nerve to say something.

"Snake," she said. "I'm going to ask you a question, and please don't get mad. I know you love your friends and they helped you out during some very tough times. But I also can't ignore the obvious," She paused.

"They're saying a line cook was the one who's suspected of doing something to the Powerpuff Girls that made them lose their powers. You told me your friend Arturo was the one who got you that job. Now I want you to be honest with me; did he do this? And did you know or help him in any way?"

Snake felt his stomach turn in anxiety. He should've known this was coming, it was all over the media, but still it took him off guard.

"No," he said. "I had nothing to do with it, and neither did he. The whole thing is just a rumor anyway; even the Professor thinks it's just puberty or something. Nobody knows for sure."

"I know," she said. "But it does seem to be an awful coincidence, you have to admit."

"It looks bad," Snake agreed. "But we really didn't have anything to do with it. Why would we? We haven't fought the girls in years. I don't know what happened, but the only thing Arturo is guilty of is adding a bit too much spice in the soup at times," he joked lamely.

Ivy shook her head, and let out a small chuckle. "Of course. I believe you, but I just had to ask. I know we've only recently started talking again, but I trust you, and I hope you know you can trust me too."

Snake looked down at his plate and took another bite to avoid answering.

Charles Ingleberry glowered at his phone that Sunday morning. Since waking up at 5 am, he had already sent his daughter three messages, only for all of them to remain unanswered and unopened.

"Damn that girl," he told his wife earlier. "She must be sleeping in again. Lord only knows what she could possibly be getting up to that's more important than running a multi-million dollar company."

"Give her a break, Charlie," she said. "She's young, she's single, she deserves to have a bit of fun on her off days. Besides, how are we ever going to get grandchildren if you never give her time to meet someone and settle down?"

"Well I wouldn't expect you to understand," he said. "You haven't held down a job in over twenty years. And even then, I doubt being a paralegal hardly came close to the type of commitment running a company the size of Ingleberry Industries requires."

She didn't talk to him for the rest of the morning after that, but at least it shut her up. His wife was a good woman back in her day, but she was far too complacent with mediocrity for his liking. Especially in their children.

After sending yet another message, he decided enough was enough and hopped in his car, heading straight for his daughter's apartment.

"This is why I never should've had kids," he grumbled to himself as he drove. His mother, god rest her soul, always warned him that having children would only lead to pain and disappointment. She, of course, was referring to his (barely noticeable, thanks for asking) green skin and his (vividly green) good for nothing father who did nothing but sleep all day and gamble all night. If Charles hadn't gotten out when he did and made a name for himself, there wasn't a doubt in his mind that he would've ended up as big of a lowlife as his own father.

As he pulled up to the gate, he gave a firm nod to the man working there.

"Good morning, Mr. Ingleberry," he greeted. "What a nice surprise to see you here this morning! Are you here to visit your daughter and son?"

"Yes, and it's urgent, so if we could skip the chit chat-" he paused when the man's words sunk in.

"Son?" he asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Your son is visiting Miss Ivy today," he said. "I think it's wonderful that you and your family are in touch with him again. Especially after everything he's done, it shows some true character."

"Surely there must be some mistake," Charles said. "My son left home years ago, and hasn't spoken to any of us since. He would certainly never be visiting my daughter. It must be someone else you're thinking of."

"Well, with all due respect sir," the man said, growing visibly more nervous. "He did look quite a bit like you and Miss Ivy, with the green skin and everything. It's hard to miss."

Charles gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles went white. "I will be talking to your supervisor about this. You clearly have no idea what you're talking about and will just let anyone off the street into what's supposed to be a safe building if they claim to be someone's brother. You can kiss your job goodbye." he said. "Let me in. Now."

The man, now visibly shaking, opened the gate and let him through. Fuming, he parked his car and stormed straight into the building.

"I don't know what the hell is going on," he said to himself as he got into the elevator. "But I intend to get to the bottom of it."

Maybe Ivy had a secret boyfriend that she didn't want anyone knowing about. And as horrible as that sounded, especially if he actually was green like that idiot claimed, it would still be better than if she for some ungodly reason was actually talking to that little, good for nothing-

As soon as he arrived on her floor, he made a beeline straight to her room and pounded on the door.

Bang, bang bang!

Both Snake and Ivy flinched when they heard someone pounding their fist against the door.

"What was that?" Snake asked. "Were you expecting someone?"

"No, I wasn't," Ivy said. She looked at the door apprehensively before turning back to Snake with an anxious look. "But whoever it is sounds angry."

"Ivy!" their father's voice boomed from the other side. "Ivy Jane Ingleberry! You better open the door this instant or I will break it down!"

"Dad?!" Snake whispered anxiously. "Why is Dad here?"

"I don't know-" Ivy started, then a look of realization hit her face. "Shit! I was supposed to send him the beta testing reports last night. I completely forgot."

"Well, what are we going to do?!"

The siblings froze when they heard their father turning the doorknob.

"Ivy, I mean it!" He yelled. "If you know what's good for you you'll get out here right now!"

"Sorry Dad, I overslept!" She yelled, rushing towards the door. "I'm coming, just give me a second to tidy up!"

"Go hide in one of the spare bedrooms," she whispered to her brother. "I'll talk to him and send him on his way. I'm sorry Snake, I wasn't thinking, but I had no idea he'd show up here-"

"No."

Ivy turned to look at him. "What?"

"I don't want to hide," he said. "Why should I? I was invited here, he wasn't. I shouldn't have to walk on eggshells around him, and neither should you."

Ivy gave him a worried look. "Are you sure?"

"Right now? Yeah," he said. "Five seconds from now? Who knows."

After a moment of hesitation, Ivy nodded. As confidently as she could, she opened her front door and greeted her father.

"Good morning, Dad," she said. "I didn't expect to see you here today."

"Neither did I expect to come. But I'm certainly glad I did." He shut the door behind him and walked in and stopped when he saw his long lost son. The two exchanged a glance; one furious, and the other trying very hard not to curl himself into a little ball.

"So that moron who works the gate was right," he said. "Sanford Ingleberry has come back home."

"Dad," Ivy stepped in front of the two. "He's my brother. I reached out to him because I wanted to have a relationship again, and he agreed. You don't have to get involved if you don't want to, but I personally would love to see us all become a family again."

"Family," their father scoffed."This boy has done nothing but cause me grief from the moment he was born. I gave him everything; a nice home, a good education, and three square meals a day. All the things I would've killed for as a boy. But instead he threw it all away on some disgusting teenage punk and his twisted desires."

"Oh yeah, you gave me everything alright," Snake spoke up. "Locking me in my room whenever we had guests? Leaving me at home by myself for weeks whenever you, Mom and Ivy went on family vacations? Telling me that no matter how good my grades were I'd never amount to anything because I was a freak who couldn't even speak properly? Yep, it's a wonder why I wasn't just oozing with gratitude."

"And I was right," he said. He stepped away from his daughter and walked straight towards his son. "Maybe you've gotten over your hissing habit, but you're still a lowlife criminal who's caused more pain than you're worth. If you've come back thinking you think you can mooch off me or your sister since you lost your job, you've got another thing coming."

"I wouldn't take your money if you begged me too," Snake spat back.

His father laughed. "You're bolder than I remember," he said. "Though I guess you'd have to be, living on the streets after all. I'm guessing the shy and quiet ones don't last long."

"Not that you'd care."

"You're sure as hell right about that," he retorted. At the flash of pain in Snake's eyes, his father snorted. "What? Were you hoping I'd argue? Feed you some bullshit like 'I'm glad it made you stronger. Welcome home, son,'" He shook his head.

"No. You've caused us all enough grief to last a lifetime, and to be frank with you, I'd rather hear about you having died on some street corner than yet another goddamn news story about whatever the hell you and your gangster buddies have done this time."

"Dad!" Ivy spoke up. "What the hell is wrong with you? He's your son!"

"Shut up Ivy, and stay out of this."

"Don't talk to her like that!" Snake yelled.

"I'll talk to my own damn daughter however I like," he said. He turned to face her, and walked towards her, his expression causing her to back up.

"I'm going to give you a choice," he said. "Either you cut off all contact with Sanford, or you're out of the family. You will never step foot at Ingleberry Industries again, nor will you ever see your mother or I again. You will be given nothing from us and anything of yours that's not in your name will be sold. You still have a good amount of old pictures and souvenirs at home, if I remember correctly," he said. "Not to mention this very apartment I generously cosigned for you after you graduated college. All of that will be gone."

Pained, Ivy looked back and forth between her father and brother, one filled with righteous fury, the other with resigned defeat.

"I'll find a taxi home," Snake said. He started walking towards the door.

"Snake, wait!" Ivy called. "You don't have to go."

"Yes I do," he said. "I don't have anything to give you, Ivy, and I don't want to be responsible for Dad ruining your life like he did mine."

"You're not-"

"Are you really going to choose me, someone you haven't talked to in a decade, over your home, your job, and your parents?"

Ivy gave him a miserable look. Tears filled her eyes. "Snake-"

"Don't. It is what it is and I never should've expected anything different."

As it turned out, Snake did not have enough money on him for a taxi. Or even a bus ticket. So instead, he spent the next few hours trying to find his own way back home. On the way, he got lost three times, ran into a screaming beggar demanding whatever little he had left on him, and narrowly avoided getting robbed by some street thugs. By the time he finally got back home, he was exhausted.

"Hey man," Ace said when he saw him drag himself back in. "Where the hell have you been?"

"It doesn't matter," he walked over to the fridge and pulled out a beer. He made his way toward the couch, plopping himself down next to Ace.

"Yeah. Well anyway, there's this thing I've been meanin' to talk to you about. Now, you have to promise me you won't freak out or anything, but the Powerpuff Girls-"

"I know you took their powers away," he said. He took a swig of his drink before looking down at his feet. "And I know you want to start the gang back up again. Break Arturo's dad out of prison or whatever. He told me all about it."

"That little snot," Ace muttered. He sighed, and shrugged. "Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag now. So what do you say? You in? Or would you prefer working at that crappy ass job-"

Without warning, Snake burst into tears.

"Woah woah, hey," Ace flinched back to the other side of the couch. "Didn't I just tell you to not freak out on me?"

"It's Ivy," he spoke in between sobs. "Dad found out and he gave her an ultimatum. And… and she…" he broke off again, sobbing into his hands. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"Hey now, come on man," Ace scooted towards him and awkwardly patted him on the shoulder. "Who cares about that little bitch? We got each other, and that's all we need."

"She's not-" he started. He took a moment to catch his breath. "I get why she did it. But for a second I let myself hope…"

"I told you man, hope ain't good for nothin but disappointment," Ace said.

"Arturo was right, it's never going to get any better. We're never going to be successful, our families are never going to accept us. It's just going to be this, until we die."

"That's exactly why I think we should start the gang back up," Ace said. "If nobody gives a shit about us, why should we give a shit about anyone else? Might as well have a good time while we're still able to have one."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're right," Snake said. He let out a laugh without humor. "Alright, I'm in. I've thought about it and I think it's an insane plan, but maybe it might actually work. I don't know, I'm just sick of giving to people who are never going to give anything back."

Ace grinned, and gave him a pat on the back. "I'm glad to have you on board, man. Trust me, this is the best decision you'll ever make."

K: I can not confirm or deny that, but Ace definitely has some surprises coming his way ;)

PPGGuy06: So do I lol! (Just kidding. Kind of) Thanks for reading! :D

Anon: Thank you! I'm glad everything the Powerpuff Girls were going through came out well. I wanted to write that part from their perspective (and Professor Utonium's) otherwise everything Ace and Arturo are doing would seem a bit abstract. They are hurting people, and I think that's important to remember.

Thanks again to everyone reading this story! Don't be afraid to leave a comment and let me know what you think! :D