Prophecy

by Madame Fist

In their final year of high school, Team X will face unavoidable highs and lows - the woes of being super powered, and teenage. They'll share firsts, lasts, and will have to navigate their way through deception, manipulation and inevitably heartbreak. Him is still an underlying threat in their lives, as are the mysterious prophecies he lives by.. Sequel to Choices. PPG/RRB

1. Is cloud sex a thing?

Hello.. So, I decided to just upload this.. I know it's been a pretty long wait; I can only apologise. I was trying to get as many chapters completed before I began to post this but I just wasn't able to get as much done as I wanted to. My thoughts were to get lots written so that updates could be regular, but life kinda got in the way. Soo updates will be sporadic, but I promise they will come.

To anyone unfamiliar with this story/my work, this is the sequel to my high school PPG fic Choices; reading that first is pretty necessary I would say, however I have tried to clear things up where I can in this. Reading Choices first is probably wise. If you have any questions at all, feel free to reach out. You can drop me a DM. Anyway, here's chapter 1. If you've read Choices and are now reading this, I can't thank you enough for waiting for me. Enjoy!

---

Bubbles leant back in her seat and exhaled long and hard, one hand on her tummy. "Oh my gosh that was so yummy."

Boomer smiled affectionately at the blonde sitting opposite him, a happy little sigh escaping his lips. His cobalt eyes left her pretty face to look down at her empty plate, only a couple of scrapings of chocolate sauce left on it. "It was good, right?"

"So good. I can't believe you managed to get us a table here. This place is always booked out. But I've wanted to go here for like forever." Bubbles said, her sky blue eyes scanning the popular restaurant they were sitting in. "It's so cool and quirky here."

It was their 1 year anniversary, and Boomer had taken them both out for a meal in a sought after restaurant in Downtown Townsville. Their anniversary happened to coincide with Valentine's day, which made the booking all the more impressive.

"I did it like before Christmas. They said their books weren't open to Valentine's bookings so I was annoyingly persistent until they caved." The blue ruff admitted, and she giggled.

"Well I'm really glad you have the ability to be annoyingly persistent." She told him with an infatuated smile. "Also that you listen to me when I ramble on - because it was ages ago I said I wanted to go here one day."

"I always listen to you," He murmured, reaching forward to take the hand that wasn't holding her drink to her lips. "Because you always listen to me."

Her bright blue eyes softened as she sipped at her drink then placed it down, squeezing his hand back gently. "Of course I do. I love you."

"I love you too. This has been the best year of my life. And I know it probably sounds ridiculously cliche or whatever but it's true. You've changed everything for me, and all in good ways. I'm so grateful for you, everything about you. You've made my life so much better just by existing in it. Or, existing in it in a different way, cos you've always existed in my life." Boomer said, beginning to feel like he was babbling a bit; but he meant every word he'd said.

It had been 16 months since Him had shown up in the old apartment Boomer had lived in with his brothers and demanded they attend Townsville High School with the Powerpuff girls - and befriend and work up a bond with them, too. And since then, a lot had changed.

At that point, Boomer had been long done with the whole 'archenemies' thing. He'd just had no idea how to deal with that fact, let alone implementing it. Fleeing from their battles when far enough from his brothers seemed like the easiest tactic at the time, causing a lot of confusion for Bubbles.

But then Him had turned up at their apartment and demanded they start attending school and make nice with the Powerpuff girls; it had seemed like the perfect way out for Boomer. He'd followed as little of Him's 'plan' as possible and just enjoyed getting to behave as though he was a normal high school student for once, falling into step with Bubbles' friendship group, and Bubbles herself.

He'd not only fallen into step with her either. He'd fallen head over heels for her, and been extremely shocked to find out she felt the same way. The rest had been history. A truce was formed, though with not much work between himself and his counterpart (Butch, Brick, Buttercup and Blossom had taken A LOT longer to even be friends, let alone anything else), and then eventually a relationship bloomed. A year ago to this very day their story as boyfriend and girlfriend had begun.

And with it it brought lots of amazing changes and opportunities. Team X for one, the team the six of them had formed under Mayor Bellum's 'Project:Protect' scheme. All six of them fought crime together and were paid for their services - as well as all outstanding warrants and charges wiped clean from Boomer and his brothers' records.

A house move to the very same street as the Powerpuff girls had not only brought them closer physically but in other ways too - and eventually Butch and Buttercup, then Brick and Blossom had too become 'official'.

As they say, the rest was history. Now he'd spent an entire year with the beautiful creature sitting opposite him that he counted himself extremely lucky he got to call his; and she was looking at him like he was all measures of adorable.

"Noo, it's not cliche - and even if it was I wouldn't care! It's been the best year of my life too. I look back at the year we've spent together and wish we hadn't wasted so many just focussing on hate - when clearly there's actually so much love between us. And I don't just mean me and you. But, mostly me and you." She added with a little smile and he smiled back at her. "I'm incredibly grateful for you too, Boomer. You're my soulmate." She squeezed his hand once more and he grinned sappily at her.

"You're mine too."

"Can I get you anything else?"

It took the two blondes a moment to realise the waiter had returned to their table; it was almost as if the rest of the restaurant had faded into blackness around them and they were the only two people who existed in the world, let alone the room.

"Err, just the bill, please." Boomer murmured, not peeling his eyes off his girlfriend's face.

"Sure thing…" The waiter muttered, wishing he could have at least been acknowledged, but to no avail. The loved up couple were too lost in each other's eyes to notice anything else.

---

"You know what," Bubbles said as she reached for Boomer's hand and held it tightly. "I'm so pleased, but also kinda shocked that we made it all the way through that entire meal without a callout or interruption of any kind."

They'd just left the restaurant, and were making their way down the sidewalk in Downtown Townsville, hand in hand. The street seemed pretty dead, which was a bit odd - it was Valentine's day after all - and only 9.30pm. She'd expected there to be a lot more people out, given that the night was still young and it was usually a pretty popular day for people to go out and do stuff together.

A loud screech in the background provided an answer for the basically vacant street; within seconds a whoosh of air followed, as well as Butch being dangled upside down by a long, slimy tentacle. "Oh hey - wassup Blondies, how was your daaaaaate -" He asked them before being swung off into the distance by the large monster standing several blocks away.

From a quick glance, you could count at least 8 immensely long tentacles coming off of it. In the distance, Bubbles and Boomer could see red, pink and light green flashes of light zooming around it, attempting to defeat the beast.

"Okay, almost all the way through." Boomer murmured, watching as the same tentacle that his brunette brother was coiled up in was whipped out their way once more, a green flash of light following it steadily a couple of minutes later.

"It was really nice - thank you!" Bubbles said, answering Butch's original question now he was back and being bashed against the ground over and over by the frustrated cephalopod, a large crack in the road appearing with each hit. "Want us to suit up?"

In a bright blaze of green Buttercup appeared, grabbing ahold of Butch's hand and attempting to yank him out. But the octo-monster was stubborn and squeezed him tighter, eliciting yowls of pain from the very squished up Butch in it's grips.

"Fine, we'll do this the gory way then." Buttercup relented, unleashing her laser beams from her eyes and slicing the tentacle clean off. It spurted monster gunk everywhere at the action; Butch being on the receiving end of most of it; Boomer had yanked Bubbles behind him so as not to get her new dress dirty - and Buttercup had thrown her shield up as promptly as she could to protect herself from any monster guts that came with the action.

Rolling on the floor and dripping slime, Butch groaned. Buttercup landed beside him. "Happy Valentine's day sweetie." She said dryly, with a wicked grin.

He grinned just as evilly back. "Thanks Cupcake - come 'ere, like I can resist you, especially on this, the eve of love!" He lunged for her, goo dripping off of him as he managed to grab her by the waist and pull her onto the ground.

She squealed as he covered her in monster insides, being sure to kiss her face sloppily and get it all over her as much as possible.

"You suck!" She cried, ramming the edge of her palm into his jaw as he sniggered.

"Buttercup! Butch! A hand?!" Blossom yelled from the distance, as Butch and Buttercup finally stopped wrestling, both now covered in monster entrails.

Boomer sighed, turning to Bubbles. "We better suit up and help."

---

Butch removed the towel from his waist and threw it over his head, drying his hair briefly before throwing it onto the radiator in the bathroom. The desire to strut into the living area nude was strong, knowing that Buttercup was out there waiting for him, but he resisted. Bubbles was in Boomer's room with him; they'd likely come out of the room the moment he stepped foot into the living area naked.

Instead, he threw a pair of sweatpants on and hovered through, his spiky black hair still glistening from the wet. "Well, it's a good thing you're not really into Valentine's day, cos we spent it slaughtering a giant octopus."

Buttercup turned in his direction, her eyes lingering on the drops of water still sitting on his taut, muscular chest. She smirked, eventually bringing her eyes up to his once again. "Are you kidding? That's exactly why it was the best Valentine's day ever."

"Oh yeah?" Butch asked, jumping onto the sofa next to her. "You enjoy getting covered in monster guts?"

"Nothing better. Although, that part was mostly down to you. I managed to remain pretty clean until you glomped me." She replied as he glomped her once more; she complained loudly as he squeezed her tightly and a round of playful wrestling began; which happened often between the duo.

They were a few days shy of having been in a relationship together for 6 months; and it had been going really well.

Shockingly well, actually. He was not only her boyfriend but her best friend, team member and band member; the drummer in her band with her best friends Mitch and Louie. They fought and bickered every now and then, but it mostly got resolved pretty quickly in ways not too dissimilar to their current antics - playful banter, wrestling, which usually lead to much hotter and heavier things pretty quickly.

Yeah, in their own unique, messed up sorta way, things were going really well.

"I'm all clean now so there's no getting away." He murmured, licking the side of her face for good measure. "I even brushed my teeth."

"You're the grossest person alive - and you will never be clean, you filthy animal. You stink of sin." She grabbed his jaw and kissed him firmly on the lips; he snickered against them.

A shifting noise, followed by some murmuring and possibly moaning from Boomer's bedroom made them both freeze. Butch made a grossed out face, and Buttercup stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Yuck. It's their one year anniversary so we better find something loud to do or get out of the house for a bit, cos I am not sitting here listening to that all night."

Butch waggled his brows at her, scooping her closer to his chest. "I can think of something loud we can do."

Her disgusted expression was aimed at him now. "Seriously, Butch? Synchronized sex? Urgh, no, that's beyond nasty. She's my sister. And he's your brother."

Butch looked at her, completely undeterred, and shrugged.

"You really are a little sicko. No, maybe in a bit when they're done. Go put some more clothes on and we can go for a fly or something until they're likely to be done." The green puff instructed; Butch sighed heavily.

"Fiiiiiine. Is cloud sex a thing? Like, would that work? Could we do it on a cloud?" He pondered as he floated through to his bedroom to get a shirt.

She rolled her eyes and laughed at him.

"Seriously, can we try?"

---

Professor Utonium stretched as he closed the door to his office behind him and walked through to the living room.

Blossom and Brick were in there, having changed out of their Team X uniform and resumed the film they'd been watching together previously; a bowl of popcorn balanced on the pink puff's lap.

Brick, upon spying the Professor in his peripheral vision, had slowly removed his arm from around Blossom and instead rested it along the cushions of the sofa. When he turned to look at the Professor, he noticed his eye line had followed the action. The man was like a hawk.

"How did the monster attack go?" The Professor asked, as his redheaded daughter turned to look at him as he spoke. "Did everyone come out unscathed?"

"It was pretty seamless actually, considering there were only four of us against it initially." Blossom said, reaching for a handful of popcorn. "Bubbles and Boomer ended up joining us, even though they weren't called out to it, which was helpful. Although, I was trying to prevent their date from being ruined by a giant octopus or the like."

The Professor smiled a slanted smile. "The pitfalls of duty."

"I know.. I think they at least managed to finish their meal." Blossom said, popping a couple of pieces of popcorn in her mouth.

"I still can't believe they've been together a whole year." The Professor commented, his expression a little defeated at the idea of one of his precious daughters being 'taken' for an entire year. Not that he could complain, Boomer hadn't put a foot wrong as far as he could tell - annoyingly, for him. "And then Buttercup and Butch, and now you two. You must be coming up for a couple of months together now, surely?"

"A couple of weeks off 6 months, Professor." Blossom answered, looking over at Brick, who smiled a small smile at her. "And Buttercup and Butch have been together 6 months, ish. They've got a week or two on us."

The Professor's eyes bugged a little, and he sighed listlessly. "Half a year.. How time flies.. Well, just as long as you're all happy, that's all I really care about."

"We are, Professor." Blossom assured him.

"That's all I ask.. Well, I'm gunna hit the hay, I've got a lot on at the lab tomorrow. Brick." His voice was hard all of a sudden, and Blossom felt Brick straighten against the sofa beside her.

"Yes, Professor?" Brick asked, ensuring his voice came out normally and not at all nerve ridden - when the Professor used that voice Brick instantly found himself searching for what he'd possibly done wrong.

"I don't have to remind you to ensure you sleep in the spare room tonight, do I?" He questioned, and Brick shook his head.

"No sir, I'll be in the spare bedroom." Brick said, and the Professor smiled warmly.

"Great. Good night." His voice had gone back to it's softer tone, as the puff and ruff wished him goodnight back. Brick relaxed beside Blossom as he heard the Professor's bedroom door click shut behind him.

Blossom smirked, reaching for his hand on the sofa and pulling it back around her, basking in his natural warmness.

"When do you think he'll tire of reminding us not to share a bed?" Brick asked quietly and she chuckled.

"I don't know.. Probably never. He's always been very protective."

"You don't say." Brick replied dryly and she smirked once more.

"I do feel for him, it must be tough having teenagers.. He probably feels like he's preventing the inevitable." Blossom said, her cheeks dusting with pink.

"He must realise Boomer and Bubbles, and Butch and Buttercup share beds when they stay at ours. I mean, they're spending the night at ours tonight and there's no way Bubbles and Buttercup will sleep on the pullout." Brick pointed out. "Especially Boomer and Bubbles, tonight being their anniversary." The fact it was his blonde brother's 1 year anniversary with his girlfriend was the exact reason he'd opted to spend the evening at the Utonium residence with Blossom - he heard enough bed rattling from his brothers when it wasn't anyone's anniversary. Having the Professor breathing down his neck for the evening was better than having to listen to that.

"Possibly, they aren't supposed to share a bed though.. He probably trusts that they respect his rules." Blossom answered, and Brick smirked at the heat that had rushed up her face; she knew what he was going to say next.

"You're the only one that respects his rules." He said, tucking a strand of red hair behind her ear.

He was right; when Blossom did stay the night at the Rowdyruff apartment with Brick, she opted for the pullout sofa, or Brick slept on that and she had his bed. They'd yet to share a bed overnight.

She cleared her throat a little. "Well, like I said, I'm just respecting my father's wishes."

"Which is fine." Brick added, still smirking.

"I know it is. Also, I know exactly what will happen if you and I were to share a bed together overnight." She murmured, not looking him in the eye, instead focussing on the film.

Brick's smile grew more wicked. "What's that?"

She turned and looked at him now, trying not to smile at him. "We'd get quite carried away."

He grinned at her, his hand on her waist curling around her more. "Hmm, you're probably right. Fortunately, we can get carried away on a sofa, too."

His hand had slid from her waist and was creeping its way up her skirt. She felt her cheeks redden more. "Brick!" She cried, looking over at the doorway then back at him as his hand rested on her stocking clad thigh.

"No one else is in, and your Dad's in bed…" He all but purred, the hand on her inner thigh squeezing gently.

"You're very naughty. This is our living room. Family room. Family sofa." She told him in a mock scolding tone. He'd leant forward to lay little kisses along her neck, evoking several goosebumps along her arms and her spine instantly.

"Mhmm," He mumbled in between kisses. "But it's Valentine's day."

"You said Valentine's day was tacky and commercialised. Now it's suddenly important?" She asked with a cranked brow as one kiss turned into a slight nibble that made her jump a bit.

"No, but it was worth a shot." He responded, and she giggled, turning his head up so she could kiss him firmly on the lips, eventually opening her mouth against his.

Sometimes she could hardly believe herself that she'd been in a steady relationship with Brick Jojo of the Rowdyruff boys for just under half a year too. They'd had a couple of bumps in the road along the way so far, but that seemed inevitable to her, considering their history. And it had mostly been history that had caused any aforementioned bumps, bar their occasional bickering - but that felt inevitable too.

For the most part, it had been pretty smooth sailing, with the odd speed bump encountered from the likes of infatuated admirers in the form of Princess Morbucks, and Melvin Meeks. Though Blossom had to admit she'd not actually seen Melvin in a very long time - not since he'd decided to join in a protest with PACE.

PACE - they were a whole different problem altogether. 'People Against the Chemically Enhanced', a crazed organisation hell bent on getting super powered beings banned in Townsville. That group of people caused all six of the puffs and ruffs plenty of headaches - though they too tended to go quiet for days and weeks on end then rear their heads again in some new hateful pursuit against them.

Mayor Bellum was hopeful that they'd fade into nothingness eventually. It certainly did feel like the periods of time in between their incidents were getting longer and longer.

Princess Morbucks on the other hand was a weekly problem for Blossom and Brick. No matter what Brick told her she still had it in the back of her mind that he'd come to his senses soon enough and dump Blossom for her instead - an idea that made Brick's skin crawl.

If she wasn't throwing herself at Brick she was attempting to spread spiteful rumours or making nasty comments about the pink puff at school. As much as it angered the red ruff, Blossom assured him it was nothing new and she was more than used to ignoring her virulence.

Through all of it, they'd remained strong as a couple and not let any of it get to them, which was key.

Blossom knew she didn't need to worry about Princess. Here Brick was, holding her close in his strong arms, kissing her deeply - their lives had always been as entwined as they currently were physically.

She had nothing to worry about.

They'd not taken their relationship to the next level yet. Bubbles and Boomer had done a long while ago now, Butch and Buttercup had more recently; it felt like everyone around her was beginning to start doing it. But Blossom had been in no rush. And neither had Brick, which had just cemented it in her to wait till she felt 100 percent ready to take that step.

But now, almost half a year later, she was beginning to feel like it would be soon. Of anyone, she wanted it to be with him. She'd experienced all her firsts so far with him; this would be no different.

However, it would not be here. Not tonight - on the sofa in her living room.

The impromptu little make out session was beginning to get quite hot and heavy; the popcorn bowl had plopped onto the floor, spilling a couple of handfuls onto the carpet. The film they'd resumed had effectively been abandoned in lieu of this instead.

Blossom pulled away a bit to catch her breath. "We're getting quite carried away right now. If the Professor came down to get himself a glass of water or something he'd haul you down to the lab to castrate you."

He laughed, sitting up a bit. "You're probably right."

She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him once more. "But, soon." The pink puff hoped he knew what she meant.

He did know what she meant. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Definitely. Definitely soon."

"I, I wasn't trying to - I mean, I don't want you to think I was - I wasn't." He began to stammer and she placed her finger on his lips. It was cute when he got all flustered; he was usually so collected.

"I know. Don't worry. I know. I just, I'm feeling more.. Ready."

"Yeah? Well, me too." He said, as she stroked the light stubble on his chin.

"I bet." She smirked and he smiled, but shook his head a bit.

"What, I wasn't ready to dive straight into that right away." He reasoned and she flashed a look that held a hint of doubt.

"Oh really?"

"Yes really!" He cried, a little exasperated. She giggled at him. "I mean yeah, when we get to that bit I'm sure it's gunna be great but - it's not why I'm here. I love you, I'm not just here for stuff like that -" He paused, realising what he'd said.

They hadn't actually said it to each other yet. He'd felt it for a while but didn't know what scale of time was correct to actually say it to someone.

He'd never told anyone he loved them. He'd never loved anyone before. He loved his brothers, he supposed, but 1. He'd never verbally admit that. To them, or anyone else. Mentally admitting it was painful enough. 2. They were his brothers, and his only family; it was a different kind of love. Brotherly love - and at times paternal.

This was very different. He was in love with her. It was a kind of love too deep to put into words.

She brought out something in him he'd always thought was impossible. To say he had trust issues was putting it lightly; his upbringing, or lack of one, had left him with walls up so high he never thought anyone would be able to climb them, let alone knock them down.

And he'd have put good money on resisting anyone that tried.

And yet, he loved her. Factoring in the almost more surprising fact she seemed to love him back. At least, he hoped she did, especially now he'd gone and said it.

She'd frozen at his words, her cheeks reddening considerably. He looked a little embarrassed, and opened his mouth to say something, anything to try and maybe smooth it over.

But she spoke first. "I love you too."

He swallowed hard at her words, his cheeks flushing.

"I have for a long time, in fact. I just was too nervous to say it, in case you didn't say it back. But I do. I love you, Brick."

"I, I love you too." He told her, trying to push back the little hesitation that stemmed from nerves because there was no hesitation. He meant what he'd said.

How could he not? She was beautiful, and kind, and caring - and fiery and opinionated and smart. They'd been through so much - and regardless of their colourful history she'd helped him without a second thought.

She saved him from a horrendous fate in the Underworld with Him; she saved his soul. He'd signed it over to Him years ago as it had seemed his only form of an escape route for himself and his brothers from Him's clutches - unwittingly playing into Him's own plan, which he worked to ensure unfolded as he wanted for years, much to Brick's chagrin. Him's vision, which saw Brick and Blossom and a child working alongside him.

But Blossom had somehow saved them both, effectively dismantling Him's twisted vision and acquiring new and at times overwhelming ice powers at the same time - which thankfully she was much more to grips with now; it only seemed to appear unwarranted when she was especially stressed or upset. Him had been injured in the process - and Otis; a demon positioned as the boys' aid back when they were under Him's 'care' had informed them he'd likely need years to regenerate - and he'd also labelled Blossom as an 'angel'.

They'd still not gotten to grasp that fact, or what it meant, instead focussing on the fact that the pact with Him was seemingly over. Brick had a soul once more; he wasn't a demon and Him had no power over any of them anymore.

All thanks to her.

She pressed her forehead against his, and smiled a hypnotic little smile, before kissing him deeply.

Maybe Valentine's day wasn't so bad after all.

---

Melvin brushed the tip of the soldering iron over the edge of the small device he was working on, sealing the circular edges of it shut. His brown eyes glazed across the prominent 'MMInc' logo on the corner of it; he took his iron and rubbed over it gently, attempting to melt the evidence away.

Once upon a time it had been a small tracking device, created by MMInc - his father's company. But he'd spent the past few days pulling it apart and completely modifying it for a different use. He picked it up between his gloved fingers and looked it over, giving it a soft blow. Then, he placed the device on his arm, and turned and picked up a long, slim white remote control. He pressed a button then flinched as the small silver device released tiny little claws and embedded itself into the skin on his arm. He tried to pick it off; it wouldn't budge.

Holding the remote aloft, he looked at the dial at the bottom of it and turned it down to the T setting - T for test. Then he pressed the button at the top, and a very small electrical pulse went through him. With another press of the button it stopped. That was as far as he was willing to test it on himself. He clicked the side button, and the little device released it's claws, leaving six circular red dots in his arm.

It was a remote controlled 'control disc'. Once attached to someone, the user - or the one wielding the remote, could control a person by a click of a button that produced extreme electrical shocks to the wearer of the control disc. His modification was complete.

He swallowed as he looked down at the small disc. He was unsure he liked the idea of using it on Blossom. But Princess was adamant she would need it for Brick.

It was the last thing he'd needed to complete in order to put their plan into motion. He'd made the Antidote X. He'd had the Morbucks source him a scientist who could help make a sedative that would work well in a chemically enhanced body, or in the very least would react well with Antidote X, which they had done, then created chromanium alloy needles to administer it with. All that was left was these control discs.

And then they were ready. The plan was set in motion now. It wouldn't be long. It wouldn't be long until she'd be his.

There was a knock at the door to his bedroom; Melvin looked up with wide eyes. "Go away, I said I was busy studying."

"Melvin, dear - there's someone here for you." His mother's voice came from behind his closed bedroom door. He cranked a brow in confusion.

"What? Who?"

"A young lady named Susie. Susie Practice." Melvin looked more panicked at this. Susie Practice, the daughter of Sandra and Stanley Practice - the founders of PACE. He scrambled to hide his equipment, taking his goggles off and throwing them on his bed.

"Err, okay - just a second. I'll be there in a second."

When he got down to the bottom of the stairs he noticed his mother had invited her inside. She was standing talking to Mrs Meeks, looking up at Melvin with an overly friendly smile when he got to the bottom of the stairs.

"Hi Melvin." She greeted him, and he looked at her, eyes still wide.

"Hi, umm, shall we talk outside?" He questioned and his mother tutted.

"It's freezing out there, come through to the kitchen -" She began but Susie cut her off.

"Oh no, it's fine - I can't stay long. Outside is fine." She assured her; Melvin had opened the front door and held it open for her.

Once they were both outside with the front door closed, Melvin turned to the young woman with a startled expression.

"Melvin - sorry to spring a visit on you like this, but you stopped picking up my calls." She said, a folder in her arms that she held against her chest.

"Uhh, I know. I'm just - I'm kind of in the middle of something at the moment, I'm totally swamped." He murmured, glancing back at his house and then back at her.

"Right.. Well look, like I said to you before - we're still very interested in what we spoke about before. You know - the chromanium alloy weaponry." She said clearly - he began to quiet her the moment she'd mentioned it aloud. "If you could just give us your price for it - look, here's a write up of what we'd need." She'd taken a piece of paper from the folder she was holding and handed it to him.

"I, umm, I, I can't promise you anything, I'm uhh, going on a trip soon. I'm going to be out of town for some time." He told her nervously, and her brow rose as she watched him.

"Well, if you could help us with this beforehand we'd be very grateful. And I'm sure you could do with some extra spending money for your trip." She suggested, and he nodded slowly.

"Umm, I guess so. I'll see what I can do." He replied, looking over the form.

"Thank you Melvin. I hope to hear from you soon." With that she walked down the front yard towards her car parked on the street.

Melvin took the piece of paper and folded it a couple of times before heading back inside. When he opened the front door he found himself face to face with his father, Malcolm Meeks.

"What was that about, Melvin?" Mr Meeks asked, noting the frantic expression on his only son's face.

"Oh, she's one of the other volunteers for my trip to Guatemala." Melvin said hurriedly, weaving past his Dad and making his way up to his bedroom once more. Irritatingly, Malcolm Meeks followed him. "It's just a list of things to make sure I bring for the trip."

He watched his son evenly as he stuffed the piece of paper inside a random notebook on his desk.

"I see. Are you looking forward to your trip? Only a matter of days before you head off to help build an entire school in Mexico." Mr Meeks said; Melvin nodded rapidly.

"I am, yeah, I am. It's going to be amazing. I'm really excited for it. Feels like it's the start of the rest of my life." Melvin said, an imbalanced look in his eyes.

Malcolm watched his son steadily, before nodding and leaving him to it. "You better get packing."

---

Brick swung his locker door open and yanked his backpack around towards his front, unzipping it and putting certain textbooks he would or wouldn't need into his locker or backpack depending on what it was. It was Friday - and the last day of school for a little over a week, the week coming was winter break, which meant 5 days off of school, not including the weekends.

The workload this semester had been high. And Blossom had been studying hard for the upcoming AP exams later on in the year. Whilst he was taking all the same classes as Blossom was, Brick wasn't half as fussed about any of the exams as his counterpart.

I mean, he'd study and do his bit, but he wasn't entirely fussed about the results.

He was happy enough to support her by studying and completing their work together - it wasn't like he had much else better to do.

It was the end of February; and 3 or 4 months ago Mayor Bellum had informed all of Team X they'd each been offered a community service scholarship at Townsville University. Brick was unsure whether he would utilise this or not.

He'd sat with Blossom and discussed the possibility of continuing studies at university, or even at the community college they had in Townsville, who had also offered the team a plethora of offers and opportunities.

Blossom had applied to a couple of places - some in town, some out of town, and encouraged Brick to do so too. But he'd been skeptical of that idea. She was still unsure of what the future would hold, mostly because of Team X, and Townsville.

She still felt incredibly obligated to Townsville.

Brick felt a little torn on the subject. Because if she decided to study out of town and leave Townsville, he was unsure where that left him. Would he go too? Would he stay here and continue Team X? Would he study wherever she went as well, if he could? He had no idea.

The possibilities for the future suddenly felt endless and it was a little daunting. He wasn't used to planning ahead so much. He'd always lived in the now. Or maybe it was more he wasn't used to having so much to plan for - or anything, for that matter.

Also the undeniable fact he felt extremely undeserving of the offer in the first place, but he tried to push thoughts like that to the back of his mind.

They should hear back from the colleges and universities Blossom had applied to soon. He guessed they'd make some decisions based on that.

His thoughts on what the future would bring were distracted by the person standing behind his locker door as he shut it; their sudden presence had made him jump.

"Jesus, Princess -" He muttered, locking his locker and turning away to head back to the classroom Blossom was meeting him at. She'd been finishing her work up and he'd agreed to meet her outside of it after sorting his textbooks out at his locker. "Stop sneaking up on me all the time."

Princess had long had a thing for Brick. She'd been very certain they were soulmates, and that he'd come to that realisation himself any day - she'd thought that for years too.

Brick however had forever had zero interest in her, even prior to forming a truce with the Powerpuff girls and eventually beginning to date one. There was no attraction there for him, there never had been.

But Princess Morbucks was not accustomed to being told no.

"Brick, I'm not sneaking up on you, I just wanted to talk to you." Princess said, taking a couple of large steps and clip clopping along in her black heels so she could walk in step with him.

"Well, I don't want to talk to you." Brick replied simply and she huffed.

"I only wanted to let you know that I'm going on vacation over the winter break." She said, placing her hands on her hips and coming to a halt.

He carried on walking, but turned to look at her as he did. "I do not care."

"I'll be gone for a while!" She called once again and he flashed her an 'okay' sign with his hand.

"Sounds fantastic. Have a safe journey. Or not, whatever." He said, rounding a corner and being very relieved when she didn't follow him.

"Oh I will." Princess said, smiling evilly and folding her hands across her chest. "You don't need to worry about me - or anything. Everything's going to be just fine, finally."

---

"So, I've been working on a new song." Buttercup said, pushing her thick raven locks from her face and reaching forward to pick up a scruffy looking notebook, which she rested on her knee as she perched on top of her amp. "Mitch has had a play around with a guitar lick for it, and I've got the vocals and bass down - I'll show you guys it first and we can have a jam with it."

"Sounds good." Louie said, strumming a couple of random chords on his guitar.

"Is it about me?" Butch asked playfully - it was becoming a running joke whenever they spoke about new songs, and usually Buttercup would roll her eyes and make a joke or some sleight of tongue back at him. But today, she blushed a little and shook her head rapidly.

"No! Of course it's not - it's just something I wrote, it's not really about anything." She shrugged, not looking him in the eye as she adjusted her guitar strap across her front that supported her mint green bass, the embroidered little cupcake resting on her shoulder.

Butch cranked a brow at her, and wondered why she seemed off - she usually always had a comeback - talking shit with her was one of his favourite things to do.

The green puff pulled her mic stand closer, adjusting it so she could sing into it while balanced on her amp, and cleared her throat.

She began to play an extremely funky and catchy little bass line that Mitch layered a choppy hook over top of. And then she began to sing.

Butch always found it difficult to concentrate on much else when she started to sing. It didn't matter the environment - a large stage with a loud, pulsing crowd like at Empire House, or sitting on her amp in Louie's garage, it always managed to do something to him.

This time was no different. It could be problematic during band practices or gigs - he was supposed to be paying attention to what he was playing, and keeping the timing going, but sometimes all his brain wanted to do was watch her.

Right now he was supposed to just be listening though, so he did so with ease. She sang about getting used to being loved and being in love, how closed off she'd always been and felt but how she had to open up if she wanted things to be real; how she should stop acting so tough all the time and try and get comfortable with someone, and with love in general. She spoke of pushing people away and letting someone in, using bloody fists that needed cleaning as a metaphor; Butch felt it hit home as he listened to her lyrics.

Suddenly it became quite clear to him why she'd struggled to look him in the eye moments ago. It was some pretty heavy soul baring - and very clearly about herself and their relationship - at least he hoped it was.

But the lyrics were open and vulnerable - two things Buttercup did not do. And whilst the song was heartfelt; she'd attempted to hide that by providing a funky bass line to go with it - it was almost like a ballad disguised as a funky pop tune.

He knew she found opening up difficult; she always had done. But this was as good as for her; it meant a lot to him.

"This bit's sort of like a breakdown," She said, her cheeks still pink as she chanced a glance at Butch, before looking back down at her notepad. "I was thinking we could sort of go like this -" She began to play a bass line that was trembling, like you were falling down the stairs to it.

"That's nice - the whole thing is, I love it." Louie said, nodding eagerly. "That bass line is rad. So catchy."

"It's really catchy right? And the lyrics I mean - the girl done good, as usual." Mitch added casually, both him and Louie completely missing any meaning behind them; Buttercup was always writing this song or that song, they didn't often sit and ask what it was about - which the green puff was glad for. "What's it called?"

"Err, I just scribbled down Forest." She mumbled, scribbling the word 'green' out that had been next to it. 'Forest Green' was a dead giveaway, 'Forest' on it's own was a little more ambiguous... But Butch had got it.

"Nice." Mitch nodded.

It was sweet, and melodic and profound - and for him, Butch couldn't help but feel. He swallowed hard when he realised Mitch, Louie and Buttercup were awaiting his opinion on it, Buttercup looking slightly wary and possibly embarrassed.

He wanted to say it made his stomach knot and whirl, and that it made him feel like he was falling more in love with her with every word. But, he couldn't say that - he'd look like an idiot.

"It's, it's fucking amazing. Incredible, as always. Probably my favourite one you've ever written." Butch said, his mouth feeling very dry.

She smiled a small, sort of sheepish smile that didn't last on her face very long for fear of Louie or Mitch picking up on it. "Thanks. So, uhh, shall we try putting some rhythm and a beat to it?"

Butch nodded, picking his sticks up enthusiastically. "Sure thing, anything you want." He said, his voice still a little far away.

She smiled at him, knowing he'd actually listened to the lyrics, and secretly being glad he had. It would have been irritating to have poured that out onto paper for the idiot to not even have noticed.

---

Blossom touched down in front of Townsville Police department, and Brick landed beside her milliseconds later. They'd handled a convenience store bust a couple of days ago; Blossom had received a call asking if they could both pop down to the station to provide more evidence for the incident.

A little strange, the report she had filed for Mayor Bellum as she always did should have sufficed. However it wasn't totally out of the ordinary, so Blossom didn't think too much of the request.

The pink puff reached for the door to the large Downtown department building when the door swung open, a cop striding out.

"Oh - sorry!" Blossom said, attempting to step out of his way, but he was walking towards them determinedly, which confused Brick.

"Brick Jojo." He said, his voice hard. Brick cranked a brow at him.

"Yes?"

"You're under arrest -" The cop, who was wide, and tall - though not as tall as Brick - probably standing at about 6 foot, had reached for Brick's wrist and was attempting to cuff him.

Brick took a step away from him, holding his hands out defensively. "What the fuck?! What is going on?"

"What?!" Blossom cried. "What are you - why?!"

"You're under arrest for the aggravated assault of Melvin Meeks. You have the right to remain silent. If you give up the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." He took another step towards Brick; Brick once again didn't allow him to get near him. "You have the right to an attorney. If you desire an attorney and cannot afford one, an attorney will be obtained for you before police questioning. Brick Jojo, you are resisting arrest, which is another criminal charge."

"Wait, wait - I've not seen Melvin in months?!" Brick exclaimed.

"The assault in question took place in July of last year." The officer told him, managing to clutch a hold of his hand and very almost get the cuffs around one. Brick's frantic crimson eyes looked from the cop to Blossom. They'd feared this could happen. It had been months, he didn't think this would happen. Brick had assaulted Melvin Meeks last year, in July. Melvin had placed a camera in Blossom's room and had taken intimate photos of her. Then proceeded to blackmail her with them.

Brick had been pretty pissed about the entire situation, and reacted accordingly.

Not forgetting Melvin Meeks had also actually almost killed Brick the year before too. And gotten away with it.

"What?! Stop trying to fucking cuff me!" Brick said, taking a further step away from him.

"If I'm arresting you, I'm cuffing you. And if you resist one more time -" The officer began to warn him, until Blossom cut in.

"Wait, that was months ago, surely he can't -"

"Doesn't matter. Mr Meeks has decided to press charges. One more struggle Jojo I'm gunna add resisting arrest onto your charges, which could give you a year in prison alone." Brick looked from the cop to Blossom, completely stunned.

Blossom shook her head at him. "Brick, just, just cooperate, okay - we'll fix this."

Brick sighed as the officer approached him and cuffed his hands behind his back, his expression extremely smug as he proceeded to steer Brick towards the entry of the station.

"Excuse me, what is your name?" Blossom asked, hot on his heels.

"Litman." The officer grunted. "Officer Litman."

Litman? Brick had thought he was someone else. That Officer Chalmers, one of the cops who particularly hated Brick and his brothers. It was hard to tell from looking at him, he had his hat on, and dark sunglasses. But going by his voice, he had sounded like the asshole cop who'd given them plenty of grief over the years - and even more so since they joined Team X.

"This is a fucking joke." Brick muttered under his breath.

They entered the foyer of the station, and Brick quietly simmered as Litman roughly guided him towards the door leading to the back of the department. "No no, no jokes, it's happening. Come on." He squawked at him.

"Brick, I'll sort this okay, just don't say anything until you have a lawyer sitting beside you - I'll call the Professor!" Blossom called to him as he disappeared behind the door.

The moment the door shut behind them, Blossom reached for her phone and immediately called the Professor, hoping he knew or had a decent lawyer, because they were really going to need one.

---

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, Brick had been arrested before in his lifetime, so he was familiar with the general procedure.

But what was happening right now? It was not the general procedure.

Usually, once you'd been apprehended, you were processed through before being placed in a cell, a lawyer was arranged or appointed to you if you wanted one, and then you were taken to an interview room for questioning.

During that first step of processing, they took all your details down, and confiscated all of your belongings from your person.

This cop however, had guided Brick past all of that and taken him straight to an interview room; an interview room right at the back of the department in a section the red ruff was unfamiliar with. It had left him feeling immediately suspicious.

The interview room didn't look right either. Brick could see all the monitoring devices were in place as they should be - the CCTV in the corner, recording equipment on the desk and four seats - it was all in there but none of it appeared to be in use. No steady red light by the CCTV cameras. Everything seemed dusty and disused. The officer didn't even switch the light outside to alert others to the fact the room was being used.

Something weird was going on.

Officer Litman shut the door behind them then turned to Brick, still looking ever so smug about the entire scenario. "Give me everything you have on you." He barked; Brick ignored his question.

"Why are we in an interview room already?" The redhead asked. "Why haven't you processed me through?"

Litman chuckled. "You're super familiar with the process huh?"

"Yes, actually, I am. And this isn't it."

"Look how big and clever you think you are just cos you're overly familiar with being a criminal. And to think you cretins think you get to tell me what to do now? Now you're in your little uniform." Litman removed his glasses momentarily to clean them on his tie and recollection flooded Brick. "So glad those days are over from here on out - for you at least."

"Chalmers." Brick said. "You're Officer Chalmers. Not Litman." He'd given Blossom a phoney name.

"Not shocked you're familiar with my name either. Now give me everything you have on you!" He barked, his volume increasing.

"Okay sure - but I'm in your stupid little handcuffs." Brick replied, jangling them. "So if you want me to hand over my belongings I'll have to break your pathetic cuffs."

Chalmers grinned at him. "Oh, okay, go right ahead."

Brick made to snap them, but the moment he put any pressure against them it stung. They began to cut into the side of his wrists. They were sharp on the edges - abnormally so.

Chalmers laughed heartily at Brick's befuddled expression.

"What the fuck -"

"Hmm, sharp ain't they? Oh dear, it seems they've sliced right through that amazingly strong skin of yours. Oh dear oh dear oh dear." Chalmers commented, mock concern in his voice as he looked at the small cuts formed on the red ruff's wrists.

"What are these things made of?!" Brick asked, trying once more to break it but finding they just cut into the cuts he already had - which was not pleasant. He likely could break them, but he may just slice his hands off in the process. He'd thought they seemed heavier when he'd placed them on him but hadn't thought much of it - his mind was a bit preoccupied by the fact he was being arrested.

"Little thing called chromanium alloy - I think you're familiar with it."

Brick stared at him, his scarlet eyes wide. "How did you -"

"Ut uh uh!" The officer cried. "That'd be telling. Now, let's give you a little pat down and get all those belongings shall we?"

Brick's mind was racing a mile a minute as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on. This cop had apprehended him with chromanium alloy handcuffs - how the hell did he have chromanium alloy handcuffs?!

Officer Chalmers had searched all the pockets in Brick's coat and jeans, retrieving his personal cell phone, hotline device, keys and wallet off of him.

"Is this everything?" He asked as he switched his phone off then took a small, thin piece of metal from his pocket and used it to switch his hotline cell off - something Brick himself didn't even know how to do, so how did this guy know?

"Yes." Brick bit out as he watched him pocketing his belongings.

"If you're lying I'll find out." The cop warned him and Brick glared at him.

"That's everything I had on me."

"Okay, well thank you for those. Very helpful." He said, chuckling to himself and flashing Brick a superior smile. "See, much easier when you're playing ball. This is nice huh? To have you in here not being able to do anything to me. Completely powerless, for once."

Brick smiled now, a red glow appearing in his eyes. "You think I need my hands to hurt you?"

But the officer was undeterred. "Ah, that's true, that's very true. I suppose you don't. Suppose I better just…" He mumbled, his sentence trailing off as he reached into his back pocket.

He pulled out two syringes, one filled with a familiar looking liquid. It looked like Antidote X, the other one he had absolutely no idea what it was, and he didn't want to find out.

Brick backed away as he lunged for him, the syringe containing Antidote X in his hand. There was a scuffle; and not a lot of room in the interview room to allow for much of a chase - and Brick's hands were restrained. Within seconds Chalmers had managed to plunge the syringe containing the vibrant red Antidote X into his arm.

"There we go, that's much better." He cooed in a voice oozing fake concern. Brick felt the weak, woozy feeling spread across him as the Antidote X took effect. "Now why don't you take a seat -" With that, the officer kicked Brick roughly in the stomach, sending him into the open chair beside the desk so forcibly it skidded across the floor so he was now sitting on the chair beside the wall.

"So now what?" Brick asked, catching his breath from losing his powers then being booted in the stomach in a matter of seconds. "You've got me here powerless, now what are you going to do huh? This is a fucking police station, full of cops, you really think you'll get away with whatever it is you have planned in a fucking police department?"

Chalmers laughed loudly. "You think any of these cops will take issue with me doing this?"

The officer approached Brick, leering over him furiously, his moustached face red with anger - and perhaps excitement. He grabbed the red ruff by the scruff of his shirt and shook him. "You have no idea how many of these officers would love to be in my shoes right now."

He pulled his fist back and punched Brick around the face with such force he almost fell off the chair.

"News flash kid, we don't like you guys here - we don't even like the Powerpuff girls here. Especially not cops like me." Chalmers told him, a conceited grin still on his face.

"Yeah, I gathered." Brick said, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the floor - mostly in the hopes he was leaving a little bit of evidence there.

"Swooping in here doing our jobs - especially you and your brothers, fucking trash like you three strolling in here in your little uniform. Makes me sick." He punctuated his sentence by spitting on Brick, who squeezed his eyes closed at the action, his teeth gritting together.

"You fucking wait." Brick seethed. "You wait till I -"

"Till you what?" Chalmers laughed. "You're not doing anything. All you're doing is what I tell you. And I say," He produced the second syringe from his person - the one with the unfamiliar liquid inside. "You're gunna go for a nice little sleep-y."

"What?" Brick asked, trying to lurch away from him as approached him once more, the needle going straight into his arm like butter. "What is that?!"

"Don't you worry about it kid." The officer assured him, patting him on the shoulder firmly. "You're not gunna know what's hit you pretty soon. It'll just wash all your troubles away."

Brick watched him cap the syringe and pocket it, his dark black eyes watching the red ruff as though he was watching the best part of his favourite movie. "Any minute now."

Sure enough, within a couple of minutes, Brick felt his eyes become heavy. Fight or flight mode kicked in - he knew he had to try and escape. He didn't have his powers and his hands were behind his back in sharp metal cuffs, so fight was going to be difficult. Flight felt like his only option. He tried to get to his feet but found his legs wouldn't cooperate with him.

He heard Chalmers chuckle; though he sounded like he was a lot further away than he actually was. "Sit down Jojo." He said, prodding him on the shoulder firmly. Brick attempted to get up once more.

"Get offa me." He said, his mouth feeling foreign as he tried to speak.

He laughed some more. "You look like you need a hand nodding off."

Brick felt his fist connecting with his face once more; it sent him against the wall the chair was still propped by. He tried to sit up but found he couldn't move, his body had completely stopped listening to him, and he felt overwhelmingly tired. All he could do was lean against the wall and try and urge himself to stay awake.

It must have been a sedative he'd given him. The red ruff tried as hard as he could to fight the drowsiness and keep his eyes open and trained on Chalmers but it was getting really hard to focus on anything.

He could feel a wet warmth running down the side of his face, and guessed it was blood. He tried to just focus on that to keep awake but it wasn't working.

Blearily, Brick heard a knock at the door - it was an odd knock, six quick raps one after the other.

"Ahh, looks like our ride is here." Chalmers said, opening the door to another shady looking cop, also donning black glasses.

Together, they approached Brick and picked him up by an arm each; he was a bit taller than them both but they managed to quickly and successfully drag him out of the door without being spotted.

They'd prepared this particular interview room as it was located right beside a fire exit door, giving them a quick and convenient escape route.

Officer Chalmers kicked the fire door open, and the three of them slipped out of it; a sleek black car was waiting by the door for them.

The second cop opened the trunk, and together they bundled Brick into it. As they slammed it shut behind him, Brick descended into darkness, finally being unable to resist unconsciousness any longer.

---

Blossom looked from her cell phone to the entrance of Townsville Police department, her foot tapping on the ground with nerves.

She couldn't believe this was happening.

It had been 7 months since Brick had attacked Melvin. She'd thought this was over with. Blossom had basically made a deal with him - she wouldn't take all the intimate - and illegal - photos of her that Melvin had acquired through his secret spy camera to the police if he didn't go to the police for Brick assaulting him.

It had been a stupid deal; Melvin deserved to pay for the hell he'd put her and Brick through - he'd been taking photos of her and presumably her sisters for months on end. And this encounter happened only two months after Melvin sent a giant chromanium alloy robot out which subsequently stabbed Brick twice and left him bleeding out on Malphs car lot.

They'd only just managed to save his life by getting him to the Professor in time. And Melvin had been brought down to the station but had somehow managed to weasel his way out of it.

But Brick had just agreed to Project:Protect. Team X was brand new and she knew an assault charge would see the red ruff kicked straight off of the team. He could wave goodbye to not only the team but the financial security it brought him, which Blossom knew was vital for them - relying on Him for money was not a viable long term option anyhow - and Him had already cut them off.

Not to mention a huge part of the Project:Protect deal was Brick and his brother's outstanding warrants and charges being wiped from his record; a completely clean slate.

Brick being Brick, he'd completely shied away from the idea initially - they'd even had a fall out over it. But he'd seen sense and took the opportunity. Then for Melvin to swoop in and potentially ruin it? (And kind of him, given that Melvin didn't make him break his nose and arm) Blossom was prepared to let the hidden camera, and complete violation of her privacy, slide if it meant it didn't throw a further spanner in the works.

And now, 7 months later, Melvin had had some kind of change of heart and decided to report Brick.

Now, she had no idea what happened next.

The Professor had informed her of a friend he knew who was a brilliant lawyer - he'd promised to call him and get him down the station as soon as he possibly could.

So Blossom was waiting for any kind of update - either from the police themselves or the lawyer friend to call or show up.

It suddenly dawned on Blossom she should inform Brick's only family what was going on - his brothers. She opted to call Boomer from her hotline cell so if someone tried to reach her on her personal cell they could still get through.

"Whaddup sis?" Boomer answered down the line.

"Boomer, hi, I'm just calling to let you know - Brick's been arrested." She said, the sentence coming out all quick.

"Huh? What - why?! What did he do?" Boomer cried down the phone, aghast.

"It's Melvin - when he beat him up in the summer last year. He must have decided to press charges… I don't really know what's going on." Blossom informed him. "We were asked to come down here to provide evidence for that convenience store bust the other day but as soon as we arrived they arrested him for assault."

"And what, he let them?!"

"He didn't have much of a choice! They started threatening to add resisting arrest onto his charges…" Blossom murmured and Boomer paused down the phone.

"So, so now what?!"

"I don't really know! I mean, I'm at the station right now - the Professor has a friend who is a lawyer, he's calling him."

"Should I come down there?" Boomer asked, sounding a little lost.

"You can if you want, it's up to you. You're obviously welcome to if you want to, but I can just keep you updated if not…" She said, looking over at the door as it opened. A smart looking man in a suit had walked through and was looking at Blossom intently - she wondered if it was the lawyer. He mouthed her name at her and Blossom nodded fervently. "Boomer, I think the lawyer is here."

"Okay, okay - call me with any news. If we don't hear from you soon we'll come down."

"Okay, will do - bye." She replied, before pocketing her hotline and turning towards the man waiting for her. "Hi - are you my father's friend? The lawyer?"

"Hi there Blossom - yes, I'm Michael Watts, I am a friend of your fathers, and yes, I'm a lawyer. Well actually, I'm your father's lawyer. Lovely to meet you - I understand I'm here for Brick Jojo?" He said as he extended his hand for her to shake.

She shook it firmly, nodding. "Yes, yes that's right. Thank you so much for coming down here so quickly - come with me." Blossom guided him towards the front desk. "Excuse me, hi - I have Mr Watts here for Brick Jojo - he's his lawyer."

The officer closest to the desk looked up and cranked a brow at her.

"Brick Jojo? Your Brick Jojo? Of Team X?" The officer said, looking thoroughly confused.

"Yes, that's right, he is, I know - he was just arrested for aggravated assault…" Blossom was met with an even more puzzled look. "He was literally brought in like 20 minutes ago, if that.."

The officer looked down at the computer in front of her then back up at Blossom. "Are you sure?"

Blossom looked dumbfounded. "Yes I'm sure! We were asked to come down here to provide further evidence for a convenience store bust we handled the other day. The moment we got here he was read his rights and brought through!"

The officer looked back down at the computer, tapping away at it a bit, still looking befuddled. "We have no record of Brick Jojo being brought in. He's not gone through our system at all. And I'd have noticed him waiting in holding, considering he works alongside us now."

"What?! He - he just went through! An officer cuffed him and took him through!" Blossom exclaimed.

The officer looked addled. "Maybe the paper trails behind. Give me a second, I'll go and find him."

"Thank you, tell them his lawyer is here." Blossom called as she watched the female officer disappearing through a door leading to the behind the scenes of the department.

Blossom stood beside Michael Watts awkwardly as they awaited the officer to return. Moments later she did, looking more confused if possible. "He's not out there."

The pink puff blinked at her. "What do you mean he's not out there?"

"I mean he's not out there." She replied. "He's not in a holding cell, he's not in an interview room, he's not anywhere. Who booked him?"

"Litman. Officer Litman."

The officer, Blossom noted her name was Officer Merry by the badge on her front, furrowed her brow. "Litman? Officer Litman?" Blossom nodded. "I'm not familiar with the name.. Hang on."

She disappeared once more and Blossom suddenly began to feel suspicious. What was going on? How could Brick have been arrested but there was no record of that? If he wasn't back there, where was he?!

The pink puff turned to the man standing beside her. "I promise you Brick was arrested and taken away by an officer. I have no idea what is going on. I mean, where is he?!" She said, trying to keep her cool but fast beginning to lose it.

A door to the side of the lobby opened now and the same officer from before came through, the same one that had arrested Brick.

"Miss Utonium?" He asked, an apologetic tone to his voice. Blossom looked round at him rapidly. "I am so sorry for keeping you waiting, if you'd like to come this way -"

"Officer Litman? Where is Brick - this is his lawyer, Mr Watts." Blossom said, rounding on him - the lawyer had to rush to catch them up.

"Oh, if you could wait here in the waiting room, we'll call you through when you're needed." Officer Litman said dismissively. Michael Watts looked confused, as did Blossom.

"Hang on - he has a right to a lawyer." Blossom said, looking from the police officer to Mr Watts, who had lingered in the waiting area.

"Yes yes, he does, you're spot on. And we'll call Mr Watts, was it? Yeah - we'll call him through in just a moment. We would like to have a quick word with you first as we understand you were a witness to the assault?" The officer asked, and Blossom's brow wrinkled as he swept his arm behind her back and began to usher her towards a door on the other side of the room.

"Umm, well yes I was but - why have you spoken to Brick already - he was supposed to wait for a lawyer to be present - and why would you need to speak to me already?" She asked, glancing back at Mr Watts once more before the door closed behind her and she found herself in a long corridor with Litman. "I really think our lawyer should be present -"

"All in good time, don't worry. Here at TPD, we look after our own. You're the gal behind Team X right? So everything's gunna be peachy." He assured her, his hand once again finding the small of her back and giving it a light push onwards. She looked down at it and then up at him, suddenly beginning to feel very uncomfortable. What was going on? This was not how it worked.

"What is going on? Where is Brick?" Blossom pressed, swallowing back the unease she felt and keeping her voice authoritative. "The officer I spoke to behind the desk said Brick isn't even in your custody but I just saw you take him through -" His hand rested on her waist now and she flinched at not only his touch but the sharp scratch she'd felt on her hip.

Her rose eyes flitted up to him, wide and cautious. The familiar oozy feeling of her powers disappearing overcame her and she took a step away from him, coming to a halt. What had he just done to her?

His hand reached into his pocket and Blossom backed herself up against the wall. "What did you just - what is going on?" She asked, her heart pounding in her chest. Her powers were gone, she'd felt them going.

"Come along Miss Utonium, you wanna find your boyfriend right?" He'd approached her again and she put her palm up to him, warning him to keep his distance. She looked back at the door they'd previously walked through, and down the empty corridor. While she was looking away - or more looking for help, the department was huge, there had to be someone else around - she felt a sharp scratch on her arm. Officer Litman clutched at her wrist tightly, and began to pull her along.

She immediately began to try to resist, but found it pretty difficult - for one he was much bigger and taller than her, and though she knew how to fight and defend herself, without her powers she was an albeit combat savvy teenage girl, but still a 5 foot 1, 125 pound teenage girl. He was at least 6 foot and probably double her weight. The other thing making it difficult was how lethargic she suddenly felt.

The pink puff had gone from trying to resist his hold to being dragged along and staggering; her legs were beginning to not listen to her and the urge to close her eyes was strong. She fought it hard, trying to keep her wits about her and see as much as she could before she inevitably passed out from whatever he'd injected her with.

"I dunno why Officer Merry told you that. He's just through here. Oh, you okay hon'? You're looking a little faint." He commented, grinning as he approached a couple of chairs not far from the fire exit door; the same one Brick had been smuggled through.

Blossom felt more than a little faint. She felt dizzy and woozy; her limbs were weak, her eyelids heavy.

"Here, take a seat." He guided her into the chair, which she sunk into.

"What did you just do to me? I felt something-" She slurred, her head dropping against her shoulder momentarily; she was struggling to find the strength to hold her own head up. Chalmers took this opportunity to pat her down and get all her belongings from her, including her cell and hotline device, which he quickly switched off and pocketed.

"I think you need some fresh air." He said, deciding she was small enough for him to carry alone rather than wait for the other officer for assistance.

Officer 'Litman', real name Chalmers, didn't bother trying to get her to walk herself, he could see she was beyond that. Instead, he bent down and grabbed her by the waist, draping her over his shoulder and making for the fire exit door.

The pink puff could hardly keep her eyes open as she felt the cold air from outside hit her face, but she did her best to see as much as she could. It felt like she was moving her arms and legs, doing something, anything to resist being taken by this man but her body wouldn't listen to her.

She heard a car trunk being opened and was laid down inside it, landing on something very warm. Her rose eyes fluttered open dimly and she recognised who she was laying on top of instantly, mostly by the familiar feel, but also the hint of his cologne. The trunk was closed with a thud.

"Brick…" She croaked blearily. He didn't respond, but she could feel his chest rising and falling underneath her. "Brick…" She mumbled his name a couple of times knowing he was there in the darkness of the trunk. The car began to move. Blossom clutched at Brick's shirt as everything around her went black.

---

Officer Merry returned to the front desk of the department, searching for Blossom Utonium, but finding the waiting room almost empty; bar the lawyer waiting to represent Brick Jojo.

"Excuse me - where did she go? Blossom Utonium?" The officer asked, catching Mr Watts' attention.

"She was taken through that door with another officer." He said, getting to his feet. "What exactly is going on? I mean, I don't usually end up sitting around waiting when a client has hired me."

Officer Merry cranked a brow. "Huh? What the hell is - could you describe the officer for me?"

Mr Watts pursed his lips. "He was tall, dark hair - what was left of it anyway - he was also wearing a hat so couldn't see much of it. Moustachioed, kinda on the older side, kinda on the bigger side. He was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses, even though it's February. And he was chewing on a toothpick."

"That sounds like Chalmers. Mr - sorry what was your name, sir?" He told her his name. "Mr Watts, hi - I'm not entirely sure what's going on here but, but it's something. Do you think you could maybe give me your card, and I'll call you when I've got to the bottom of this?"

"Erm, okay. Sure, I guess so. Ask Blossom to call me when she can…" Mr Watts was very confused but cooperated, reaching for a card from his suit jacket and handing it to her before leaving.

Officer Merry surveyed the card, before pocketing it and keying herself into the back of the department building, heading straight for her Sergeants office. She knocked and waited till he let her in.

"Sarg, I'm sorry to bother you but I think we've got a situation here." She said, and he looked up from his paperwork.

"What is it, Merry?"

She told him about Blossom appearing at the front desk, insisting Brick had been arrested and taken round the back. When she'd looked for him she couldn't find him and there wasn't a trace of him anywhere in the building. And now the pink puff herself had seemingly disappeared too - with an officer called Litman.

"Do you know of an Officer Litman in this precinct?" She asked and he too looked confused.

"Doesn't ring a bell." He said, reaching for his phone. "Go and find out where Blossom Utonium is. Having those two sniffing around here isn't an ideal situation."

"What do you mean by that Sarge? Blossom said they were called down here by an officer to provide evidence, but I can't find any proof they were needed for more evidence for the convenience store bust. They provided witness statements on the day and have even returned a damage report to City Hall…" Officer Merry said, disliking his dismissive tone.

"Well why don't you call City Hall, hmm? Anything to do with the puffs and ruffs is best directed to Bellum first anyway." He said, dialling a number. She fast realised he was ordering his lunch, not contacting the Mayor.

"Fine," She said in a hushed voice. "I will call the Mayor. Something fishy is going on."

The sergeant finished his sandwich order, looking like he was annoyed she was still in the room. "Fine, go call her. And locate the Powerpuff while you're at it."

"Yes sir. Sarge - where is Chalmers today?" She asked as she approached the door but stopped to ask one last question.

"Chalmers? He's off today. He's off for the next couple of days, he's taken a couple of vacation days. Why do you ask?"

"Curious." She said, before heading to her desk to phone the Mayor.

---

Boomer exhaled, his blonde waves blowing about his face as looked down at the English essay he was supposed to be writing. He was not in the right mood to be doing this; his brain was feeling way too distracted. Though that was a common feeling when he was presented with any work.

Especially when he was sitting in Casper's cafe with his distractingly beautiful girlfriend and two of his friends.

Also, his brother had just been arrested, again. That was distracting enough on its own.

He glanced up at said girlfriend, who was also looking out the window absentmindedly. He smiled a soft smile; at least he wasn't the only one finding it hard to concentrate.

Feeling like she was being watched, Bubbles looked back around, and smiled back at Boomer, her pencil tapping against the table.

"Have you heard from Blossom again yet?" Bubbles questioned; both Robin and Mike looked up interestedly too.

Boomer hooked his hotline and cell phone from his person. "Nothing yet. I'll call her, it's been over an hour since she called."

The blonde ruff's nose wrinkled with confusion. "The line's dead." He murmured, redialling her personal cell. It didn't even ring through. "It just goes straight to the answer machine."

Bubbles looked a little puzzled too. "Maybe she's speaking with the police officers or something.. Try her hotline, she never ignores that."

Boomer nodded. "Yeah okay - what the fuck, that's dead too. It's not even connecting."

Bubbles hooked her hotline device out to take a look herself. Boomer tried Brick on his personal cell and hotline cell and got the same results. "They're unreachable, both of them. They - they've gone off the radar."

The blue puff could see the panic rising in Boomer's eyes. "I'm sure everything's okay Boomie - just some kind of misunderstanding. We'll get through to them."

But her words didn't bring him much reassurance. He'd already jumped to an extreme conclusion in his mind and it was making him instantly frantic.

"It's Him again." He mumbled, distraught. "It's Him again, it's happening again."

"Hey, it's okay dude. I'm sure there's an explanation." Mike said, trying to console his friend, but the blue ruff was convinced he knew exactly what was going on.

"It could be a number of things; it might not be Him." Bubbles said, stroking his arm comfortingly as she tried to call Blossom herself, but was met with a dead line as well.

"Could they have just run out of battery? I'm always running mine dry." Robin suggested; Boomer shook his head rapidly.

"Their personal cells maybe - but Brick wouldn't let his run low during the day. And these hotline cells - they're supposed to have a crazy long battery life. They're supposed to be like, indestructible, right?" Boomer said, his royal blue eyes agitated.

Bubbles nodded a little weakly. "Well, yes -"

"The only time this ever happened before was Him! When Him had them - in Hell!" Boomer reasoned, hoping Bubbles would relent that it was at least a possibility.

She began to look a little nervous. "Let me call Buttercup. Just stay calm okay - we'll get to the bottom of this. Maybe they're just somewhere that has poor signal."

"I thought they couldn't lose signal?" Boomer said, looking at the tracking application on his hotline device.

"The Professor said it's highly unlikely.. But I guess that doesn't mean it doesn't happen..." Bubbles murmured as she waited for Buttercup to pick up her phone.

The blue ruff pulled his hands through his hair in despair as Buttercup picked up and Bubbles updated her with what was going on - and hinted that Boomer was quite worried Him was behind it again.

"What does the tracker say?" The green puff asked down the line.

"The last place they were traceable was Townsville Police department.. Which, well we knew they were there. Blossom said they were called down to give evidence for a convenience store bust and then Brick got arrested for beating up Melvin, and now they've disappeared again." Bubbles replied.

"Head to TPD. We'll meet you there - maybe they're still there if that's where they last were before they went offline. Maybe they've malfunctioned or something and Blossom hasn't noticed since she's dealing with jailbird Brick again."

"That's a good idea. We'll head there right now." Bubbles said, before saying goodbye and beginning to gather up her things. "It'll be okay Boomie, they'll be an explanation."

He grunted in response as he shoved his things in his backpack quickly, hoping wherever Brick was, he was okay.

---

Buttercup pushed the door to Townsville Police department open with force, Butch following close behind her. She disliked dealing with TPD at the best of times - but since Team X had been formed and PACE had emerged, she found them even more unpalatable. So she was certainly here with the airs of sorting shit out.

The green puff was surprised to see Mayor Bellum standing at the desk looking pretty ticked off. "Sara - what's going on? Where is Blossom and Brick? They were asked to come down here to give evidence or something, and then Blossom said Brick was arrested for all that drama with Melvin last year. Now we can't get a hold of either of them and they're hotline devices have gone all whack. What gives?"

"Hi Buttercup, hi Butch. We're trying to get to the bottom of it. There's no record that Brick was taken into custody. And the CCTV cut out for 25 minutes earlier today so we've got zero to go on." Mayor Bellum replied, her voice tense with stress.

"What?!" Buttercup cried. "Nobody noticed for 25 minutes?!"

"Apparently not. A couple of officers saw Brick come in with Officer Chalmers." Butch's expression darkened, and Bellum noticed. "You're familiar with him?"

"Yeah I am. He doesn't like us. Thinks we should be stripped of our powers and left to rot in a jail cell, in fact." Butch informed her, and she cranked an unimpressed brow.

"That's comforting." She murmured, her voice showing the opposite. "Well, the officers that did see him being apprehended by Chalmers didn't see him again. And Blossom was here insisting Brick had been taken in by an officer. Mr Watts - your father's lawyer, said Blossom went down this side door with an officer which matches Officer Chalmers' description and has since seemingly disappeared off the planet."

Buttercup's brow furrowed and she swallowed. Boomer and Bubbles turned up; they quickly filled them in.

"So, now what?" The blue ruff asked.

"We're currently running a plate of a vehicle seen leaving the department car lot around when the cameras went out to see who owns it and if we can trace it anywhere." Sara replied, just as Officer Merry came through to the reception area in a flurry.

"Mayor Bellum, we have locations for the unidentified car. It was last spotted pulling into Twin Deck Airport." She informed them.

"Twin Deck Airport? That tiny little airport on the outskirts of Townsville?" Butch queried.

"Yes, that's the one. It drove through the barriers and it hasn't left yet, it got caught by the ANPR like 2 hours ago. We also have a couple of cameras that caught it on it's way to the airport. Seems it drove straight there from here. But the CCTV in the alleyway that clocked it - it could have only come from the police department, there's only the car lot located down the alley." Officer Merry explained. "So it had to have come from here and headed straight to Twin Deck."

"Who is the car owned by?" Buttercup asked.

"Mr James Wilson. Recognise that name?" The officer asked, being met with 5 clueless expressions.

"Nope. Not a clue." Butch muttered.

"Well, I'm gunna guess Mr James Wilson knows exactly where Blossom and Brick are." Officer Merry said, looking to Mayor Bellum confidently.

"So, so what now?" Bubbles asked, beginning to feel like they shouldn't just be standing around: this wasn't a misunderstanding, Brick and Blossom were missing.

"We need to find James Wilson. And see if he took a flight out somewhere - I'll gather a squad and get down there, check their CCTV out, ask some questions, see if we can find out where they are or where they've gone, and see if Blossom and Brick were spotted there." Officer Merry said, and Buttercup nodded.

"We'll head down there too. Call us with any info. Bubbles, we better call the Professor and tell him what's going on." Buttercup said; the blonde nodded worriedly.

---

Butch, Buttercup and Bubbles shot into the sky - but Boomer lingered on the sidewalk outside Townsville Police department. "Wait - wait!" They stopped midair, looking down at him. "I don't think we should head straight down to this airport."

"Why not?" Butch asked, brow knotted.

"Because we don't know for certain Brick and Blossom are even with this James Wilson guy?!" Boomer cried and Buttercup put her hands on her hips.

"But what if they are? What if they're being forced onto an airplane or something right now and we're standing around gabbing to you?" The brunette snapped, and Boomer frowned.

"They've seemingly disappeared out of thin air, right?" He asked.

"Right." Butch and Buttercup spoke simultaneously.

"So where were they last time that happened? Somewhere no cop is gunna be able to find." They stared at him for a couple of seconds. "They were in Hell! In the Underworld, with Him."

"You think this is Him?" Butch said, looking unconvinced.

"Well yeah! It makes sense. Last time everything went dead like this it was because they weren't Earthside." Boomer reasoned, but Butch grunted, unswayed.

"It's not gunna be Him. Otis told Brick it would take Him years to regenerate - it's been like 6 months!" The brunette cried but Boomer wasn't persuaded.

"Otis could be wrong!" Boomer yelled. "Also - he could be lying! I mean, I know he looked out for us as much as he was able to way back when, but he's still a demon!"

"So what do you wanna do Boomer, hmm? You propose we just give Him a visit and ask him? 'Yo Him, you got Bloss and Brick in there with you? No? Okay - no no, we can't stay, wouldn't wanna impose - well shit, now we're all stuck in Hell!'" Butch said, voice dripping with sarcasm. Boomer glared at him.

"No, I'm not saying we go to fucking Hell - I'm proposing I summon Him so I can ask him myself."

A short silence ensued; Butch put a hand to his temples momentarily before looking down at his blonde brother once more.

"You wanna summon Him?" He reiterated. "After all that shit with Brick and Blossom, and demons and angels and soul selling - you think bringing the Devil here to chat is a good idea?"

Boomer pouted a little innocently. "Possibly."

"It's not a fucking good idea, Boomer - and Brick would be pissed with you if he knew you were doing it, whether he's in the Underworld right now or not. Also, Him's supposed to be all pathetic and weak, he's not gunna come to Earth to talk to us?! He probably physically can't!" Butch had hovered down to his brother's level once more to talk; Buttercup and Bubbles followed suit.

"Butch, last time this happened Brick was in serious trouble - and we weren't able to do anything to help him! He needed us. I'm not letting that happen again. If we bring Him here maybe we can finally put an end to all this." Boomer said, looking from his brother to Bubbles, then to Buttercup. "Blossom won't have to live in fear of him returning to kill her and we won't all have to live in fear of this fucking happening all the time! Them just disappearing without a trace and us not knowing what the fuck is going on!"

Butch sighed, rubbing at his face again. "This is the stupidest, dumbest idea ever. But, fine. Fine. Let's do it. Brick's gunna kill you, but, let's do it."

Buttercup looked from her boyfriend to her sister, her jade eyes wide. "You really think bringing Him here is the way forward? When we're two members down? And he's, you know, the Devil. Wants to kill us and everything?"

"No, I don't. But, Boom's got a point. Last time it was Him. It would at least rule it out." Butch shrugged. He didn't like having to make big decisions like this for everyone. That was Brick's job, not his. He'd noticed Buttercup naturally picked up the 'leader reins' in Blossom's absence - and she was good at it too. But that was just not his bag.

Sometimes he didn't trust himself to make run of the mill decisions on a daily basis. There was no way he was going to volunteer to make the big, potentially life changing decisions.

Yet here he was agreeing to summon the fucking Devil.

"So, how do we do that? I mean - what do you have to do? And how long does it take cos we don't know how safe Blossom and Brick are right now - we probably shouldn't hang around.." Bubbles said uneasily.

"We can't do it here." Boomer said, looking to Butch. "We need somewhere quiet and empty. Summoning the Devil in broad daylight isn't exactly going to make PACE go any easier on us, is it?"

---

r&r (: