United We Stand
On Tuesday, October 6, Soyen Chen's path to the perfect life eroded before her.
Until she woke up that morning, she had spent the better part of her high school career carefully planning each and every step that would lead to her adult career as a world-renowned chemist just like Professor John Utonium, her idol. At a mere seventeen years old, she had received over a dozen junior scientist awards for her achievements in the field. Those accolades caught the attention of Townsville's Scientific Discovery Council, and they extended an offer for a paid internship with the Aegis Project. At first Soyen thought it was a prank. Her knowledge of Aegis was that it was a quantum computer network, so how could chemistry be involved? Then she met with Doctor Aedyn Marsh, an SDC member who revealed there were several smaller projects being pursued beneath the Aegis umbrella. One of them involved a substance called Chemical Y, derived from Chemical X. Professor Utonium fiercely guarded X after his falling out with Joan Newtronium, but the rights to Y were sort of… up in the air thanks to Maximilian Morbucks. Doctor Marsh assured Soyen that his formula deviated enough from the original to avoid infringement.
Soyen did not consider herself a genius despite other people's readiness to describe her as such; it was merely a matter of perspective. When Doctor Marsh explained what he wished to achieve, she pointed out something that her senior peers hadn't even considered. More and more research was getting published regarding the harmful, long-lasting effects of microplastics on human beings, so Soyen thought the nanites in the compound should be made of something that the human body could break down completely in lieu of their alleged ability to pass through. This led to the development of the 100% organic Nanyte suspended in a solution Soyen derived from Marsh's already-derivative Chemical Y-β. The man lauded her brilliance, saying she could expect to make a lucrative living off her contribution to science. She wasn't in it for the money, (not yet, anyway), being a high school student with few responsibilities. Besides, her doting boyfriend, River Waters, was willing to buy anything that struck her fancy.
But, as a series of screenshots and videos revealed on that Tuesday morning, Soyen was not the sole recipient of his gifts and affection.
Her pewter eyes grew wider in disbelief the farther down she scrolled. River had played her for a fool along with at least three other girls. The more she read, the more she realized she had no idea who the hell he really was. He'd adopted different personas and mannerisms to charm and seduce each of them like a master manipulator, and had apparently recorded some intimate encounters without their knowledge. Soyen never before felt anything like the hot spike of shame that lanced through her, but it was quickly replaced by scintillating ire. How fucking dare he. They were supposed to graduate from Pacific Science Academy, get married, and become titans in their respective fields of law and chemistry! That future she'd envisioned shattered like glass, and she nearly hurled her phone against the wall. Then, Soyen looked at the sender's number; it had too many digits, belonging to someone outside the United States. Who is this? she texted.
You deserve better than that entitled prick, they replied.
That didn't answer her question. Did you send that evidence to all the girls?
Yes
Are you trying to ruin River's reputation?
You and his other playthings are about to do that yourselves.
His plaything?! Soyen furiously typed a response, then stopped, backspacing. The evidence showed that River had been toying with her for the last two years, making empty promises and giving her false hope for a future he never intended to herald. Despite feeling crushed and a little bit adrift, she didn't cry. She was too angry to cry.
Soyen got ready for school, donning her uniform before spending fifteen minutes on a fierce eyeliner look. She used to only wear makeup on dates with River because he appreciated her without, but fuck his preferences. He waited outside the main entrance of the Academy, flashing a smile that previously made her knees weak but now made her nauseous. Soyen walked up to him and turned away at the last second as he leaned in for a kiss, smooching her cheek. River gave her a funny look as she remained silent. She withdrew her phone, scrolled down to the video thumbnail of him balls-deep in some blonde girl, and showed him the screen. Panic flooded his countenance, and whatever lies River started to spew were halted by the red handprint she left on his cheek. Several students passing by stopped to stare. "We're over," Soyen declared loud enough for them to hear. She would go to the clinic after school to get tested for STIs, just in case something had gone undetected.
By the time classes ended, everyone was talking about how Soyen had broken up with River despite his desperate attempts to flip the narrative. Demure little Taiwanese girls like her weren't supposed to dump their all-American boyfriends, but enough students saw the slap to set the record straight; it was nice knowing she had so many people vouching for her character. While Soyen waited in the lobby at the clinic, she scrolled through the proof of his fuckboyness yet again. I broke up with him. Are you happy now? she texted the mystery sender.
Your happiness is what matters in the long run, they replied.
Do I know you? Soyen pressed. Do you go to my school?
No
Then who the hell are you? Why do you care about my love life? The response took too long. Soyen stowed her phone when an assistant called her name. She did the tests and received a clean bill of health, thank god. At least River hadn't gifted her chlamydia or something else for her naïvety.
She withdrew her phone again while walking to a bus stop, surprised to find a reply from the mystery person. To be honest, Soyen Chen, I was hoping you would do me a favor in exchange for pulling the wool off your eyes.
Soyen was not surprised they knew her full name. Acquiring such information was trivial compared to distributing River's private files. She just hoped this person wasn't a creepy stalker. What kind of favor?
I need you to synthesize Chemical Y-δ. Dexter Jones has the formula. She froze, staring at her screen in disbelief. How did they know about her Y-gamma solvent, or Doctor Marsh's Y-beta for that matter? Only physical handwritten notes detailed the formulas, so there was no way they could have come up with a third Chemical Y derivative unless they also worked in the Human Resources laboratory at Aegis! Another message arrived while she typed. I know what you're thinking. I'm not one of your fellow scientists.
Then who are you? I don't even know your name!
It's Beaux, was the simple answer.
Oh… that was unexpectedly cute. Êtes-vous français? she asked.
Je suis un bébé éprouvette. Mes donneurs étaient thaïs.
A test-tube baby who was Thai, spoke French, and could hack into River Waters' encrypted personal files just as easily as he invented another version of Chemical Y. Soyen's curiosity was beyond piqued. Okay, I'll make Y-delta for you, she sent.
Thank you. Do you need Dexter's address?
Why would I go to his house?
He has a lab for you to use. It's imperative that you keep everyone you work with at Aegis ignorant of this project.
Her stomach did a little flip-flop at that. The idea of participating in clandestine scientific pursuits with her grade-school crush lent an eagerness to her stride that translated to bouncing in her seat on the bus. She disembarked at Dexter's neighborhood and made a beeline for a cream house with maroon trim. Soyen held her breath until the door opened, releasing it as she exhaled his name. "Dexter, hi!"
"Long time no see, Soyen," he greeted with a little smile. "You look pretty."
"Thanks!" Gosh, he was cute. Catching Dexter in her periphery at the Aegis cafeteria was not the same as being able to appreciate his big brown eyes, freckles, and curly red hair up close. And he'd gotten so tall! Not as tall as the black-haired boy standing behind him, though. "Mandark?" Soyen tried not to gawk, "What're you doing here?"
In his typical monotone, he replied, "I received a request from an omniscient individual to develop some nanites that will survive in your Y-delta solvent."
"Huh?" She blinked. "But I haven't even synthesized it yet!"
"And I haven't reviewed the parameters yet," Mandark said. They both looked at Dexter, who stepped aside to let the girl in. Soyen gave the living room and kitchen a once-over, finding his mom still had the same taste in kitschy decor. "What exactly have the three of us been assembled for?" Mandark wondered. This gathering of a biomechanical engineer, a programmer, and a chemist intrigued him. Dexter gestured for them to follow him down into the basement, which was a lot larger than a normal basement should be.
Soyen grinned. "This must be your famous 'secret lab'," she teased. "You never let me see it when we were kids."
"I didn't trust anyone not to mess with everything I keep down here," he returned, "but if Beaux trusts you, so do I." Dexter stopped in front of a large blank monitor. "They're here," he spoke to no one.
The screen blipped on and Soyen gave a little gasp as Mandark's brow rose. Years of consuming media featuring the Powerpuff Girls had conditioned people to recognize what set them apart from normal humans, the characteristics that made them extraordinary. It was mostly the eyes, not just the preternatural colors but the strength behind them, the faint glow of Chemical X that QLED televisions were particularly keen to display. Soyen had not expected Beaux to be a superhuman as well, but his glowing golden gaze belied his nature. "Y-you're a… a super!" Soyen stammered. "But how? I've never heard of any besides the Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys!"
"I'm one of the ones you haven't heard of," he returned, smirking. "I'm the reason for the Aegis Project, because my very existence threatens the influence of Townsville's elite. But you three…" His eyes landed on Dexter, Soyen, and Mandark, in turn, "…are going to render me a threat no longer."
It was imperative that the supers not waste another day allowing some of the world's most renowned chemists to perfect Professor Utonium's original formula for Chemical Y-α. To that end, all ten of them donned their combat gear and flew over the equator to the state-of-the-art laboratory in Kuwait. Since Beaux lacked flight capabilities he rode pillion with Blaze, his brow furrowing as the footage he actively monitored presented new obstacles.
"Oh, how convenient," he complained over the rushing wind, "our Clarent foes tipped off the locals that an attack on the lab was imminent, so the Kuwaiti military sent some units to establish a perimeter. There are also American soldiers in the mix. They brought a bunch of artillery and anti-aircraft vehicles."
"Convenient, indeed," Brick grouched.
"It'll be fine!" Boomer grinned. "Remember playing 'dodge the RPG' when we lived in Rio?"
"Dodge the… role-playing game?" Bubbles guessed.
Butch barked a laugh. "Dodge the rocket-propelled grenade. The cartels came after us with 'em for burnin' their storehouses to the ground."
Blossom shook her head. "And you made a game out of avoiding missiles?"
Buttercup broke their formation to fly directly beneath Butch, face to face. "I'll give you a hundred bucks if you manage not to get hit by an RPG."
"That's chump change," he scoffed, "gimme a grand."
"A thousand bucks?! Fuck that." She was good for the money, but it wasn't like he even needed it. What could entice Butch to not be his usual reckless self? Buttercup smiled deviously and lowered her voice to a volume for his ears only. "If you don't get blown up or shot by Antix… I'll let you buy me lingerie."
His eyes widened dramatically before narrowing to suspicious slits. "You'll actually wear it?"
"I'll model it just for you," she agreed.
"And lemme take as many pics as I want?"
"As many as your storage can hold." Buttercup held up a hand.
He was surprisingly calm when their palms met. "Deal. I won't get hit by anything."
"Don't jinx yourself," she snickered, resuming their formation.
The laboratory was a bright white building with blacked-out windows situated west of Kuwait City at the edge of the desert. A high concrete wall topped by concertina wire formed the perimeter, with heavily-guarded gates on the east and south sides. American and Kuwaiti military vehicles added another layer of protection, and the mobile artillery started firing as soon as the supers came within range. The initial barrage was easy enough to detonate with projectiles. After that, they spit into three teams: one to exhaust the military's firepower, one to occupy the Clarent personnel, and one to destroy the facility from the inside. However, there was a factor Beaux hadn't accounted for because he'd been ignorant of it until they already engaged the enemy:
They had to contend with psions.
Belle hadn't detected them, either. Unlike the telepath she faced in Siberia who had been actively scanning for her and Blossom, this unit of ten was heavily sedated in order to mask their brainwaves. Once the supers attacked, handlers gave the psions another drug to purge the sedative. It was hard to pinpoint a specific psyche in the midst of battle, but these particular telepaths were some of the best the program had produced. One locked onto Brick's single-minded determination to protect Blossom, instead turning his flames against her.
A fireball interrupted the icicle Blossom launched at an Avenger vehicle, melting before it could pierce. Frowning, she spun toward Brick. "Hey, watch your aim!" He responded by hurling a volley at her. "What's wrong with you?!" Now was not the time to be testing her reflexes! Zipping between the burning orbs, Blossom drew close enough to notice that his movements were jerky and erratic, kind of like a marionette. "Brick?" she called out, and his gaze swiveled toward her without his head following.
"B-Blossom…" he struggled to articulate as the intruding consciousness tried forcing his jaw shut, "Get… get away!" To cement the warning, he lurched toward her with fists ablaze. Blossom easily avoided him, but Brick whirled around and came at her again. She met his fiery punch with an ice-encrusted fist and steam billowed from their clash. Who or whatever had taken control of him resorted to brute strength; in the blink of an eye, Brick had a hand around her throat as they plummeted to the ground. Blossom exhaled frost in his eyes, forcing him to let go before impact. She sped away with him hot on her heels.
"What are you two doing?!" Beaux hissed through their Nervos while watching their pink and red streaks dart across the battlefield. "Stop fucking around! You'll get yourselves killed!"
"Brick's been possessed!" Blossom returned, because that was the only way she could explain his behavior at the moment.
"Possessed? Oh, fuck me sideways." From his position atop a dune, Beaux scanned the building through Argyris' scope, locating a female figure clad in a sleek, silver bodysuit and a mechanical visor standing atop the roof. She faced Brick and Blossom's skirmish with one of her arms extended toward the former, her fingers twitching minutely as she directed his actions. "Son of a bitch," he bit out, squeezing the trigger to sever her connection. Beaux then announced through everyone's Nervos, "Morbucks sent psions to stop us!"
"How should we deal with them?" Bliss asked, barreling through an artillery vehicle with a ballistic shield she wrested from a soldier. A spectacular explosion followed in her wake.
"A good zap should do it." He paused. "That's your cue, Blues."
"On it," Boomer acknowledged. His cobalt eyes swiftly scanned the combat zone for Bubbles and, spotting a flash of lightning on the opposite side of the lab, he zigzagged through a hail of missiles and bullets to reach her. "We gotta bring the rain, Sugar." Bubbles simply nodded and they flew to the roof, crouching to avoid drawing fire. "Should we try Thunderburst?"
"Yeah, let's do it!" she agreed. Closing her eyes, she drew energy down from the atmosphere while Boomer briskly rubbed his palms together to generate a powerful spark. Lightning required a conduit to travel, so they had theorized that it might be possible to use one another to conduct and amplify their respective static and atmospheric electricity. There was a possibility the charges would be uneven and one of them would get hurt, but after interlacing their hands and honing in on the transfer and reception of ions, a wholly foreign sensation arose. Bubbles dared to crack an eye open, gasping. "Omigod, you're glowing!"
"So are you," Boomer grinned back. Brilliant, incandescent plasma illuminated their very cells. "Ready?" Bubbles nodded. "On three. One… two…"
They took an equidistant step away from each other, fingers outspread. "Three!" Bubbles discharged all the charged particles accumulated in her body at the same time as Boomer, directing them through her hands. A blinding white orb coalesced between them, shoving them backwards with its sudden existence, and hung in the air. The orb was so bright that it overtook the light of the midday sun. It didn't crackle or give off sparks, humming with power.
The sounds of battle faded as everyone, including the supers, averted their eyes from the laboratory or turned their back on it. "You guys might wanna take cover," Boomer suggested to his teammates. Several colorful streaks descended to the ground. "Do the honors, love?" Bubbles giggled, curtsied, and punched the orb.
It exploded with a sound like the sky splitting open, a horrendous peal of thunder shaking the earth for miles in every direction. Countless bolts of lightning arced straight down to the building and lanced through it with more intensity than the laser Bliss had used to blast through Morbucks' secret lab. All the glass shattered, steel I-beams crackled, electronics overloaded, and anyone in proximity to metal vanished as ungodly amounts of voltage surged through their bodies. Almost three-quarters of the opposition had been taken out in an instant, and there was now a convenient access point into the lab since the upper two stories had been blasted to smithereens.
"Is everyone alive?" Beaux inquired. He received nine confirmations. "Belle, how many psions can you sense now?"
"Four," she answered.
Still too many. "If you could draw them outside for us to pick off, that'd be great."
"I'll try." Uncertainty laced her telepathic tone.
The American and Kuwaiti soldiers were in total disarray. Conflicting orders to retreat or engage reached Brick's ears as he realized his mind and body were his own again. Upon pushing himself upright, he regarded the alien landscape in confusion until recognizing the vitrified formations as fulgurites. Must've been Bubbles' and Boomer's doing. A flash of matte black body armor caught his eye and he hunkered down to observe a squad of Clarent mercenaries moving northeast. A shout from Blaze reached his ears, the mercs broke into a run, and Brick followed them, his palms growing hot in preparation to unleash hellfire. Sticking his head around the corner of the laboratory, he observed two squads firing Dow and Antix rounds at a wall of ice. Blossom positioned herself between the mercs and Blaze, who had taken a shotgun blast straight to the face, bleeding from peppered wounds on his head and neck.
Brick breathed a gout of fire at the soldiers' feet, dashing to Blaze's side while they swore and danced away; the sand ensured his flames didn't last long, though. Blossom spared him a brief, grateful glance as he freed one of the Chemical W syringes from its bandolier, jamming it directly into Blaze's carotid artery. Within moments, his wounds healed and the pain abated. "Thanks, you two," Blaze said. "Can you make a smokescreen to get us out of here?"
"Sure thing." Brick planted his hands on the frozen wall and radiated heat from his fingertips once Blossom stopped generating ice. Cracks appeared before the crystalline matrix exploded outward in a plume of white powder, obfuscating Clarent.
The three supers retreated out of range to the exposed fourth floor of the lab where they came face to face with a psion. Blaze didn't think twice before punching them square in the chest, sending them flying into an exposed steel pipe. Their cry of pain summoned him the next moment, sounding suspiciously like Bliss. Her glitchy illusion confirmed it; Blaze gathered her in his arms, guilt-ridden. "Sis? Are you okay?"
"I… ngh…" Bliss couldn't communicate clearly with the telepath's claws in her mind and her ribs trying to heal, her appearance shifting rapidly and erratically like a broken monitor.
Blaze laid her flat on the floor and cast his thoughts toward their sister. "Belle, can you drive the psion out of Bliss?"
A voice that was not hers replied, "Belle? Is that Tvaer's name now?"
"Who are—"
Brick and Blossom shared a concerned look when Blaze's arms abruptly hung limp at his sides, and they tensed as he stood up robotically. The next instant, the two of them lunged forward to stop him from delivering a crushing blow to Bliss's prone form. Blossom grabbed his arm and pulled him away with all her might while Brick put him in a chokehold. "Fight them, Blaze!" Blossom pleaded, "Fight back! You wouldn't hurt your own sister!"
"Snap out of it!" Brick spat.
Blaze threw them off with his phenomenal strength. The Reds went careening through the air, right out into the open where the subdued sound of Antix bullets being fired from polymer guns reached their ears. Instinctively, Brick wreathed them in flame to melt the incoming rounds, but his fire sputtered out as something cut off its oxygen supply. He relaxed when he realized they'd been enclosed in a green sphere, and they took cover behind a charred Avenger.
"The fuck's goin' on around here?" Butch demanded. Buttercup hovered at his side. "We just saw Blaze throw you guys to Clarent, Bliss didn't have our backs like she said she would, and we haven't heard a peep from Belle!"
"Or even seen her," Buttercup added.
"It's the fucking telepaths," Brick relayed, "they must've taken over the Quads." Which made sense for subduing the other supers. "Where are Bubbles and Boomer?"
"Here!" they answered in unison, appearing in a flash. "Belle went into the lab through the hole our Thunderburst made," Bubbles added.
"By herself?" Blossom gaped. "That's too foolish!"
Buttercup spoke into her Nervo, "You still alive, Beaux?"
"Yes," he answered through gritted teeth. "I've been shocking myself with a taser every time I feel one of those brainwashed freaks trying to get into my head. They weren't supposed to be here. I'm not sure…" A long pause. "If they took control of my siblings, I don't know what to do."
"We squash them, obviously," Boomer stated. "If they're using the building as cover, we bring down the fucking building. Easy."
"It's not that easy if my siblings have been weakened with Antidote W," Beaux countered.
Blossom mulled it over. "But they wouldn't be if the psions plan to use Belle, Blaze, and Bliss against us."
A groan of frustration reached their ears. "Fine, bring it down. But make it snappy– I'm running low on ammo."
The Puffs and Ruffs didn't have to confer among themselves to conclude that Buttercup was best suited for reducing entire buildings to rubble in short order. First they had to find a structural support inside the laboratory, a feat that proved easier said than done since Clarent had positioned themselves to defend each main entrance and Blaze hovered ominously above the fourth floor. They opted to move toward the southern ingress since it was closest, defended by Butch's vast shield. Blossom, Boomer, Brick, and Bubbles took out the mercenaries barring their path, then Blossom engaged Blaze when he swooped in behind them, glassy-eyed and twitchy since his psychic puppeteer struggled to properly utilize his impressive strength.
Upon reaching a stairwell leading to the subterranean levels, Bliss snuck up on them disguised as Blossom. A shock from Boomer dispelled her camouflage, and he too stayed behind to prevent her from impeding their mission. Brick then left to see if Blossom or Boomer needed backup. Now taking point, Bubbles held out an arm to halt Butch and Buttercup when a strange sensation came over her. The air felt… distorted. "Why'd we stop?" Butch asked.
"Don't you feel that?" Bubbles returned. "It's like atmospheric pressure, but coming from everywhere at once." The sensation unsettled her and she was unsure if they should proceed. She rotated to confer with the Greens and Buttercup gasped. "Wh-what?"
"Your nose is bleeding," her sister informed. Bubbles dabbed at her nose, frowning, and Buttercup abruptly went rigid. "Hold on, I feel something now. It's almost like—"
She would have said "harmonic resonance" if the corridor hadn't caved in just then. Butch raised his arms to strengthen the apex of his domed shield as immense pressure bore down on them. "It's not lettin' up!" he exclaimed, breaking out in a sweat. The tile beneath his feet spiderwebbed.
"It must be psychic pressure," Bubbles reasoned. She craned her neck to peer skyward through the other demolished stories. Belle hovered overhead in the remnants of the cafeteria, and she was surrounded by three silver-suited psions. "Belle!" Bubbles called, "Are you okay?!"
"Kill them," came her weak response. "Defending their leader…" The trio saw that she bled from her nose, ears, and eyes as the result of trying to fend off a three-pronged assault. Without hesitation, Bubbles opened her mouth and gave a sonic scream. The telepaths clamped their hands over their ears, allowing the Greens to deliver fatal blows. Belle crumpled to the ground with them, drawing in heaving breaths and rubbing her temples. "There's one more," she tried to say, but Bubbles' cry of fright drowned her out. An invisible force yanked the blonde across the room, suspending her in place, then a man wearing a white bodysuit and no visor floated through the gaping hole in the wall. Blaze, Bliss, Brick, Boomer, and Blossom drifted in after him, lining up like marionettes about to put on a stage show.
Buttercup and Butch drew up their fists, taut as coils as they stood defensively before Belle. Whoever this particular psion was, he had to be incredibly powerful to maintain control over six superhumans simultaneously. Deafening silence reigned until Belle swiped away the crimson tracks on her face and rose to her feet, projecting false calmness to assuage the Greens.
Their opponent was someone Belle met once as a child, if being told to invade his mind constituted a meeting between psychics. David Kerr, now age twenty-seven, had been plucked from the foster system after his father went to prison for vehicular homicide. David caused the accident by throwing a tantrum; he'd been too young and mentally overdeveloped to express himself, and the man died of pneumonia behind bars. No one cared what happened to David, making him an ideal subject for the psychic soldier program in Nevada. Ironically, he hadn't been particularly gifted until that day Belle read his existence as easily as Goodnight Moon. After she departed the facility, the boy vowed to become strong enough to make her feel as helpless as she had left him.
David stared right past Butch and Buttercup to smile at Belle. "Your siblings and friends all told me your name isn't 'Tvaer' anymore," he said.
"It was never my name, just a number," she replied.
"Well, your new name is fitting. Pulling images from someone's mind is never as satisfying as seeing something with your own eyes. You sure are a pretty thing." He came closer, his pale green eyes shifting from Belle to Buttercup and back again. "Morbucks and Professor Newtronium are keen to have you back. If you agree to come with me to Townsville without making a fuss, I'll let the Rowdyruffs live." Butch grit his teeth hard enough to crack a molar, but he didn't notice. David did and, with a sadistic sneer, began turning his brother's necks to snap them in slow motion.
"We will go home to Townsville," Buttercup declared, stopping him, "but it won't be with you, and it won't be to either of those entitled fucks."
David gave her his undivided attention. She glared right back, challenging him to just try getting in her head, yet as soon as she felt his will creeping along her psyche, Belle cut him off like an axe severing his fingers. His lips separated into a grin, and his array of superhuman puppets moved forward to assume offensive stances. "Two versus six. The odds are in my favor."
Belle decided to take a gamble, then, on what little she'd discerned about the man thus far. She lifted her chin to look down her nose at him and slid her lower lip forward in a condescending pout. "I do not need anyone to fight for me."
Impotent rage flashed across David's countenance, and with a wave of his hand, the supers under his influence dropped to the ground, unconscious. "Just you and me, then. You," he pointed at Butch, "put a shield around us. If you or the Puff try to interfere, I will hurt you."
Belle stepped past Butch, looking over her shoulder. "Do as he requests," she said aloud, relaying a mental image at the same time. "Can you form the shield like this?"
She wanted him to encapsulate the psychics in a cubical space with particularly angled walls. "I dunno if I can shape it that way…"
"Please try." Butch steeled himself while projecting a barrier around Belle and David. A cube took shape as he bent and canted his fingers at different angles, directing his energy to flow in the same way. Manipulating it to stop and change direction multiple times was taxing, and he visibly shook from the effort of doing something he'd never attempted before. "Perfect. Try to hold this shape."
Buttercup put a hand on one of his quaking shoulders. "You got this," she uttered, and Butch grunted his appreciation for her vote of confidence.
The Puff was part of Belle's plan, too. "You must resonate with my psionic frequency," she requested of Buttercup. "You will detect David's as well, but you must ignore it. Focus solely on my brainwave pattern."
"I can't resonate with something without touching it," Buttercup refuted.
"I know you can!" Belle insisted. "If you were able to resonate with the planet's orbital frequency, you can match that of my mind!"
Scowling, Buttercup closed her eyes and attempted to tune in to the frequencies with the cube, then she had the bright idea to place her palms on it. An odd tingling sensation seeped through her fingertips; she couldn't tell if it was the nearly imperceptible buzz of Butch actively altering his electromagnetic field, or the psychic waves reverberating within the barrier. After another few minutes of receiving the strange vibration, Buttercup determined it was the clash between David's and Belle's mental patterns. But which was which? If she harmonized with the wrong frequency, Belle could die. Inadequacy welled up before Buttercup tamped down that useless emotion. She just had to think; Belle wouldn't ask her to do the impossible. Her hands shifted along the barrier until bumping into another, sweatier pair, and the shock of physical contact sparked her eureka moment.
Butch was confused when she laced her fingers gently between his own. "What're you doin'?" he questioned, voice ragged.
"Tracing Belle's energy through you," she whispered back. Butch hummed his comprehension, and if David happened to spare them a moment of his attention, hopefully he would only see her giving Butch a supportive hug. But soon enough, the walls started wobbling. One of the two vibrations grew dissonant, and a strangled cry rang out. The Greens' pulses spiked until processing that it'd been a masculine shout, not feminine, so they dared to peek at David. His eyes were bloodshot as he clutched at his temples, digging his nails in as if trying to excavate his own brain. Just as abruptly, he stopped moving and slumped to his knees, falling face-first onto the floor.
"You can lower the shield now," Belle spoke.
Butch gladly did so, staggering from exhaustion. Buttercup slipped his arm over her shoulders to keep him upright. "Is he… dead?"
"Yes," Belle answered simply. "Aneurysm." Receiving curious looks, she elaborated, "The structure of Butch's shield amplified my delta wave pattern while causing our waves to flow in perpetuity. Once you began resonating with me, we overcame David's theta frequency. The strain of attempting to disrupt that pattern was too much to physically handle."
"So we're safe now, right?" Belle nodded, then Butch and Buttercup made their way to their siblings, who had begun to stir.
Boomer sat up, rubbing his head. "Ugh, what happened? I totally blacked out." Blaze seconded his confusion.
"A very talented psychic was in command of your faculties," Belle informed the others. Her gaze landed on the gap in the wall just as Beaux climbed through it, heaving a pent-up sigh of relief.
"Thank god, you all survived. I debated coming in after you, but then I thought I should hang back just in case—" Bliss cut him off by embracing him in a bear hug, eliciting muffled protests. Just when Beaux wriggled free, Blaze trapped him from behind, and Belle further prevented his escape. "Knock it off! Let me go!" He was laughing, though. "We still need to deal with the Chemical Y!"
The city of Townsville was burning.
The blaze was not the result of a malicious act. Firefighters, police officers, and natural disaster responders worked quickly to funnel magma into Bismuth Bay, sparing the majority of the metropolis. Unfortunately, a lot of combustible materials awaited export in the industrial shipping district, such as coal, natural gas, and lumber. The heat of the magma first ignited the natural gas, then a chain of explosions erupted along the western edge of the city.
Mayor Sara Bellum had things well in-hand; after all, she'd organized most of the disaster relief efforts in the wake of the Powerpuff Girls' epic monster battles since the previous mayor had been incompetent as fuck. Sara and the citizens of Townsville thought those days of being menaced by mutants were long behind them, never to occur again, but they had not counted on Maximilian Morbucks bringing an unregulated source of Chemical X into their fair city in the form of his Clarent personnel's Chemix ammunition.
All it took was for one unfortunate crook scavenging Morbucks' lab to be caught by someone on security duty. He was shot in the leg by Antix, and before he knew it, he'd morphed into a large, scaly, serpentine creature. The mercenary called for backup as the creature fled to the volcano on instinct, seeking warmth, but all it got were more doses of Antix before it burrowed to safety in the magma chamber deep within the earth. There, the creature underwent further mutation and reemerged from the mouth of the volcano as a titanic beast. Only its head, neck, and forelegs were exposed, and it didn't act aggressively toward the city. A news crew keeping tabs on the beast from their helicopter relayed that it had fallen asleep after getting comfortable in the volcano. Due to its enormous size, it displaced magma from the chamber through the tunnel it dug, so it hadn't intentionally caused a catastrophe.
Still, Blossom's cryokinesis would've prevented the blaze from spreading so rapidly.
"Where is Blossom?" several people among those assembled outside City Hall inquired of Mayor Bellum. "For that matter, where are any of the Powerpuff Girls?"
"Yeah! Where are they? I haven't seen them around town at all!"
A few of the Aspis Club members were among the throng who had fled to City Hall for safety. Mike cupped his hands around his mouth to stage-whisper, "They disappeared after Mister Morbucks took over Project X."
Murmurs arose, and Mayor Bellum appeared caught off-guard. "I… I didn't know that," she said, scanning the crowd. "Who said that?" Mike didn't answer her, slinking away.
"Wasn't it Mister Morbucks' soldiers who turned that poor man into a dragon?" Robin spoke loudly.
The volume of the throng increased exponentially at that. "Yeah, it was! They shot him with something like Chemical X!"
"But it can't be Chemical X," someone asserted, "because Professor Utonium's the only person who knows how to make it."
Silence pervaded until another person piped up. "Y'know, I haven't seen John at Malph's lately."
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen him dropping off or picking up the Girls at Townsville High!" a woman exclaimed. "And we're a month in!"
Mike and Robin convened at the rear of the crowd where the former threw his voice a little. "So Utonium's missing, the Powerpuffs are missing, and Max Morbucks has soldiers all over Townsville armed with Chemical X weapons that can turn people into monsters."
Robin also pitched her voice lower. "And wasn't it Morbucks' secret lab that got blown up last month?"
Another beat of silence rang out. "What kinda shenanigans are goin' on 'round here?"
Mayor Bellum held up her hands to placate the increasingly-agitated crowd. "I can assure you that I have no knowledge of or involvement in that man's personal endeavors."
"Maybe we should go knock on the door of his mansion and ask!" someone suggested.
"Please, we can't form an angry mob…" But the people were already walking off en masse toward the block of opulent mansions near Bonsai Gardens. The mayor only hesitated a moment before coming down the steps to join them.
Robin and Mike exchanged a triumphant look, heading the opposite direction to Floyd and Lloyd's SUV inconspicuously parked across from the high-rise apartment complex where Julie and Wes lived. The four of them, plus Mitch and Susie, were already waiting in the SUV. If Dexter were not preoccupied by something of the utmost importance, he would've made one body too many to fit in the vehicle. The Aspis Club merged with the line of traffic trying to cross the Bay Bridge into Citiesville. A coastal breeze had blown the industrial district fire smoke into the metro, prompting citizens to flee for clearer air. But the eight teens had another destination in mind.
They turned left onto the block dominated by Evergreen Tower. Floyd lowered the window to put in the gate code, 37519, which Blossom used to gain access to the Rowdyruff's penthouse and set up their surprise party once upon a time. The Aspis Club parked in the underground garage and made their way onto the elevator, dressed to the nines. The doors opened to dispense them in the lobby where no one batted an eyelash at their sudden arrival; they were clearly going to one of the "dragon apocalypse parties" that wealthy teens had posted invites to all over social media when the fires started. Another gilded elevator required the five-digit code before it ascended to the top floor. There, two Clarent soldiers sat in the hallway playing cards. The fact that their pistols were holstered was fortuitous for the Aspis Club.
Everyone removed earplugs from their pockets and put them in, then Mitch withdrew a homemade flashbang from his suit jacket and chucked it down the corridor. "What the?!" was all the mercs got out before it went off. Lloyd ran up on them to deal precision blows to their jaws. He waited a moment to ensure they'd been rendered unconscious before gesturing for his friends to proceed. While he and Floyd hauled the soldiers onto the elevator and up to the roof, Wes used their procured keys to unlock the heavy lead-lined door to the suite, which swung soundlessly inward.
All the lights were off, so Julie took out her phone to illuminate the penthouse. It appeared pristine, if a bit stale. "Professor?" Robin softly called out, "Professor Utonium?" Something thumped on the floor overhead, startling the teens. Susie flicked on a table lamp and they watched, tense, as a set of footsteps appeared on the landing.
"Who… who's there?" came a man's raspy voice.
Julie inched closer to the stairs, shining her flashlight up them. "Professor?"
He raised a hand to shield his eyes, wincing. "Do I… know you?"
"We'd hope so," Mike replied, grinning. "We're your daughters' friends!"
At the bottom of the steps, with more light on him, they could see that Professor Utonium was rather haggard and partway to emaciation. "Jesus, what happened to you?" Mitch asked, reaching for the man. He looked like he'd collapse any minute.
John tried to smile. "Maximilian hasn't been the most generous jailer."
"You'll be okay, Professor," Wes assured. "We're getting you home." Floyd and Lloyd returned, the latter disguising John with his blazer and a pair of sunglasses before they supported him onto the elevator and through the lobby, making a ruckus about how lame the party was and how much better the next one would be. After situating John in the front seat of the SUV, Mitch retrieved a well-worn metal bat from the rear of the vehicle and bid his friends farewell. He had some hooligan shit to go do while the risk of being busted for destruction of public property was low, since the cops were occupied by more pressing matters.
Mike and Robin got out with John at the Utonium residence. Even though it'd been abandoned for over a month, the property didn't look neglected at all. John regarded the yard and hedges in confusion. "How come the grass isn't overgrown?" His perception of the passage of time had been skewed while in captivity. He didn't have his phone, he hadn't been able to turn on the radio or televisions in the penthouse, and there were no other devices or even a paper calendar to indicate the date.
Mike sheepishly raised his hand. "I cut it using Robin's push mower."
"We tried to keep it neat and clean," she elaborated, "'cause we didn't want anyone to come snooping around. But once we realized what happened to you and the Girls, I went in and locked all the doors and windows."
John blinked at her, an exhausted smile turning his lips. "I wasn't aware you knew where we keep the spare key." Robin nodded, blushing slightly, as he made his way over to the second of the three shrubs planted between the front door and the living room window. Beneath it was a false rock that yielded a key. John's finger shook as he turned it in the deadbolt and the doorknob, stepping into his own home that felt entirely too stagnant. He turned around at the threshold to smile at Mike and Robin. "Thank you. I'll be sure to keep a low profile in case…" He drew in a deep breath. "In case Maximilian comes looking for me again."
"Do you have home protection? Like… a gun or something?" Mike wondered.
"Ah, no, nothing like that…" He'd never even considered owning a firearm since he had three superhuman daughters to protect their home and each other. "I can barricade myself in my lab. Those soldiers won't be getting through the blast door easily."
Robin hummed. "Alright. Stay safe, Professor. If you need anything, I'm right next door. You can even toss me a note from Bubbles' bedroom window."
"Is that so?" Now he knew why his daughters never took being grounded as a serious punishment.
She blushed and toed the ground. "Err, um, yeah… I may have aided and abetted the Girls on more than one occasion."
John reached for her hand, clasping it between his own. His expression was beyond relieved. "Thank you for aiding and abetting this old scientist. Tell all your friends… my Girls' friends… that I'm grateful for them, too."
He shook Mike's hand as well, the boy's visage one of determination and hope. "The Powerpuff Girls will be back any day now, I just know it. They'll be home with you soon."