"Here, you should eat something before we start," the man who kidnapped her said, holding a tray of food. It contained a glass of water, a ham and cheese sandwich, and an apple. Ivy rubbed the indentions on her wrists where the rope dug into her skin before he released her, and eyed the meal suspiciously.

"I'm good, thanks," she said, shaking her head. A wry grin appeared on his face.

"It's not poisoned, I promise."

She raised an eyebrow at him, making no move to take the food. In response, he tore off a piece of the sandwich and popped it into his mouth.

"See?" he pointed to his stuffed mouth. "Besides, how would you be able to hack into Professor Utonium's computer if you were dead?"

"Are you saying I should trust in the sanity and logic of a supervillain holding me against my will?"

The man shrugged. "Mojo is brutal, but he's not stupid. And anyway," he continued. "You'll do well to have something to fill you up before you start. We're not sure how long it will take, and Mojo will not hesitate to throw us both out the window if he catches you eating in his lab."

Ivy eyed the man carefully. Now that she had a better look at him, he was even younger than she originally thought, in his early to mid twenties. He had dark, curly hair and deep brown eyes that lit up easily with mirth.

"What's your name?" she asked him.

His eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"Your name," she repeated. "You know mine, and if I had to guess a fair bit more than that. Isn't it only fair that I know yours?"

He hesitated for a moment. "Javier," he said. My name's Javier."

"Javier," she repeated, regarding him carefully. She could tell he wasn't lying, and even though it was a small thing and her mind was telling her to wait, she decided to take a chance with the food. She took the tray and sat down on the chair, and took a small bite of the sandwich.

"How did you come to work for someone like Mojo, Javier?" she asked him.

He stiffened. He looked off to the side and shrugged his shoulders. "It pays better than McDonald's."

She snorted. "Yeah, though I doubt chloroform and kidnapping is a part of the job description of your average fry cook."

A small smile appeared on his face before it quickly faded. "It's not what I dreamed of doing with my life as a little boy, but we all gotta do what we got to do."

"But do you have to?" Ivy asked him. "Really?"

"If I want to go to college," he said. "If I want to give my brother a better life than I had."

Ivy regarded him carefully. "Look," she said. "Me and a few of my former coworkers are working on building a business. If you let me go, I can get you a job. A good job."

Javier glanced around nervously. "I'm sorry Ms. Ingleberry," he said. "But I can't do that."

"You can call me Ivy," she corrected. "Listen, you seem like a decent person. You really want to spend god knows how long at Mojo's mercy? He won't hesitate to kill you or throw you under the bus if this ends badly."

He gave her a sad smile. "Once you find yourself under Mojo's thumb, there's no getting out from under. Your brother and his friends are quickly finding that out for themselves."

Ivy looked back down at her tray before setting it on the floor.

"I'm going to ask you something Javier, and I want you to be honest with me," she got up off the chair, and stood in front of him. He was a head and a half taller than her, and she had to strain her neck to look him in the eyes.

"What are the chances that me and my brother are both going to get out of this alive?"

He regarded her for only a second before turning his attention toward Ivy's tray. "Are you done with that?"

She stared at him blankly for a moment. "What?"

"I'll let Mojo know you're ready to get to work," he walked past her and picked up the tray. He opened the cell door and locked it behind him, leaving Ivy alone.


Mojo felt himself begin to droop off to sleep at his desk before a knock on the door jolted him awake.

"What is it?" he snapped.

The door opened, revealing a hesitant looking Javier. "Mr. Mojo, Ivy is ready to begin."

"Right, yes," Mojo shook himself awake and forced himself to stand up. "The sooner we deal with this problem, the sooner I can enact my plan to take over Townsville in full."

Despite his better judgment, Mojo was forced to take painkillers, strong painkillers at a much higher dosage than he knew was wise in order to get rid of the head splitting migraine that almost made him wish his head was no longer attached to his body.

Fortunately, his migraine was gone. Much less fortunately, the medication had the side effect of making him so tired he could barely stand.

He could see that concerned look on that insufferable bodyguard of his face, and he scowled.

"Do you have something to say, Javier?"

"N-No," he hesitiated. "It's just… it's just that-"

"It's just what? Spit it out, boy! If you have something to say, you might as well be upfront, straightforward, and forthright about it. Instead of all this beating around the bush and pathetic wishy-washyness."

"Are you okay?" Javier asked.

"What a stupid question!" Mojo snapped. "Why are you wasting my time with such ridiculous, pointless dribble?"

"Well sir," he said. "It looked as if you were about to pass out-"

"I will not dignify that with a response," Mojo said. "Bring Ms. Ingleberry to my lab immediately. I will meet you both there after I gather a few essentials."

Without another word, Javier left. Once the door was closed behind him, Mojo turned his attention to the communication device around his wrist. With how his mind was going, he feared it was act now or never.

He waited a moment as the communication device buzzed, before the green skinned showed up on the screen.

"Sanford," he said simply. "It is now time to enact stage one of the plan."


Snake was no stranger to anxiety. In fact, one might even say he was quite familiar with the emotion.

But at that moment, he realized that he had never felt true, existential terror to the level he was experiencing at that moment. Not when he was a kid, waiting for his father to get home and find out about him sneaking out with Ace, not any of the many, many times the Powerpuff girls beat him and his friends within an inch of their lives in their teenage years, and not even when his own father held a knife to his throat threatening to kill him. No, this was something else entirely.

When Mojo's bodyguard told him that the plan was to have him kill the Mayor and Ace all along, his initial reaction was to freak out.

"What?!" He exclaimed.

The man looked at him, pained. "I just repeat what I'm told," he said. "Mojo thinks Ace is too risky to keep around."

"That'sss- that'sss ridiculousss!" Snake hissed. "Letsss me ssspeak to Mojo! I needsss to ssspeak to him!"

"Like I said, he's busy at the moment," The man stood guard in front of the door. It was just then that Snake noticed a small pistol at his hip. For a moment, he contemplated pushing through him anyway.

"I'm not doing it then," he threw the duffel bag at the man's feet. "If we're all gonna die anywaysss, tell Mojo to find a new lackey." As he began to storm off, he heard the man's voice behind him.

"I don't think that would be a good idea-"

"Yeah? Well I don'tsss give a fuck what yousss think."

"What about your sister?"

At this, Snake stopped. "I'll figure sssomething out."

"Look," he heard the man walk up to him. "Mojo has no plans to hurt her, not really. As long as you both cooperate she'll be fine. She's useful to him. But if you don't? He's going to go after her, and the rest of your friends, maybe even track down your parents too. He'll make you watch. We've both seen what he's capable of."

"So you just want me to agree to commit a terrorist attack, and kill the most important person in my life?"

The man hesitated. With a glance, he picked up the duffle bag and pulled his phone out of his pocket, and pushed them to the side.

"Do you have a cellphone?"

"No."

"Good," the man grabbed his shoulder and walked him a few hundred feet away.

"Mojo could have us chipped for all I know, but this is the best we're gonna get," he whispered. "If you want my advice, play along for now. Assuming Mojo sticks to his schedule, you're going to get a call from a communication device in that bag in less than a half hour," he said. "Answer it and play along. Do as he tells you. After everything is done, I'll send an anonymous call to City Hall about a bomb threat. I have a burner phone I can use. No one will get hurt, and it will buy you some time. But you don't want to mess with Mojo, not right now. He's… not himself."

Snake looked at him, puzzled. "Not himself?"

"He's sick," he said. "He thinks HIM did something. But he's been unstable, less controlled."

Snake gave the man a long look. "And why should I believe you?"

The man smirked. "I don't see how you have any other choice, if you don't want anyone to die."

So despite his better judgment, there he sat, with Mojo's communication device around his wrist, waiting for instructions.

A moment later, the wristband buzzed, and Mojo's face appeared on screen.

"Sanford," he said. "It is now time to enact stage one of the plan."

Snake noticed right away that Mojo's bodyguard was right, something about Mojo was off. The simian's black fur was wild and messy, looking as if he hadn't showered in a few days. His eyes were bloodshot, with thick bags underneath.

Snake sighed. "What do you want me to do?"

"Inside the bag that Javier has provided for you, you will find a disguise. This will alter your appearance to the point of being completely unrecognizable."

Snake unzipped the bag and, when he saw the "disguise," he was less than impressed.

"It's just a pair of glasses," he said.

Mojo gave him one of his evil grins. "That is what it appears to be with an untrained eye. But there is more to it than meets first glance. Much, much more." He paused before continuing.

"The glasses are a cloaking device, invented by none other than me, Mojo Jojo. Once activated, they will make you appear to be a different person altogether."

Suspiciously, Snake put the glasses on and walked over toward a puddle in the ground. To his shock, his reflection and all the features that he loved and hated and that made him him had disappeared. Instead, the reflection he saw looking back at him was of a nondescript man in his thirties with brown hair, and brown eyes.

"As of now you are Jeremy Sullivan, world famous pickle salesman who has just gotten back from Panipat, India," Mojo interrupted his thoughts. "And you, world famous entrepreneur, are visiting this so-called "great city" to share your exquisite product with the Mayor of Townsville, the world's biggest pickle fan. You are to focus all of your attention on the Mayor, that is, ignore all of his underlings. For they are, relatively at least, sharper of sense and have no love for pickles." Mojo said.

"If any of the staff try to stop you, you tell him whatever you need to. That this is a once in a lifetime offer, that you will try the mayor of Citiesville instead if he isn't interested. Whatever you do, you do not take no for an answer. After all," Mojo smirked. "Your sister's life is on the line."

Snake's hands balled into fists.

"I will give you an hour to get in and get out. That is, sixty minutes, or three thousand and six hundred seconds. I expect you to report back to me immediately. Once you leave City Hall, get to a secure location, and set off the bombs. As soon as the Mayor is destroyed, and only after the Mayor is destroyed, I will release your sister safe and sound. Otherwise-"

"You don't have to tell me again," Snake snapped. At Mojo's scowl, he took a deep breath, calming his nerves. "By the end of the day, the mayor will be dead. You have my word."


When Ivy was led from the dark cell to Mojo's lab, she wasn't quite sure what she expected to see. Severed heads in jars, guns, and massive weapons of destruction all crossed her mind as possibilities.

As it turned out, only two out of the three were correct.

"Greetings, Ms. Ingleberry," Mojo smirked up at her. Despite the fact that the simian was nearly a foot and a half shorter than her, she still felt unnerved. He gestured over toward the right wall, pointing toward a massive computer.

"As you are well aware, you are brought here to this very room for one very specific purpose. I require your assistance in getting through to the database of Professor Utonium."

Ivy looked over at the computer, which took up nearly half of the wall, along with a control center that looked more complicated than anything she had seen before. What Mojo wanted her to do would take time, and possibly more time than he was willing to wait. Trying her best to keep her trepidation off of her face, she turned to Mojo with a cool expression.

"Yes, I am aware of why you brought me here," she said. "I don't know why you want me to get into Professor Utonium's database, or what you plan to do with the information once I get it. Regardless, I will do it for you; but I want some reassurance first."

Mojo rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. I will allow you to leave and go back to your boring life once you finish this task, provided that you do it correctly and to my liking, and your brother follows his end of the bargain."

"And my brother? What about my brother?"

Mojo scowled. "Your brother and his friends will be dealt with according to how I see fit."

"What exactly is the so-called mission you sent him on?" Ivy asked. "I love my brother, but if I'm being honest; I don't think there's much he could do for you that you couldn't do yourself."

"That is none of your concern!" He snapped. "Your brother accepted my help knowing that it came with a price, and now he is paying the price that I, Mojo Jojo, have decided!"

Ivy straightened her shoulders and tried her best to imagine Mojo as a particularly tough potential investor that she needed to convince rather than an unhinged supervillain. If her father had taught her one thing, it was how to stand her ground when making a deal.

"I'll make this as clear as I can," she said. "You will tell me exactly what you're forcing my brother to do and assure his safety along with my own before I do a single thing for you."

Ivy saw Javier giving her an anxious look off to the side, but she did her best to ignore him. Mojo's face turned red in anger.

"You think you can tell me what to do?" he fumed. "You think that you, a helpless little girl who's completely at my mercy, can order me, Mojo Jojo, to do your bidding? That you set the terms and conditions of this deal?!" He shook his head.

"No, you are going to do as you're told. That is, the task that I have specifically assigned for you; that is, getting into the Professor's computer and extracting the Powerpuff Girls' medical records. Otherwise-"

"You'll kill me?" she asked. "But you can't, can you? Not until I do what you need. Not while you still need me alive as bait," she said, her confidence slowly rising. "And to be honest, I don't know why you can't just hack into Professor Utonium's computer yourself, but for some reason you can't and thus, you need me to do it."

"Ms. Ingleberry, I wouldn't…" she faintly heard Javier beside her, but most of her focus was on Mojo. If he was any redder he would look like a tomato, and for a second she worried that she overplayed her hand.

"Listen," she said in a coaxing voice. "All I want is to ensure mine and my brother's safety. As long as I know we'll all be safe, I'll do whatever you need me to do-"

But it was too late. Her words did nothing to calm down the enraged Mojo and if anything, only made his rage worse.

He let out an inhuman sounding, ear-piercing screech before falling to the ground and twitching. Saliva poured from his mouth, and for a moment, Javier and Ivy stood in the lab, stunned.

"Sir?" Javier asked hesitantly. He walked over toward him, but kept himself out of arm's reach.

"Is he having a seizure?" Ivy asked.

"It looks like it," he said, looking at him slightly concerned. "He said that HIM had poisoned him…" he trailed off.

"What should we do?" Ivy asked. "Or… should we do anything?"

But before Javier could answer, Mojo fell limp, and his eyes shut.


If there was one way being in hiding improved Ace for the better, it was the fact that he must've taken more showers in the last few weeks than he had in his entire life combined. And that was for one reason and one reason only: it was the only way he could get some alone time.

And that was precisely the reason why he decided to take one that morning.

After his impulsive decision to have sex with Snake the night before, he knew he had to do whatever it took to get away from Snake's batting eyes and actually think.

It wasn't the first time he had sex without thinking it through, though it was the first time he did it with a guy. And not just any guy, but his best friend.

It's been way too long since I got any action, he told himself. Snake was always at his best when he let his mischievous side come out, and watching him finally put Macho in his place and get him to back down was so delicious he could barely contain his pride. That's all it was. Excitement and pride in his friend. An itch that hadn't gotten scratched in ages. Wires getting crossed.

But now, as Snake made it clear, he believed that it had meant something; like they were boyfriends. Like he… like he was…

His thoughts turned to his old childhood friend, Lennie. Back when he still lived in Citiesville with his Ma and life was only bad, not terrible.

Only ten years old and yet already building a reputation for himself, most kids didn't come near him, unless it was to make fun of his green skin. Most kids, except for Lennie and his crowd.

One day, Ace had skipped school after getting into a fight with one of the popular boys who compared him to his deadbeat dad. Apparently, Lennie had seen it all go down before taking off himself. He approached Ace as he was throwing rocks in the pond, and offered him a cigarette.

"If you're already a hood in their minds," he said, "Then you might as well start acting like one."

He had seen Lennie around school a few times before that and heard he was bad news, but for the most part he left him alone. In fact, he was just about the only kid Lennie and his crowd did leave alone. Maybe it was because he saw the same badness in him that he had in himself, and realized they were one in the same.

With shaking hands, he took it. He stood frozen in fear as Lennie took out his lighter and lit it for him. He nearly choked to death on his first puff, but the second, third, and fourth came much easier.

He and Lennie grew close, and grew close fast. It was only a matter of time before the rumors began to start.

But it wasn't until when he had him over at his place one night and his Ma walked in on them being assholes and screwing around that he truly felt shame over what he and Lennie shared. Even now, the look of shock on her face was permanently burned into his mind.

As he got out of the shower and tried to think about what to do about Snake, any and all of his thoughts about what he was and what to do about all this feelings bullshit fell to the wayside when Arturo told him that he ran off on some bullshit rescue mission by himself that was almost certainly a death trap. He immediately went to go get his gun, his mind on one thing and one thing only.

"It saved his sorry ass once," He said. "Let's see if it will save it again."

When he saw everyone else staring at him like dead eyed fish he snapped in frustration.

"What are you chumps waiting for?" Ace yelled. "Come on, let's go!"

At his command, Billy and Arturo jumped into action. They grabbed their jackets, shoes, and of course, their pocket knives. As they both began to follow him out of the door, Arturo was stopped by his father.

"Wait a second," he said. "Are we really sure this is a good idea?"

"Oh my god," Ace rolled his eyes. "Really? Now? We don't have time for this!"

"All I'm saying is that I think there should be a plan at the very least before we jump into action." Macho said. He looked toward Ace and the gun in his hand. "Are you really asking us to barge into Mojo's lair, one of the most dangerous supervillains in the city, armed only with that?"

"Papi," Arturo spoke up. "Our friend is in danger. Our brother, if not by blood than by everything else that matters."

"I know that Mijo," Macho said. "But like your Mami always said, Los tontos corren donde los ángeles temen pisar. Cousin Diego got reckless with his business practices and you know how that turned out."

"Alright old man," Ace said. "If youse got a plan, I'm all ears."

Macho looked at him for a second and sighed. "If you really want to know what I think," he said. "I think we should stay here and wait, for a few hours at least. Maybe your friend will come back on his own. If he's still not back by then… I think we should call the police."

"Papi!" Arturo exclaimed. "You can't be serious!"

"They're the only ones that have a chance at saving your friend," he shook his head. "I don't like it either, but what chance do we have against Mojo? It's a suicide mission."

"Well, that's a great plan and all, but there's no way in hell we're doin' that. And we're especially not gonna be here sittin' on our asses as we wait for Snake to get himself killed," Ace said. He stuffed his gun into his back pocket, and motioned for the others.

"You can stay here if you want, old man, but me and the boys are gonna go save Snake while there's still a Snake to save. Billy, Arturo, come on!"

"My son isn't coming," Macho spoke up.

At this, all eyes fell onto Arturo's father. Ace turned around and looked at him with as much exasperation as he could muster, while Billy and Arturo looked at him incredulously.

"Yes I am, Papi," Arturo said. "Snake is one of my best friends, and I'm not about to stay here and do nothing while he's in danger."

"Yes you are," Macho said firmly. "I'm not about to let you kill yourself in some suicide mission!"

"Ace," Arturo looked toward his older friend for help.

Ace looked between a desperate Arturo and stone faced Macho in disgust.

"There's no time for this shit," he snapped. "If you two are goin' to stay, then stay. Come on Billy," he gestured towards the green giant. "Let's go get Snake."


Los tontos corren donde los ángeles temen pisar: "Fools run where angels fear to tread."

Note: I also went back and changed Ivy's hair color from blue to black. I know she has blue hair in the anime but her character here is so different anyway and the more I thought about it, the less sense it made for her to have naturally blue hair in a story where no one else does.

PPGGuy06: You will have to wait and see :)

GGGFan: Yeah, Ace doesn't deal well with emotions on a good day, and his complex feelings about his sexuality doesn't help matters lol. But yeah, they're definitely in a pickle, lol. Though it looks like Mojo isn't doing too hot himself at the moment.

Anon: "Ace blows more hot and cold than a Katy Perry song." If there was a perfect way to describe Ace, this would be it lol. But yes, he definitely remembers, he just has no idea how to deal with it. And thank you! Their relationship is very complex. Snake is in a very tough position at the moment, and pretty stuck on what to do.

Surfer: Mojo is the main antagonist at this moment in the story, yes. Unfortunately I'm pretty terrible at drawing, but I think the girls kept most of their original style since it's what they're known for, though Buttercup probably insisted on switching from a dress to pants at some point. Other than that, Blossom is probably the tallest of the three, with Buttercup just an inch or two behind and Bubbles being the runt lol.

With HIM, it's best not to take what he says at face value; he's infamous for twisting the truth. The Professor does kind of see Bubbles as "the baby" of the group and because of that he sometimes lets her get away with more, but he loves all three of his daughters immensely.

Thanks again to everyone who reviewed! Feel free to let me know what you think!