HIM sat on his couch with a bag of popcorn in his claw (extra spicy, just like he liked it) as he watched the various inhabitants of Townsville in his personal dimension.
At the moment, his attention was on Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup as they were forced to demean themselves by walking home from school instead of flying. HIM smirked to himself.
His grin grew wider when the girls stopped, looking on in horror at the scene in front of them; a group of three young men mercilessly beating an elderly man to the ground.
"Mr. Reeserson?!" Bubbles cried out.
"Girls!" he called out desperately. He screamed when one of the men kicked him in the stomach. "Girls, you have to help me!"
"Shut up!" one of the men said as he kicked him in the mouth, causing him to spit blood.
"You asshole!" Buttercup moved toward him. "You're gonna regret that-"
"Buttercup, no!" Blossom held out an arm to stop her. "Are you crazy?!"
"Please, stop it!" Bubbles begged the men. "You're gonna really hurt him-"
The man who spoke up before looked at her dangerously. He pulled out a gun, causing all three girls to go silent. "If you want to try to stop us little girl, be my guest."
"Run!" Blossom screamed. She grabbed her sisters' hands and took off in the opposite direction. Behind them, the three men laughed.
"Not so tough now without your powers, huh?" He kicked the old man again, this time in the head, causing him to go silent. "If I ever see your ugly bobble heads again, I'll blow them right off your shoulders!"
"Oh now, that just won't do," HIM said to himself. After the girls got a safe distance away, Blossom called 911 on her cellphone as Bubbles sobbed. But right now, he was too distracted to revel in the girls' distress. His attention instead was centered on the three criminals.
Their names were Joe, Alfred, and the one with the gun, the leader, Kevin. All of them had previously met in Townsville prison and had been serving lengthy terms for robbery, two counts of rape and domestic violence, and murder respectively. And he knew with just a glance into their psyches that they were not giving the girls an empty threat.
Of course, they weren't alone, there had been others in Townsville who had considered doing the same; kill the Powerpuff Girls while they were vulnerable, out of vengeance, fear, or glory. Their reasons didn't matter to him. All that mattered was keeping the girls alive, at least for the time being.
With a snap of his claw, he transported the three men covered in the elderly man's blood into his dimension.
"What the fuck-" Kevin started to say until he froze. HIM towered over them, and grinned.
"Why, hello there!" HIM chirped. "I'm going to skip the unnecessary introductions, as I'm sure you already know who I am."
"I-" Kevin stuttered. He looked around in horror at the various images of Townsville along with other sites that tended to unnerve mortals. "What is this place?"
"My humble abode," HIM gestured towards the general space. "You should feel special, it's not often I allow your kind into my home."
"W-Why?" Alfred spoke up. "What do you want from us? Money? We have money."
HIM laughed. Humans, they were all the same deep down; simple desires, and simple minds.
"The food stamps you stole off of an eighty year old school janitor is less than worthless to me," he said. "You see, you were threatening the Powerpuff Girls, and I have plans for them. You harming them would not serve those plans."
"W-We won't go near them ever again!" Joe begged. "We swear!"
HIM knew he was telling the truth. He also knew that he was the only one of the three who felt any hesitancy in harming the girls, and he would easily cave to the pressure from the others.
"Maybe you will, maybe you won't," HIM shrugged. "But it would be much safer to solve the problem you three pose right here and now, wouldn't it? Just in case you get any… ideas."
The three terrified looking men helplessly looked at each other before Kevin spoke up, his voice as quiet as a mouse.
"Please, your Infernal Majesty," he started, actually getting down on his knees. "We'll do whatever you want, whatever your plan is we'll help you with it-"
"Oh, you will." He snapped his claw to reveal the entrance to what he liked to refer to as his "lab." Sure, maybe it wasn't the white, pristine looking room Professor Utonium had, but it served him well enough.
The moment the lab was opened, beautiful, lovely screams and moans echoed out. Through a faint red light, a couple of pale, corpse-like citizens of Townsville that tried to interrupt his plans were visible.
"You see boys," he said as he ushered them into the lab. "You're going to be part of a very important, special experiment I have going on. We are in the process of making history, and you are one of the first participants."
The three men continued to beg and plead for their lives, but to HIM it was simply white noise. Once they were inside, he snapped the entrance closed and turned his attention back to the people of Townsville.
He watched as the elderly janitor was picked up by two paramedics and placed on a stretcher. Just a few feet away, a third paramedic was delivering the bad news to the three girls and their father. Bubbles immediately burst into tears yet again and hugged the Professor tightly, sobbing into his white lab coat. Buttercup kicked the side of the ambulance in a rage, only to cry out in pain over her foot. Blossom, meanwhile, just stared blankly as they covered the man with a white sheet.
The old man was dead. He was dead before the ambulance even arrived. HIM knew this, because he felt the increase in his power the moment it happened.
It would only be a matter of time before he'd be able to enact the next part of his plan, and he couldn't wait.
"If we're going to defeat Mojo, we're going to need some outside help. Lucky for us, we both know someone who can kill with a snap of his claw, who's Mojo's biggest rival, who already helped us once before-"
HIM turned at the sound of the familiar voice, one he had been paying very close attention to as of late. In front of him, he saw the image of Ace and Snake talking at the Townsville dump.
"It's our best option. Unless you want to spend the rest of your life runnin' and lookin' over your shoulder?"
Snake looked hesitant. Even here, he could feel his anxiety, how he tried to talk himself out of it, but it was only part of the sad little act mortals liked to play even in their own heads. To convince themselves that they weren't truly bad or stupid when they were about to make a decision that was undeniably bad and stupid.
"We already made one deal with the devil. How much worse will another one be?"
HIM chuckled to himself. Oh, this was going to be fun.
"Hello there," the hospital receptionist smiled at her. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Yes, actually," Ivy said. "I had a question about two of your patients."
Ivy had hesitated to come at all, for a multitude of reasons; she didn't want to even think about the people who her brother's gang had hurt amidst their prison scheme. But she felt like she had to do something, after everything that had happened.
But even more so, she knew her father was also in this hospital, and even being in the same building made her skin crawl.
The woman's expression turned suspicious. "Okay. Are they family members of yours?"
"It's Meredith Asher and Freddie Patson, the people who were on the news?"
"Oh yes, what those poor people had to go through," the receptionist shook her head. "You think when you go into work it will just be another day, and then before you know it you're almost killed for nothing. Disgusting what those boys did. I hope they catch them soon."
Ivy nodded, tightening the grip on her purse. "I just wanted to know; has anyone offered to cover their medical bills?"
The woman looked confused. "No, I can't say they have. Why do you ask?"
Of course he didn't keep his word about that either, Ivy thought to herself. She pushed the thought aside.
"I heard a rumor from a friend. Apparently, they were mistaken," she shifted her weight to her other foot. "Regardless, I would like to cover it myself."
The woman widened her eyes in shock. "My, you sure are a generous soul, aren't you?" she shook her head. "I'll have to talk to my boss, but I'm sure that can be arranged. Is there any specific reason why?"
"Let's just say, when I heard what happened to them in the news, I was deeply affected by their story."
"It's probably going to be a fair amount," she warned. "Are you sure about this?"
Ivy took a deep breath, thinking about her savings account, slowly but surely draining. Her eyes landed on a pen and a pack of sticky notes on the receptionist's desk.
"May I borrow that?"
The woman handed it to her. Ivy thanked her and wrote down the max amount she could afford to give, along with her credit card information.
"Anything up to this number," she ripped off the note and pointed to it." "I will cover."
The woman looked at where her name was listed and stared at it wide-eyed. "You're not-"
"Like I said," Ivy handed her the note. "Their case deeply affected me."
For better or worse, it didn't require much effort to find HIM.
Just a few moments after he entered their thoughts, the tall, red demon manifested in a puff of smoke. The moment he appeared, Ace pulled his jacket tighter and he could see Snake rubbing his arms out of the corner of his eye.
"You rang?" He smirked.
"How did you…" Snake trailed off, stuttering at the master of evil standing in front of him.
HIM laughed. He patted him on the shoulder, ignoring how Snake jumped the instant he was touched. "It's better not to ask. Trust me, you wouldn't want to know."
Snake went pale and jerked back. "This was a bad idea," he grabbed Ace's hand before shooting a look at HIM and thinking better of it. "Come on, we should just leave while we're still able to-"
"I don't appreciate being summoned for no reason," HIM cut him off. He was floating mid air and filing his claw, but his eyes glowed dangerously. "And I especially don't appreciate being talked about as if I'm not here. If I can give you the courtesy of showing up in my glorious physical form, the least you can do is acknowledge it."
Both men turned toward HIM's direction and he grinned at them. "Good. Now are you going to tell me what you want?"
"Look, uh, Mr. Infernal Majesty sir," Ace spoke up. "We're in kind of a tight spot with Mojo at the moment, and we'd like to know if there's anything you could do to, y'know, take care of the situation."
HIM raised an eyebrow. "Take care of the situation?"
"In whatever way you see fit, of course."
"And why would I do that?"
Ace and Snake exchanged a look. Ace could see panic slowly starting to take over Snake again.
"I did you a solid by giving the Powerpuff Girls that weird potion of yours," he said. "So maybe you can do this for us, just this once."
HIM looked amused. "If you somehow deceived yourself into thinking you were doing something for me, then you really are a fool," he shook his head. "No silly, you did that for you. And I helped you because it benefited me. How does getting rid of Mojo benefit me?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Ace asked. "With Mojo out of the way, you'd be the most powerful guy in all of Townsville. You'd be taking out your biggest rival."
HIM's eyes widened. "Would be? If Mojo was out of the way? Oh dear, I don't think you know who you're talking to."
HIM snapped his claw, and the world around them went dark. Before they could blink, they were floating in space.
"You see, I have no rivals."
Snake yelped. "W-What the hell is going on?!" He looked toward Ace for help as he wobbled, desperately trying to find some way to ground himself.
"This is the Black Eye Galaxy, seventeen million light years away from Earth," He gestured toward several planets within their field of vision.
"And this is the only solar system in the galaxy that supports life. 70 billion of them, to be precise."
Before they could make a move, HIM snapped his claw again, causing the burning sun to turn into a ball of ice.
"Now, it will have a population of zero before the week is over. Good riddance if you ask me. The Gleepies and their cousin species the Eledorphs are terribly boring, nothing like you humans. I don't think they've ever even had a single war in the millions of years of their existence. Such a shame."
HIM snapped his claw for a third time, and all three were once again in the Townsville dump. After the weight of gravity once again, Ace crashed to the ground. He could feel his heartbeat in his ears, and Snake looked like he was about to pass out.
"Do you know why I keep Mojo around?" HIM turned toward the two distressed gangsters. "Because he amuses me. I enjoy watching him work, him and his little schemes to take over Townsville. It's like you humans with your soap operas; the drama is just too juicy to give up."
As Ace slowly started to catch his breath, he tried to get a handle on his thoughts. He looked over at HIM, the hidden rage behind the cocky smirk.
"Maybe he's not quite at the 'destroyin' solar systems' level yet, but what about later on?" Ace said. "The Powerpuffs were holdin' him back, but with them out of the picture? It's only a matter of time before he actually takes over Townsville." Ace stood up and took a shaky step forward, getting more and more confident in what he was saying with each word.
"And as he gets more powerful, he's only gonna get smarter and smarter, invent more and bigger stuff to keep everyone under his control. Stuff that might even be strong enough to destroy you."
HIM's expression turned dark. "Do you need to be shown again what I mean by no rivals?"
"Maybe he will be a threat to you, maybe he won't. But if and when he takes over, his first target is going to be you," Ace forced himself to look HIM in the eyes and not flinch.
The demon stared him down for a few moments. The air grew hotter and thicker with each passing moment.
"I will deal with the simian as I see fit," HIM said. "But regardless, I don't make free house calls. This will come with a price."
"W-what price?" Snake finally found his voice. He took his spot next to Ace, still visibly shaken.
HIM smiled, though it didn't meet his eyes. "The cost of what you're asking for is life. A life of my choosing."
"Life?" Snake asked, terrified. "Who's life?"
"Someone of my choosing."
"Not my family," he said, pleading. "And no one in the gang. That would make all of this pointless."
Ace nodded. "Agreed. The gang and our families are off limits."
Him gave them a long annoyed sigh. "Fine. If you insist, I will not kill any of your little gang members or your precious family," HIM looked at Snake. He reached out his claw. "Do we have a deal?"
As Ivy was walking out the door, she heard a familiar voice calling her name.
"Ivy!" She felt a flash of panic when she saw her mother rushing towards her, and for a moment she contemplated making a run for it.
"Oh, honey," her mother pulled her into a hug. "I knew you'd come to your senses. You're here to see your father, aren't you?"
"Mom," she pulled herself out of her embrace. "I'm not here to see Dad. In fact, I was just about to leave."
"Ivy…" her mother looked at her, her expression turning sad and disappointed. "He almost died. You can't even spare him a short visit just to let him know you're glad your brother didn't murder him?"
At this, the guilt in Ivy's stomach felt as heavy as stone. "It was really that bad?"
"Come on. You can see for yourself," her mother grabbed her by the hand, pulling her towards the elevator. "It doesn't have to be a long visit, just let him know you still care. We'd do the same for you."
Maybe you would, Ivy thought, but followed her mother's lead regardless.
After the elevator let them off on their floor, Ivy's mother made a beeline towards a room at the very end of the hallway.
"Charlie?" her mother knocked on the door before entering. "Someone's here to see you."
Her father let out a sigh. "If that's you Jonathan, I told you I'll send the forms when I send them-" he stopped when he saw his daughter in the doorway instead.
"Hi Dad," Ivy said, standing awkwardly in the doorway. Her father laid back in the hospital bed, his right foot bandaged and propped up with pillows.
"I'll give you two some privacy," her mother said, heading towards the door. "I'll be downstairs in the cafeteria if either of you need me." She patted her arm encouragingly and ignored the desperate, pleading look Ivy sent her and stepped out, shutting the door behind her.
"So," her father started, looking her up and down. "You've come here to see the damage? Disappointed your brother didn't finish the job?"
"I never wanted you to get hurt," Ivy stayed close to the door. "I never wanted any of this."
"Don't lie to me," he snapped. "I don't know if you had anything to do with what your brother and his friends tried to do, but with everything you've already done I wouldn't put it past you."
Ivy looked down at her father's foot. "Is that where he shot you?"
"No, I just had the doctors bandage me up because it looked comfortable. What do you think?"
"Mom told me you almost died."
"I did!" her father forced himself to sit up, wincing. "That punk with the sunglasses threatened to come back and finish the job if I didn't do what he wanted-"
"Wait?" Ivy paused. "Since when does Snake wear sunglasses?"
At this, her father widened his eyes in realization.
"Snake wasn't the one who shot you, was he?"
"He might as well have," he said. "He broke into my house. His little boyfriend or whatever he calls him wouldn't even know where we lived if it wasn't for him!"
Ivy stepped towards her father, her hands balling into fists. "But he didn't shoot you."
"Sanford is just as guilty as the rest of them," he said. "Even if he didn't pull the trigger, he's still guilty."
"I came to see you, not because I wanted to, but because Mom asked me," Ivy circled around the front of her father's hospital bed, her anger rising. "She guilted me into it, telling me how you almost died, that it was Snake's fault. How you'd do the same for me. You know, like she does." She stopped, looking him straight in the eye.
"Did you lie to Mom? Tell her that it was Snake who shot you?"
"Who the hell do you think you are, coming in here and calling me a liar?" he yelled. "Of course I didn't lie, to your mother or the police! I told them exactly what happened."
"Minus a few details."
Her father shot her a warning look that she was all too familiar with, but she wasn't done.
"I'm going to make sure Mom is crystal clear on the truth," she said. "I doubt she'll appreciate how you allowed her to think that her son is an attempted murderer. But hell, what do I know? She'll probably forgive you for it, just like with everything else."
"I don't know why you're so insistent on defending that good for nothing psychopath-"
"I don't know why you're so insistent on making him look like a psychopath!"
"Because he is! He's a degenerate and a burden to society, just like your grandfather!" he snapped. "And you'll find that out for yourself, when he and his friends come for you next. When they come over to wherever the hell you're staying in the middle of the night and shoot you dead, are you going to care which one of them does it?"
Ivy glared at her father, all of the rage and stress and guilt boiling over.
"I hope you remember what you just said, about everything you've said and done in your life when you're living alone in a nursing home in your old age, wondering why no one ever visits. When you watch as your life's work falls into the hands of strangers because you've driven away everyone who gives a damn about you," she spat. "I hope it was all worth it then."
When HIM called Mojo asking him over for dinner out of the blue, he instantly felt suspicious.
It wasn't the first time HIM called him for a social visit, but the demon was far too unpredictable for his liking. One could never tell if he was secretly thinking of all the ways he could torture you, or if he was just craving some intelligent conversation.
And yet, anyone with half a brain knew that an invitation from HIM was not a request, but a command. His hands were tied.
"I must admit, I was surprised when you invited me over," Mojo said as he sat across from HIM in his kitchen. He looked down at the plate HIM had given him as if it was filled with poisonous snakes. "N-Not that I wasn't pleased to hear from you again, of course. I was just not expecting it, taken off guard, if you will…"
HIM gave him a look that made Mojo feel like he was staring into his soul, and he trailed off.
"Yes, well I did have something important to discuss with you," HIM said. "It's about your new allies."
"New allies?" Mojo looked confused. "Are you referring to the gang of four green men and one of the green men's father, otherwise known as the Gangreen Gang?"
"The very same."
Mojo laughed. "What is there to warn me about? That they might pass on whatever odd skin condition they have?"
"You gave them quite the scare the other day," HIM said. "Quite the scare indeed."
"I showed them what would happen if they betrayed me," Mojo said, slouching back in his chair. "A bit of fear is necessary to keep those who follow you in line."
"Hmm, yes," HIM agreed. "Though your methods might've had some unintended consequences."
Mojo raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"
HIM grinned, and Mojo instantly felt the fur on his arms stand up. "Ace and the one who calls himself Snake came to me, asking for my help in destroying you."
Mojo choked. "They did what?!"
"Yes, they seemed quite insistent about it too."
"Those insolent traitors! If they think they were afraid before, they don't know the meaning of the word! I will show them fear, and I will show them terror, horror, and pure dread of the likes of which they never knew!"
After his rant, Mojo noticed that HIM was looking at him carefully, his expression completely calm and unreadable.
"The… the answer that you gave them wouldn't have happened to have been yes, would it?"
HIM shook his head and grinned. "Oh Mojo, you've always been so suspicious. Do you really think I'd be here to warn you if I did?"
Mojo looked at him uneasily. It would be quite illogical for one to warn someone about a secret threat to their life when they intended to act out that threat themselves…
He looked down again at the stack of pancakes in front of him.
HIM rolled his eyes. "Mojo, if I was planning to kill you, poison would be the last method I'd use. You know my favorite part is hearing the screams, seeing the fear in the eyes of my victims. And I enjoy your company far too much to lose it to a quick, painless death."
Shockingly, this did little to comfort the simian. But regardless, he took a bite of the pancakes under the unnerving eye of the demon. His eyes widened.
"These are the best flapjacks I've ever tasted!" He eagerly took another bite. "New recipe?"
"Yes, business at the restaurant has been slow as of late," HIM mused. "Even us immortals must adapt to keep up with the times."
"Well, you can definitely count me in as your newest customer," Mojo said, eagerly taking another bite. "Assuming you don't charge an exorbitant amount of money, something that only a Morbucks or the considerably less wealthy but still quite wealthy Ingleberrys could afford-"
"Mojo," HIM said. "You know I'd never make you pay full price. I may be evil, but even I know how to treat my friends."
"We're friends?" Mojo looked at him curiously.
"Of course!" HIM said. "And as your friend, I have a very important question to ask of you."
Mojo looked at him in question.
"What are your plans after you take over Townsville?"
"Take over the world, of course," Mojo said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"And then what?"
Mojo took another bite. "Do what I need to to secure my political power," he said. "The Powerpuff Girls and the Professor serve as a potential problem. I will need to get rid of them eventually, along with anyone else who undermines me."
"The Powerpuff Girls?" HIM said lightly. "They're no threat. At least, not anymore."
"Not at this current point in time, but the future is unpredictable. It is all too possible that they will regain their powers, and then we will all be in trouble."
"I took their powers away myself," HIM said, his voice getting an edge. "Are you saying you doubt my work?"
"Of course not!" Mojo backtracked. "You are a very competent villain, I do not doubt your work or your power. But you must admit, the girls do have a way for getting themselves out of difficult, even impossible situations-"
"Here, try this," HIM handed Mojo a bottle of syrup. "It's a new flavor I've been experimenting with."
"What's the flavor?"
HIM winked. "It's a surprise."
"Well, if it's as good as these pancakes…" Mojo poured the sugary liquid over his meal before setting it to the side.
"I would prefer it if the Powerpuff Girls remained among the living for the time being, along with the Professor," HIM said as Mojo stuffed his face. "Can you promise me that, as a friend?"
Mojo felt a chill in the air again. It was not a request.
"Of course. As long as they do not interfere with my plans for world domination, I will let them be."
"Good," HIM smiled. As the two continued to make small talk, HIM made sure to keep his eyes on Mojo, and not on the spice cabinet, where he kept the same potion he gave to the Powerpuff Girls. He had to alter the recipe a bit for simian DNA, and a little bit more to give it a syrup-y flavor, but it had only taken him the better part of an afternoon. It almost made him sad to do it, but it needed to be done.
Still, the prospect of seeing if the potion would take full effect before or after Mojo dealt with the Gang was exciting enough to make it more than worth it.
PPGGuy06: The boys never learn, do they ;)
Guest: It was definitely a moment of weakness on his part
Anon: Thanks, lol! Yeah, the boys are getting closer, and HIM is definitely gonna shake things up.
K: Hehe, thanks, I tried ;) They all definitely have things coming their way.
GGGFan: Thank you! We'll be getting more insight into their relationship soon.
Anon: He's definitely been a jerk throughout this story so far. Both Ivy and Snake have guilty consciences over it to an extent, whether they deserve to or not.
Visitor: Aww, thanks! :D
Anon: Yes, I was wondering if anyone caught that! "Mitchie" was indeed Mitch Mitchelson
Thanks again to everyone who reviewed! :D To those who celebrate, I hope you all had a good Easter!