A/N: Once again thank you all so much for your reviews, they seriously mean a lot and they've all be so encouraging! I would have stopped writing by now if it weren't for the kind words! Also, I'm really new to all of this so I don't know if I'm supposed to reply to them or not, but I did answer a question I received at the end of this chapter. Anyway, more notes at the end!

(I don't own the ppgs)

Buttercup's "sisters suck" mentality came to a crashing halt when the lunch bells rang the next day. She practically had to drag her feet to her locker to get her lunch, as she tried to determine the amount of times she had successfully met new people without her sisters. She apparently came off as "intimidating" and "scary", which sucked because she tried her best to look friendly and inviting. That was what a Powerpuff was supposed to do, but that never seemed to work out for her.

She huffed, as alarms continued to ring in her head.

Who was the best at making friends? A part of her mind would ask.

Bubbles. The quiet part of her mind that had been a little excited about lunch earlier today would mutter back.

And who comes up with interesting and eloquent conversations?

Blossom.

And who makes everyone feel included and special?

Bubbles.

And who makes sure no one feels belittled or inferior?

Blossom.

And finally, who screws up basic English and has a resting bitch face? She asked herself.

…me. She answered with a groan.

You. Brain-Buttercup confirmed and she kicked her locker shut.

For a moment she teetered around the lockers and waited for the off chance that one of her sisters would break from their normal paths to stop by, though she was already fully aware that neither of them would because it didn't line up with their class schedules. It still would have maybe been nice to see one of them, so she could leech off of their social intelligence. On the other hand, though, neither of them would have been happy to see her, so she really couldn't figure out if she was lucky or not that they weren't going to show.

'Or not.' A little voice in her head confirmed, and it continued, 'What am I doing? I can't do this!'

She tried to squash her doubt down. She could make friends without her sisters. It was easy, she had already sort of maybe done it with Mike and Elmer. Sure, maybe Blossom was right. Maybe an hour of talking wasn't enough to define a friendship, but Buttercup figured it was a good start. She'd just do what she did with them with their other friends!

Her face fell; a free lunch and cookies couldn't bribe everyone.

Right now, more than anything, her seat at the crowded lunch room table next to Blossom seemed like paradise. What the heck did she think she was doing walking into a social situation without her two social crutches! If anything, she'd just go to the cafeteria with her tail between her legs and if she bumped into Mike later today she'd just explain she had forgotten. No harm done.

"Oh Buttercup! I was, uh looking for you!" Came a sudden voice and it took all her strength not to jump out of her own skin.

Whirling around to face the voice, she realized that Mike had seemingly materialized out of thin air next to the water fountains she was passing. Realizing he had her attention he wiped his mouth and waved.

"Jeez, Mike," She said unclenching her fists, "Warn a girl next time. I was about to knock you into next year!"

He smiled sheepishly and rubbed at his neck, "Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

"It's cool," She shrugged, but the tension in her shoulders didn't drop. Maybe he had forgotten about lunch?

Playing dumb she asked, "What's up?"

His smile dropped a bit and he broke eye contact with a shrug, "Uh, well I sort of figured that you wouldn't know where the old AV room was at if you wanted to come eat with us, so I thought I'd stop by the cafeteria to find you…if you still wanted to or something."

Mentally, she paused. He was sort of giving her an out where she could tell him not today and forget the whole thing, but, well, that was nice of him to circle back for her. That was the kind of thing Bubbles would do for someone.

Her mental wheels grinded to a halt and put her anxiety on pause. What was she even worried about anyway? It wasn't like she was some chicken. They were just people and, duh, she was a Powerpuff Girl! She had fought the embodiment of evil and won! She could make friends.

Unconsciously she relaxed her shoulders and smiled, "Ya know, you're right. I don't know where the AV room is."

This was just social interaction, and if they were anything like Mike, how hard could it be?

Mike held the door open with a warm, inviting smile and then looked at people already situated in the room.

"Well, this is it. Not very big or anything, but we like it," he explained. "Hey guys, I found her! Buttercup this is everyone. Everyone this is Buttercup, obviously," He announced, as they shuffled in together.

The room wasn't huge, but it was big enough to fit one sizeable table that people could eat at, two old computer desks, and a cabinet. There was still some miscellaneous technical equipment hung up on the wall, but aside from that it didn't feel very "AV". But it was cozy. Someone had even gone above and beyond and had hung up some yellow Christmas lights to help with the ambiance.

She realized she was taking in the room so acutely because the rigid, surprised stares of the surrounding group was making her feel out of place. Not a feeling she wasn't sometimes use to, but the proximity made the feeling more jarring. Again, she thought of her normal lunch table.

No luck getting out of this now, though. Mike had shut the door and the hinges had made a terrible rusty creak that reminded her of the prison.

"Everyone," Mike repeated more clearly, "I said this is Buttercup."

"And Buttercup," He turned to her giving up on the group, "this is Joey, Jeff, Mary, Kim, and of course Elmer. We pulled an extra chair for you." His hands fluttered to the chair between Kim and Joey.

She remembered them, of course, since they had been going to school together since pre-k, so there was no need to re-introduce them. Still, she realized suddenly how long it had been since she talked to any of them. It was like they had just disappeared for a bit or something.

"Hey." She finally managed, as she sat down and arranged her stuff.

Mary, who's eyes were the size of dinner plates, waved with a squeak.

She focused in on the other girl, who was still pretty large; bigger than anyone else in the room for sure, with rosy red cheeks and braces. Her hair was in short pigtails that reminded Buttercup of a younger Bubbles and, Buttercup noted with a little amusement, she was wearing one of their shirts that Bubs had designed for a charity event—the one where their neon streaks formed a heart.

Buttercup waved back with a causal flick of her wrist, "Sup?" and then added with a slight smile, "I like your shirt."

Mary's rosy red cheeks turned a little redder, as she looked down to examine her own shirt.

"I didn't even realize," She spoke with a hurried lisp.

Buttercup shrugged and took a seat, "I'm not too into all the heart crud myself," She admitted, "but I know that shirt had sold like crazy. I think I have just the stripped version."

"I have that one too!" Mary said quickly, "I totally like that one better. Hearts can be overused," She finished grandly.

Before she could respond, Jeff, who took up the end of the table, so his wheelchair would have room, raised his eyebrows, "Rigghhtt, you think hearts are overrated. Okay, welp, we're glad you made it. For a moment we didn't think you were coming…again." He spoke directly to Mike.

She took the moment to look at Jeff. He still had the same long sandy blond hair, as he did when he was younger, which he had put up in sort of the same way Brick put his hair up. It didn't look bad; Jeff and Brick were apparently some of the only guys she knew who could rock the long hair look. She generally thought that people with super long hair looked greasy, but then again Blossom was her standard and no one could hardly live up to that.

Mike, who was more focused on his sandwich then the look his friend was giving him, replied softly, "Well, we're here now."

"Yeah, sorry. That was my bad." She interrupted, "We got half way here and I forgot the cookies I said I'd bring." She looked at Elmer, "They're regular chocolate chip, nothing fancy." She placed the container in front of him and he smiled.

"Bubbles makes really good cookies guys." He explained quickly before diving in.

Mary and Mike reached for their own share. Next to her Joey, who had finally looked up from his book, apologized, "Sorry, I'd totally have one, but I'm gluten free."

"Oh," She blinked. "Sorry, I didn't know."

"Hey, no worries, how would you?" He shrugged, turning back his book and apple, "I'm not much of a sweets guy anyway."

"Really?" She asked in disbelief.

He looked back at her, pushing his glasses up, and smiling, "Everyone always acts surprised."

"Well, when one of your main ingredients is sugar, it becomes pretty personal," She tried joking.

He snorted (thankfully), "I'll keep that in mind. No more sugar bashing."

"Just means more for us! Want a cookie Kim? Jeff?" Mike asked offering the container.

Jeff rolled his eyes, but nonetheless took one.

Kim, who was on the other side of her, looked up through her hair, and Buttercup couldn't tell if the black under her eyes were bags, makeup, or both. Her stare was fixed blankly on the cookies before her, "They're…sweet."

"Uh, thank—"

"How cool would it be," She muttered darkly, almost to herself, "if my teeth decayed? They all just fell out…"

Buttercup stared, mulling over an answer, "Uh, very?"

Before Kim could respond, Mike dived-in with a quick panic, "Hey Joey! What are you reading?"

Joey swallowed a bite of his apple, moving his eyes away from Kim and to the open pages of his book, "Nothing fun, well I think it is." He shrugged, "It's called Genetic Coding and Mutations; The Human Building Block. It was written by a few professors at the Town-U actually! It's really interesting, it dives right into the making of a human without the need for parents…well, that's simplifying it." He shrugged sheepishly, "Not very interesting stuff to talk about."

"No, it sounds cool." Mike encouraged.

"Fun light reading, Joey?" Jeff asked sardonically from the end of the table.

Buttercup smiled rolling her eyes. She couldn't escape this stuff for the life of her, "One of the author's is Professor Utonium right?"

Joey, who had taken a moment to glare at Jeff, turned back to her, "Yeah, how'd you know? Are you familiar with his work?"

Once again, her eyebrows shot up in surprise, but nonetheless she couldn't help smiling. Gesturing to herself she replied, "I am his work."

She watched the gears turn in his smart little head before a hand went to his forehead. He laughed in disbelief, "Professor Utonium made you!"

"Yeah," She laughed, "he's my dad."

"I can't believe I forgot. I mean of course! Wow!" He shook his head, "He's your dad. Sorry! When you think Powerpuff Girls, you don't really think about the lab you were created in."

"It's no big deal. Kinda refreshing." Everyone always seemed to forgot about the Professor.

"You're in the book." He said excitedly, flipping the pages, and showing her the diagrams she had grown up seeing.

"Specimen Bx-2?" Mike asked from across the table. He had to lean over to see the book pages. Joey held the book up higher so everyone could see.

Buttercup shrugged, "Yep, that's me. It's not a very creative name. Blossom at least wanted us to be called speciwoman, but the university decided the book could only garner so much moral backlash at a time."

"Pretty metal." Kim muttered nodding her approval.

"Really metal!" Joey agreed.

Jeff shrugged stabbing at his potato salad.

She turned back towards her food, "I'll introduce you sometime, he loves talking about his nerd work, uh no offense." She hoped no one saw her cringe at how awkward and desperate she sounded.

"If I can actually meet the Professor Utonium, none taken!" He eagerly responded without missing a beat and she felt like she had passed a math test or something.

She could see her family now, jaws dropping, at the mere idea of her bringing a (potential) friend over. A smart one no less. Eat it Blossom!

"Can I come too?" Mary asked, her question tumbling out on the tail end of Joey's response.

A two for one! Eat it Bubbles!

'Sure. I don't care."

The larger girl flushed and Buttercup wondered if she should prep an autograph or something.

Kim, who had was still studying the book, pointed at a paragraph and turned to her, "You can regenerate?"

Buttercup nodded, "It's a life saver."

"So, your teeth…can they?"

"I've lost so many teeth I don't bother to count anymore."

"Can your dad make me more teeth? Don't ask for context." She made a point to stare at both Mike and Jeff.

Buttercup thought for a moment and then shrugged, "Yeah, probably."

"I'm coming over with Joe and Mary."

Buttercup sniggered. This girl was definitely weird, but she liked it. The group surrounding her was anything, but fake and Buttercup was basking in the change. They were all so refreshing.

"Yeah, no. I'm asking for context," Jeff sighed, "why do you need Professor Utonium to make you teeth?"

"It doesn't have to do with that tooth decay comment, does it Kimi?" Mike pressed on.

Kim's bangs feel back in front of her face and she darkly looked from one boy to the other, but neither backed down. Mike's face was filled with genuine concern, Jeff with amusement, and the rest of them watched the stare down, leaning in closer with anticipation for what was next.

Finally, Kim leaned back in her chair, flipped her hair to the side, and with a causal shrug finally answered, "Fangs," as if it was that obvious.

"Kimi, you can do that without getting new teeth." Jeff sighed.

"Maybe there's some fake fangs at the mall!" Mary suggested.

"She could just file them." Jeff countered.

"I'm pretty sure you can get that done at the mall too." Joey chimed in, "I bet there are tools you can use as well."

"Wait—" Mike tried cutting in.

"Or just go to the tattoo parlor on 3rd." Buttercup added, "They do all kinds of stuff. Tell them I sent you and you'll get a discount. I saved the managers kid once."

"What kind of discount?" Jeff asked interested.

"Depends on what you ask for."

Kimi stood abruptly, "I have to go immediately," pushed her things into her bag, open containers of food and all, and booked it out of there.

"Wait! Kim! No! Think this through!" Mike jumped up as well and dashed after her.

"Wait is she going now? It's the middle of—"

"Ah. Ah." Jeff interrupted with a smile, "Never question Kimi."

For the first time the two shared a brief smile and Buttercup threw up her hands in mock surrender, "Okay. I won't."

The bell rang a few moments later and she soon found herself walking the hallways with Elmer. He had been so quiet she had almost forgotten he was there until she realized he had saddled up right next to her. They passed a few classrooms and rows of lockers in relative silence, as she digested her time with the new lunch group. She couldn't help the smile that spread on her face.

She was seriously glad she didn't chicken out.

She turned to Elmer and barely noticed that he was already looking at her, "It's cool I eat with you guys tomorrow?"

It was like Elmer couldn't nod his head any faster, "Y-yeah! Of course."

"Cool. I'm going to stop by my locker really quick and put some of this stuff away." She was about to say goodbye, but Elmer turned with her down the hall, and even though she knew the gym was the other way she didn't say anything. It felt nice having someone to walk with.

Conversation with Elmer she had realized were a little more difficult, then it was with Mike, but it didn't seem like either of them cared. You had to appreciate the naturally quiet people, they gave you time to breathe.

Buttercup burst through their front door, like she was on cloud nine. Not to be egotiscal, but she was pretty much the queen of making friends.

"I'm! Home!" She yelled and waited a few moments to see if she'd get a response, but she was only met with silence. She shrugged, kicking off her shoes and dumping her bookbag by the lab door. She'd go down in a moment.

First, she needed to raid the fridge.

She chugged on the apple juice container and was surveying the pantry, while she reflected on her day. The first part of it had been pretty unnoteworthy, besides being mad at her sisters, but the second part of the day had given her a huge sense of hope. Maybe the new friends were exactly what she needed to improve her mood and help her move on, just like the Professor had said.

She floated down to her room with a plethora of snacks in tow.

When she thought about it, Jeff had seemed a little tense and she wondered if they'd end up getting along. She wished she could ask someone without it being weird, but who? The only people she could think of were her sisters, but she was pretty sure they were still pissy. They had given her the cold shoulder at the end of the school day when they were all at their lockers.

It made her feel a little cruddy thinking about it. She was so sick of feeling cruddy about everything and keeping secrets. She loved her sisters. So much so, she practically died for them!

Between stuffing her face full of potato chips and cheese-ritzs, she decided that today had been a good day. She had made sure of it, so she wasn't going to let her sisters and that dumb fight ruin her evening. She'd talk things out with them, maybe even tell them about her…issues. Everything was looking on the up and up anyway and honestly, she hated when they fought.

The front door open and shut and Buttercup put down the snacks. She'd go up and confront her sisters right now. The silent treatment couldn't continue forever! They were a team!

Stomping up the stairs, she took a deep breath before calling out, "Hey! Listen, gir—"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Buttercup tripped up the last few stairs out of shock and landed painfully down on her hands.

"The hotline!" She cried pushing up off the stairs and shaking off her stinging palms.

"It's the hotline!" She cheered again rushing to the phone in a zip and had to blink back tears of surprise, "Girls! The hotline!"

She stared at the old phone (the last hotline left in the house) watching the light flash red. A while ago, Bubbles had decided to paint the whole thing the color red, so it didn't look like a child's toy any longer, but Buttercup could still make out the little plastic eyes. She didn't move to answer the phone though, as if it would jinx the call. She stood and stared intensely praying that this wasn't some sort of joke.

The Professor, came in a half a second later just as surprised. He has also stopped and stared in awe at the fact that someone was actually calling the hotline.

"The hotline…" Professor muttered, the first one to snap out of their daze, and reached for the phone, "Yes, hello Mayor?"

"What's he saying?" Buttercup asked eagerly, "What's he need? Where are Bubbles and Bloss?" She looked around almost anxiously.

"Shush dear—not you Mayor, please continue." He talked into the phone and mouthed to her that her sisters were out, shooing her back a bit, "The city?"

Another moment and Buttercup watched the Professor nod his head to whatever the Mayor was saying, "Of course. Yes. They'll be right there."

He put the phone back down on the receiver and turned to her, "There's a monster near Town Hall. Mayor said it's a class-D, possibly C. I'm going to call your sisters."

"They can just meet me there. I'll go on ahead, there may not be a lot of time." She did her best to make her voice sound like she had authority in the situation, but the look the Professor shot her made her pause, "What?"

"We'll wait for your sisters. I don't want you going out alone." And before she could protest and say how unfair that was he continued, "Any of you."

He pulled out his phone, put it on speaker, and Blossom answered on the first ring.

"Hiya Professor!"

"Blossom dear, there's a situation. Tow—

"—Townsville's in trouble. A class- D, maybe C, near Town Hall. It was phoned in by the Mayor. Where are you two? I can meet you there!" She was all geared up to burst out the front door before Blossom would even have time to respond, but still the Professor held her back.

Internally she groaned, how annoying was this! She could be there already, protecting the town and when her sister got there, they'd implement Plan Sigma or maybe even Iota and bam-pow! The day is saved thanks to the Powerpuff Girls!

She could see it so clearly in her head her blood pumped with anticipation.

"Why'd the hotline ring?" Bubbles asked in the background, but to Buttercup it sounded more like a whine. She could hear the crowd that surrounded them and again wondered where they could be.

"Class-D monster. Nothing big." Blossom explained quickly and efficiently.

"Monster!" Bubbles whined, "Why now?"

From the other side of the line came a low whistle that was definitely not from one of her sisters. There was also a something like a giggle and other hushed whispers.

"What's class-D mean?" Someone asked.

"Nothing big, obviously." Someone answered.

Buttercup clenched her jaw. There were clearly other people around listening in on a conversation that should have been confidential. Maybe the facts of this particular case weren't particularly unique or on a-need-to-know bases, like some of their other missions, but for whatever reason it irked her to no end.

"Where are you two anyway? Who's listening in?" She basically hissed.

And maybe Blossom and Bubbles got the hint because it was significantly quieter on the other end when they replied, "We're out with some friends at the new skating rink—"

"—We didn't think you'd want to come."

They didn't know how correct they were.

"That's not important right now," said Blossom, "we need to get to the city."

"We can't just leave!" Bubbles scoffed and Buttercup's eye twitched.

Buttercup did her best to shake off her annoyance, "You're at a…skating rink? And you can't just leave?"

From the other end of the line she could hear her sisters bumbling around for a good enough answer. She couldn't believe it! They finally get a call, they can finally do their job again, and they can't just…leave the dumb skating rink?

"Fine, then I'll just go by myself. No big deal." Buttercup shrugged, hoping they could hear the scowl in her voice, "I'm already in uniform and you guys can stay out, whatever."

She looked over at the Professor who shuffled in place and gave her a disapproving 'hmm'.

"What." She demanded.

"I don't think I'm comfortable with that idea. I'd prefer you all went or you didn't at all."

"I'd have to agree with the Professor, BC. It's been awhile since our last call and even longer since any of us went on a solo mission. We're rusty. It's best to stay together as a team, in case one of us gets hurt." Blossom agreed.

And while it was reasonable request, Buttercup couldn't help feel a bit guilty and defensive, "I'm not rusty. I've kept training. Plus, I've handled worse on my own. It's not a big deal." She finished crossing her arms.

"We know you can handle it Butters! It's just…" Bubbles trailed off quietly.

"It's just what? I'll get hurt again or something?" She huffed, "This is different than that. It's a Class-D."

"Going alone may just not be the safest option right now Buttercup. It, well, hasn't been that long and if something does happen it could affect the team." Blossom explained and Buttercup couldn't help but think the word 'again' felt very heavily implied.

"You think I can't handle it." It was a statement not a question.

"That's not what I meant Buttercup. Not at all." Blossom responded quickly sounding offended, like she had the right to or something.

Buttercup scoffed crossing her arms over her chest, not that her sisters could see it, but her voice was dipped in ice, "No that's exactly what you meant." Then she looked pointedly at the Professor, "Apparently, you all do."

"Buttercup." Her father warned.

"You all think I'm weak or something!" She continued, "But I'm not! I lived!"

The four of them were silent for a few beats after that and she turned her hard stare to the ground. The weight of the Professor's gaze was a little too much to bare and she didn't want to think about the silence on the other end of the phone.

It was Bubbles who finally spoke next. Softly she said, "We never thought that Butters. You're the strongest person we know."

She didn't want to think that Bubbles was just saying that.

"Well," She was also quiet, "let me go then."

Again, she was met with silence, but she wasn't going to dare look up at her father. She was almost going to admit defeat and claim that she was sorry, when finally Blossom spoke.

"Fine. I…I guess I could be okay with it, but only if you call should something go wrong! We'll be there in a flash."

"We'll be there faster than a flash!" Bubbles countered, "We'll be there so fast we'll warp time!"

Buttercup almost smiled at this, but restrained herself because the final authority had yet to say anything.

"I just don't think I'm comfortable with that girls." The Professor finally said with a sigh.

Buttercup's heart sunk. If she didn't act fast, there was no way she'd be able to fight any monster anytime soon. Begging was more successful when Bubbles tried it, but she could lay it on him if she tried her best.

"Please dad." She pleaded, looking up through her eyelashes, "I think this could be what I needed. Especially, to show Townsville that I'm fine."

The Professor faltered and took his time weighing the options.

"Please dad." She tried again with her best puppy dog eyes, "Please. I promise I'll be careful."

"Well…" He sighed reluctantly, "Well, okay. Just make sure you don't get hurt."

With that she was off towards the city before they could have the chance to change their minds. Finally, things were turning around back to normal.

"Blossy, I think she needs this." Bubbles had whispered so low that neither the Professor or Buttercup had heard them from the other end of the phone.

Blossom played those words again and again in her head like a mantra. It was only slightly calming. Maybe Buttercup did need this, but it wasn't like she'd tell them the real reasons why. Buttercup hated pity, so Blossom guessed her and Bubbles would play dumb a little longer to Buttercup's recent changes in behavior.

Even if that churned Blossom's stomach with guilt. She was the leader after all. She should do better, should have done better, to protect her team.

She was well aware she was devouring her bottom lip. Much like Bubbles and hair twirling, it was a horrible habit she had picked up over the years when she got incredibly anxious about something. And those "somethings" she usually got worked up about were generally situations beyond her control, so she never could seem to fix them.

So, she continued to chew on her bottom lip and bite the inside of her mouth while her eyes anxiously switched between her phone screen and the little tv monitor at the '90s roller rink the group had decided to check out. Blossom personally thought it was cute and the milkshakes were good, but she could tell that some of the guys in the group were growing a little bored of the "girly" atmosphere—that is if atmosphere could reasonably be gendered, which she'd argued could not, but now wasn't the time for an internal gender studies debate.

Instead, to distract herself, she thought about how happy Bubbles had been to be there. Up until the hotline rang, she and a few other girls hadn't gotten out of the rink, not even for the food, and had been content rolling along.

And Blossom had been content watching them. It was relaxing to finally see her sister enjoy their new-found free time. Bubbles wasn't half bad a skating either, but she had always been rather graceful, as she twirled and danced through life. In fact, Bubbles had been mid twirl when the alarm had rung and popped their happy little bubble.

Now the cute little neon lights no longer flashed in an inviting fashion. The harsh reds and blues only weighed down on Blossom.

Boomer cleared his throat, "Bloss, you should have seen this place before the remodel."

"I liked it better before." Brick chimed in looking up from his phone.

This was their third attempt at idle conversation. She knew what they were doing and it was nice of them to try and distract her, but at the moment she couldn't muster up anything more than a few 'mhm's' or 'oh's'.

"You've been here before?" Blossom asked trying to pull her attention away from the TV. A helicopter had finally gotten a decent angel of the monster Buttercup would be fighting. Alone. One on one. By herself. Without her and Bubbles.

She had half a mind to jump up and meet her there and if it hadn't been for Bubbles watching her every move she would have.

"Been here before?" Boomer playfully scoffed, "This place use to be perfect; dark corners, cheap food—

"—BJ Jessica that hung out by the bathrooms—" Brick added, pointing a thumb causally towards the well-lit hallway that lead to the restrooms.

"—and at one point there was illegal fighting in the back-alley way." Butch concluded sliding into the booth she shared with his brothers and Robin. He shrugged reaching for the nachos, "Must be under new management."

"You must be so disappointed." She replied dryly shaking her head.

"Eh." Brick also shrugged, "Gotta say, Jessica wasn't that great."

"Jessica was actually a Jake."

Brick sat there for a moment in thought, "Oh yeah…call the presses, you're actually right for once Butch."

Butch scowled, kicking his brother under the table, "Prick."

Brick just smiled that lopsided grin the three brothers all seemed to share.

"Food's still good!" Boomer beamed with a mouth full of burger.

"We wouldn't know fat-ass," Brick's smile quickly changed so it no longer met his eyes, "you've eaten it all!"

"Hey! I'm not fat!" Boomer argued and Butch snorted.

Blossom turned away from the impending fight and shared a look with Robin. She honestly couldn't deal with quelling whatever fire had been lit in Brick right now, she had another more pressing issue to mull over.

"She'll be fine Bloss. She always kicks ass." Robin smiled resting a hand over her own.

Blossom didn't have much of a reply.

"Of course, she'll be fine! She promised over the phone, didn't she?" Bubbles said a little too loudly, her smile just a little too bright, as she bounced over to the table.

Her fingers dropped from her hair, leaving behind perfect golden curls, and she hopped up on the booth. She kicked up one of her feet as she clicked off the tv monitor, but when she turned to face them again her eyes didn't match her actions.

Blossom met Bubbles hard stare, as the blonde spoke through her smile, "So let's not talk about it anymore, 'kay? We're here to have fun!"

The rest of the group nodded and Blossom wondered if they could see past her façade like she could.

Bubbles clapped jumping down to the ground, "Then let's have fun sillies! Come on Robbie!" She snatched the other girl's hand tightly judging from Robin's wince.

"Bubs! My hand!"

Buttercup flew as fast as she could to the center of the City and followed the rampage and destruction all the way to her target. The sun was in the early stages of setting, but the sky had yet to change colors. While the sky remained rather uninteresting as she sped along, the City was another story. The roads were broken and scattered, the people were in distress, and the buildings looked as if they had been…bitten?

She paused at a now rather deformed building to take in the size of the…yep, definitely bite marks. The smile on her face grew tenfold. Now this was what she was talking about!

Nothing like a good monster fight to really cheer her up. This really was rounding out to be a good day! And her sisters wanted to miss this? Crazy!

When she finally found the monster, which hadn't proved to be too difficult, the first thing she considered was the huge horn that protruded from its snout. The horn itself dwarfed a few of the complexes that occupied the area and the monster itself was about a head taller than Townsville's largest skyscraper. Its scaly, bumpy skin was tinged a moss color. If it weren't for the set of comically small wings, she would have figured that the dragon-esque like creature was just a regular lizard monster. She wondered if it breathed fire.

Also, the thing was fat with a capital "F". Big Boy certainly liked to eat, in fact, as far as she could tell he was still currently eating, unless half the building sticking out of his mouth was just for show.

"Hey Big Boy!" She yelled and it turned its ugly head in her direction, "Consider yourself lucky, 'cause I'm in a pretty good mood today, so I'm going to give your ugly mug a chance to spit out the high rise and get out before I change my mind!"

The monster tilted its head at her words, as if it were truly considering what she had said and for a moment she was afraid it would. A split second later though proved her wrong, as she had to quickly dodge away from the partially chewed building that had been spit her way.

The monster let out a loud battle cry and Buttercup watched with wide eyes as his dinner went sailing through the City and stuck vertically into the ground like a spear next to the fountain in Town Hall Square. She shook off her surprise and pushed away unnecessary memories as she rolled her shoulders, limbering up.

Cracking her neck, she smirked back at the creature, "I like your style ugly, but don't say I didn't give you a chance."

With a cry of her own she charged towards its towering form, dodging the claws that swiped her way. Sharply, she turned upwards staying close to the torso of the monster, taking the opportunity to fire off her heat vision. It didn't do much, but it certainly wasn't comfortable for the monster, as its movements became erratic. She could tell she was pissing it off, which made her feel quite smug.

As she neared his chin, she landed the first hit and with satisfaction watched as the monster's head cracked backwards. The hit had felt good after not having a real tangible monster to hit for so long, it almost felt like she was cheating on the simulation room!

Of course, basking in that small glory had left her defenses open and the monster recovered quicker then she had been expecting. His head snapped back to a forward position and flames licked at his mouth.

Realizing what was about to happen, she grimaced, "So, you can breathe fire, huh?" and a moment later she was engulfed in flames. Not like this hadn't happened to her before, but still she'd never be use to it. She let out a startled cry and fell towards the ground. Coming to her senses she righted herself in the sky and shook the soot from her hair.

She growled, "Okay ugly, you're not the only one with tricks up their sel—"

She wasn't allowed to finish her sentence as the giant tail she hadn't accounted for wacked her into the nearest building. She felt the breath leave her body as she finally tumbled to the ground.

'Okay,' She thought, groaning waiting for her vision to be less spotty, 'so you've made a few rookie mistakes. Enough fooling around.'

Something about that hit though, wasn't sitting right with her. Maybe she had ended up hitting her head a little too hard, but her foggy vision wasn't tainted with blackness like normal, but a hazy red that made her heart beat quicken.

She shook her head and blinked. "Come on, BC. Focus," she grumbled to herself.

Finally, she stood and looked back at the monster who had turned its attention away, stomping towards another building, probably hoping to continue its dinner.

"Oh?" She said loudly, "You think we're done?"

She rose back into the air and channeled all the anger she had recently felt down into her hands. She felt them heat up and as they began to radiate a faint bright green color she shot off at full speed towards the monster.

"Well think again!" She cried continuing her one-sided battle bicker, as the beast turned towards the commotion she had made. She fired off the energy beams with a great amount of force straight at his chest plate. It burnt a hole through the thick skin and as the wound festered Big Boy let out a cry and stumbled back.

This time she wouldn't celebrate too early. It had a weak spot now, Buttercup-made, and she wasn't going to waste it on the off chance this beast could regenerate. She had yet to slow down and reached the new hole a few seconds later. Each punch she landed was accompanied by her own yells and she watched the wound become bigger.

The monster's own yells matched hers in ferocity, but its were a bit more desperate. It swiped at her as it yelled, but ultimately missed. In its frenzy it let loose its flames, trying to integrate the air around them, but still Buttercup continued. In a final swipe of desperation, it did finally manage to nick her and its claws scraped at her skin. But it wasn't the pain that drove her away, it was the cry of pain from the monster itself. It had made her vision tunnel and her head filled with the sound of what felt like a million other tortured voices.

She hissed and shot away. In the moment Big Boy had realized it had gained, he jumped into the air. Buttercup's surprise came back to her quickly, as she watched those little wings lift up the impossibly large body they had to support. The thing could actually fly with those! Gravity be damned! She'd laugh later though, because another weak point had just presented itself to her and she wasn't going to lose it.

She had to prove she could do this. She tried her best to clear her mind, breathed in and out, and ignored the trembling in her hands. Now wasn't the time to think of that. She had a city to save!

She blasted forward catching up to the monster in no time whatsoever and rounded to the creatures back. With the heat from her eyes she shot at the thin, papery wings burning holes straights through. The monster again cried out, as it lost altitude, flapping at the air with its big, flabby arms.

For a moment she felt bad, watching the creature flounder the way it did, but then she caught a look at her beloved city. The city in the midst of reconstruction and now here it was once again damaged. The buildings eaten, the people hurt, and lives destroyed. A rush of guilt filled her because hadn't she hoped for this? Hadn't she prayed for a monster fight?

Couldn't she just let the city live in peace, how selfish could she be?

She blinked and when she opened her eyes again a different scene was laid out in front of her. The sky had turned red and most of this district had been decimated. Fire had rained down and she watched the people, who looked like ants from this height, run in vain. She knew for a fact that all the people on this block would die. The ground would cave in and they would fall into blackness, never to be seen again. She knew this scene too well, she had seen it countless times before.

When she blinked again, she only saw the damage that had been caused by the monster's mouth. It may have been her selfish prayer to the cosmos, but as she watched the monster fall towards the ground, towards the spot where the people had fallen into nothingness, she felt nothing but rage towards the creature.

All she saw was HIM.

So, with the biggest cry she could muster she launched herself at the sack of scales and before the monster could even reach the ground with a huge, horribly, deadly thud she had shot clear through him using her energy beams to cook him inside out.

She landed heavily on the ground and slowly stood up as chunks of monster rained around her. She turned to look up at the sky noting that it was no longer empty and boring. The sun had bathed it in burnt orange. It was beautiful and reminded her of a bonfire, but the memory of it would forever be marked with innards and blood that soaked her uniform.

The people of Townsville rushed from their hiding places and surrounded her with celebration, but she continued to look up at the sky numbly.

"—uttercup? Buttercup!" she was snapped out of reverie by Ms. Bellum, who was looking at her with what Buttercup assumed was concern. The lady really needed to tame that hair.

"Huh?" She answered, her voice sounding hoarser then she thought it should. Behind Ms. Bellum she noticed the Mayor was talking to a news crew. He loved attention. Buttercup wasn't complaining though, she hated dealing with the press.

"I said your nose, its bleeding. Are you okay? Where are the other girls? Buttercup?" Ms. Bellum pressed firmly, but urgently on. Buttercup didn't answer though.

Instead, she brought a hand to her nose and swiped at the sticky wetness that was gushing from that area. She felt the blood run down her fingers and pulled her hand away to watch. She could only stare numbly at the quick metallic smelling liquid and watched it rush down to her wrists.

Behind her people were cheering, but to her they sounded like screams.

When she finally ripped her eyes away from her hand she was met with the white porcelain of the bathroom tub. She blinked slowly taking in deep breaths. Her face felt raw. Thinking of her face made her remember that she needed to wash the blood off her face. She had had blood on her face and she needed to wash it off.

'Face wash,' A voice inside her head whispered. 'You need face wash.'

Not normal soap. According to Bubbles that wasn't good for your skin. Blood wasn't either. She needed to wash that off.

The little container wasn't on the tub's shelf, which was weird. She remembered noticing she was running low, like maybe she had a third or so left, but she didn't think she threw it away.

With a growl she reached for her body wash and squeezed a hardy portion into her hand. Her skin didn't matter, she needed to get the blood off. The thought of blood made her chest tighten and she scrubbed until it stung.

She reached for more soap, but when she squeezed the bottle nothing else came out. She must have used more then she had intended or maybe the bottle had just been low. She tossed it over the side of the tub, so she'd remember to throw it away later after she got out and it clunked against something already on the floor.

Peering over the edge, she saw that the body wash had most likely bounced off of an empty bottle of shampoo, and laid next to her now found, but empty, container of face wash.

Her face burned, the water was cold and dirty, and she was crying.

She couldn't clearly remember the sequence of events that had led her here to the corner of the simulation training room, but she was here with her back safely to the wall.

She remembered getting out of the tub stained with dirt and looking at the mirror. She remembered seeing the nightmares that were actually horrible memories she could not place, which had been burnt into her mind, because she saw them even now. She remembered feeling angry. Then, she was here in the brightest room in their whole house and she was picking glass out of her knuckles before her hands could heal with the little particles still in them.

The blood was making her feel a little weird, but not as weird as before. Maybe 'cause her hands had always been rough looking. She had a bad habit at picking at the various scars, scabs, and skin on her hands, so nothing ever healed correctly. She was surprised skin still grew around her fingernails.

A door upstairs banned open. It was the Professor. She drew into herself more and continued inspecting her hands for glass. They were super dry and cracking, and it was mesmerizing watching her Chemical X seep out of her pores to heal them. She thought it was weird that it never came out black, unless it was mixed with blood. The rest of the time it just looked like sweat, thicker though.

She rubbed the little drops into her skin and watched as broken skin was reconnected. The Professor was calling for her.

"Buttercup? Buttercup where are you? Ms. Bellum called! Are you alright! Buttercup?" He yelled.

She stayed quiet. He wouldn't like what he would eventually find. At least, she had managed to throw on some oversized t-shirt and gym shorts after her shower, but she couldn't remember when that had happened.

She couldn't remember a lot of things anymore. Her memory was full of a lot of blank black spots, that sometimes no one wanted to fill her in on. She traced the scar that circled the entire base of her left pointer finger. She was smart though, maybe not school smart all the time, but smart enough to piece a few things together.

The finger that was attached to the scar was a few months new. She had asked about it once, but the Professor and her sisters brushed her off. She figured it must have been broken off and had grown back. The skin was too smooth and unblemished to be a part of her hand. She thought it was interesting that they could grow back whole fingers. Not surprising though, she was on her like third set of adult teeth, her body grew back all the time.

She would've liked knowing how it grew back in. Did it start out like a little baby finger and grow to regular size? Did it just regenerate? She wiggled the finger, as she brought it closer to her face, like the finger would talk itself and answer her questions if she listened closely enough.

And that's how the Professor found her. Sitting in the corner of the simulation room, with all the lights on, pieces of glass surrounding her, as she examined her bruised, bloody, scarred hands and the finger that had only been apart of her for the past few months.

"Oh. Oh Buttercup."

She shrunk back into her corner at the sound of his voice and drop her hands into fist at her side.

"Oh sweetheart. What happened?" He took a few steps towards her and she panicked jumping up.

"Nothing! I won. It's fine!" Her voice felt coarse, "I'm just resting. It's fine."

"No, it's not. I knew I shouldn't have let you go on your own. I'm calling your sisters, this needs to be discussed."

"No!" She cried taking a few uncoordinated steps towards him "No. No. No. No."

"Buttercup." The Professor spoke carefully, but she wouldn't let him finish.

"No! They can't know! You can't tell them! Please!" She begged. She felt her voice crack and knew she probably looked as hysterical as she felt, "Not them, they can't know!"

Her hands tangled in her hair and she realized she was tugging on the damp strands, and she realized she was being a complete maniac, and crazy, and that's something she knew she was, but they couldn't know that! Because if they knew, then they'd know. She was the tough one. She was the strong one.

Look what you've done.

She heard herself make a sound, sort of like a wail, like the sound a mother makes when she finds out her child has died, which was a sound Buttercup was all too familiar with. And it was like her legs can no longer support her, so she crouched down wrapping her arms around them and buried her face, as she continued to plead with her father, "Just not them, okay? Don't let them know."

A moment later his arms wrapped around her like a shield and she couldn't tell whether he was rocking her or if she had been doing it the whole time.

A/N: This was supposed to be a happy chapter, but then I thought what if it wasn't? I don't know why I bother writing out outlines when I know I'll never follow them! Anyway, I rewrote this chapter a million times and I still don't know if I got the intended emotions across, so I apologize for the time delay. Also, I was in the hospital for a bit there! I have a few health complications that I'm working out, so updates will probably be slow Chronic illness is no fun!

P.S. Am I supposed to reply to the reviews? Like what's the normal protocol?

Q/A:

Ti - First off, thank you for being so kind and wonderful and motivating! Your reviews always make me smile! Second, concerning end-game stuff, I can tell you that this story will have Mike/Robin (as I've already spoiled); and the Professor gets a gal, but it's not Ms. Keane. What happens with everyone else is still up in the air~ But since the story isn't pairing driven, at the end of the day whatever I do decide won't hurt the plot. Being totally honest though I do love the greens, so hint-hint!