Talisman part 12

Shards of metal rained down upon the empty four-lane street. Blood clung herself to the building opposite, watching in silent glee as Blossom bounced off the windows about three storeys below her and then tumbled onto the sidewalk as bits of steel and fan blades fell around her. Blood dropped to the street, wiggling her fingers and wondering how else to accentuate her joints to provide maximum impact. But doing all the work with her bare hands seemed a bit drab. She quickly noticed that there were other ways of having fun with her injured prey.

Blossom groaned, getting up slowly. Something upon her cheek was stinging viciously and she brought her finger up to inspect. It hurt worse to touch, but she could feel the warm wetness of blood on her fingertips. A gash, not very deep but enough to still hurt immensely. One of those fragments must have swiped her. Her whole lower body was numb save for the aching where Blood had slammed herself into her. Something made the sound of rushing through the air, catching her attention and making her look up.

She gasped and dived forward just as a dark blue four-door sedan slammed into the spot where she had just been standing, tumbling end over end as its windows shattered, its chassis warped and crumpled and its alarm blared like crazy. Scurrying to her feet again, Blood's voice caught her ears.

"Glad nobody's around, huh?"

Blossom spotted her, hovering not far away in the centre of the road. Her arm was outstretched and nearby floated another vehicle - this one a much larger SUV family mover. Blossom shook her head in disbelief, still unable to look past the soreness in her gut. Blood didn't want to wait and she threw her arm forward. By her command, the SUV turned itself into a four-wheeled cannonball, hurtling at her with unprecedented velocity. Blossom jumped out of the way as the vehicle smashed into the curb, spiralling through the front of the shop beyond it - a meager florist which was all but destroyed by the unorthodox missile.

"No poor, defenseless people around to get hurt, right Blossom?" Blood taunted, picking out another parked vehicle (a cab) and telepathically hoisting it "A shame they don't clean up after themselves too well!"

"Blood, stop this at once!"

"No fun when the hero isn't winning, huh?" Blood cackled "Wonder if there's one of those underground parking lots around here - I'd have a great time!" Her mind turned the car into the mace on the end of her psychic flail, spinning it about like a lasso until with a final heave she thrust the checkered yellow car at the floating girl. Blossom ducked to the side, expecting that to be the end of that. The cab came to a sudden halt mid-air, picking up speed immediately in reverse. Blood smirked. Blossom shook her head, gesturing at her authoritatively.

"Blood, enough of your gam-" the cab slammed her from behind, ploughing through a lightpole and smashing into a wall. Blood dropped her arms, the cab so deeply embedded within the mortar of the building that it did not drop. Blood giggled a little. That was two cabs today. She considered it revenge for the first one which had run her down in Megaville. There was no more movement. No sign of Blossom. Blood was a little surprised that she'd not escaped; a little disappointed too. She didn't really want to kill Blossom when there was still so much fun she could have had with her. She meant her words earlier - she would have rather it continue forever. She didn't want that fire within her to go out. With a sigh, she turned her back on the splattered car and closed her eyes, feeling her surroundings with brainwaves like a biological radar. 'Where was Sora?' she wondered. Could she have found her brother by n-

A sudden piercing BOOM jolted her from her psionic trance with a gasp, making her spin as her heart pounded in her young chest. The cab was on the ground now, in several indistinguishable and smouldering pieces. The hole in the wall was smoking faintly, but floating toward her was a rather pissed off Blossom. Blood grit her teeth at the sight of her - clothes only a little dirtied and her shoes a tiny bit scuffed. No scratches, no extra cuts, no bruises. Even her bow wasn't crooked. And that little star-shaped glint of metal was peeking out from her magenta vest. She was good, Blood had to admit. But on the bright side, her source of amusement was back!

Blood spread her arms and grinned "That's it, isn't it? No subtlety! You just blow stuff up when it's in the way, beat up any bad guys you come across... really, there's no mercy with you, is there?"

"I don't have time for your jokes, Blood."

"Why's it a joke? I'm just saying that although everyone without a power of their own looks up to and admires you because you bothered to devote yourselves to their frivolous little lives rather than something more, I dunno, IMPORTANT, you're still a very bad role model for kids and stuff. There was a time when I adored you too, you know? And I'm OLDER than you! But seeing you like this, angry and barely containing yourself, it makes me wonder if being a hero for all these people is really your true calling."

"We made that decision as a team. We do that as a charity, with no expectation back from them. It doesn't matter if it takes a bit extra brute force to get soemthing done" Blossom leered, "we're still doing the right thing."

"If it makes you feel better, then sure-" Blood ducked aside as Blossom swung an enraged punch, coaxing a delighted smile onto Blood's face "Oh, am I making you angry? Impatient? A hero has self-control, right? Not very heroic of you right now!"

Blossom snarled "Shut UP!" she screamed, smashing her foot across Blood's face before the esper child could deliver one in return. The auburn-haired youngster squealed a bit, clutching her cheek and dropping to the ground. Blossom stared down at her "I don't care what you think of me or my sisters. In fact, wanna know what I think about you?"

Blood sneered, feeling her cheek swelling slightly as she cradled it "Fire away..."

"You're a kid whose discovered something about herself that makes her think she has every right to break rules and make enemies. You've overconfident and you know that better than anyone else. But what's worse is that you're deluded - you think you can lead people like Sora, who are guilty of nothing except being part of something they can't help, and convince them that you somehow know better. Look at you, Blood! You're a ten year old kid! How is anyone going to take that seriously?"

Blood huffed "And a trio of eight year old flying carebears who make a stand for love and sunshine is gonna be more believable?"

"We make our impact felt, Blood! We defended this very city for years and we do the same with our new home - a home you took us away from just so you could convince us that what you're doing is right. Guess what? It's NOT! You aren't the good guy here. And people who aren't good guys don't have a happy ending when it comes to me and my sisters." Blossom dropped to the ground, her narrowed eyes carrying more pent-up rage than her face could hope to express "And you wanna know the very WORST bit?" she spoke through clenched teeth as her hands balled into fists.

Blood chuckled in amusement "Go on, hero girl. What's the worst bit?"

Blossom dropped her gaze as her arms began to shake "You... are just a cocky, upstart little kid... who has NO idea what she's doing or the people she could hurt doing it..." her hands began to crackle with pink resonance that coursed around her fists like lightning "You're a brat with dangerous ambitions and you're happy to hurt people who won't believe in you. Believe me, that's the worst bit. And why's that?" her fists started glowing and when Blossom raised her eyes, they too shone with pink brilliance. "Because the last girl I fought who was like that ended up dead!" She flung her arms forward as her ponytail whipped backward and her legs spread apart for balance. The sun stopped shining and everything around them lost their colour. Nothing withstood the blinding flash that erupted from Blossom's palms.

Blood closed her eyes as the stream of light engulfed her.

At first, Blossom thought it was over. Nothing resisted her onslaught. She felt nothing try to push back against it. She doubted that Blood even had the ability to launch projected energy. She regretted resorting to this, but she remembered this very situation all too well. Instinct told her to remove the problem before it grew worse. The intensity of her blast blew holes in the surrounding buildings. She glanced up, noticing how strange it was that part of the energy wave was bleeding off into the air, as though being deflected by something solid and-

"No... NO!" Blossom shouted in horror. The spears of her own energy began to slam into everything around it, from the ground to the late afternoon sky, splaying off into smaller streaks that flew with minds of their own like a lit batch of firecrackers. They punched through the steel of streetlights and the reinforced structure of buildings. Several smaller streaks careeneded toward a skyscraper not far from her, crashing into it like artillery. Blossom dropped her hands immediately, unable to explain what had gone wrong but lacking the time to make a guess. She kicked off, pursuing the tail-end of her own attack as it continued to fan off in random directions ahead. A second streak of pink follwed at her heels, her little body caught between two brilliant magenta beacons. She reared back her fist. The light from her onslaught was fading. She never saw Blood escape it. Her fists clenched tighter, her knuckles turning white. A single punch to the face was all she would need to put Blood down-

She didn't even see her target before she felt something seize her body, pick it up as though she weighed no more than a feather, and fling it sideways against all effort of her own will. The world spun around so quickly that all sense of position was lost in one blurry moment. Then, as the brightness of her own energy blast dimmed from her eyes, she felt herself smack into the road, hard, backfirst. She didn't bounce or skitter. She hit hard and stayed there, poignantly undignified. She thought she felt her spine creaking as she tried to roll herself over, groaning. Her legs tingled and her pained stare at the sky returned no sympathy from those soft and fluffy clouds that she wished she could have collided with instead. Her lungs whistled with every breath, making her cough.

Then a slightly-dirty white and blue sports sneaker placed itself upon her chest. She tilted her head back a bit farther. Auburn hair formed shadows around Blood's face but her ruby eyes sparkled. She leaned down and softly murmured "That was a dumb attack, yeah?"

Blossom groaned "Get OFF me please..."

She did not. "I wasn't sure it would work, so I'm glad it did. I realised that the key is focusing the psionic field around MYSELF rather than worrying about whatever might be about to hit me. Worked on you too, looks like-" Two scorching beams of pink sliced her bangs. Her skin went numb from the heat but the power itself was intangible. Blood grit her teeth, even as Blossom's eyes lit up for a second shot. Her hand clamped around Blossom's throat, seizing her soft flesh even though everything in her head was telling her that Blossom simply didn't exist. "Little bitch..." she grumbled, and she hoisted Blossom by the neck to her feet.

The glimmer of shine in Blossom's eyes dimmed as she dangled from Blood's grasp. Her back was still aching. Her breath hissed through teeth kept clenched by Blood's hand against her jaw "Do it..." she grunted "If you're so convinced that what you're doing is right, you wouldn't keep me alive."

"Yes I would." Blood rebuffed flatly, and she threw Blossom back to the ground dismissively, allowing her to stare down upon her fallen opponent. "I'm not sure what makes you so special, but I'm not stopping 'til I find out what it is!" Blossom scrambled to her feet to throw an unsteady, unbalanced punch. Blood stepped back a pace and Blossom flew past at the mercy of her own momentum with a growl of frustration. Blood reached out a hand and grabbed the back of Blossom's neck. At once the wayward girl froze.

"WAH!" Blossom yelped, her back going rigid.

It was the same as before, with Buttercup. For the tiniest, briefest of moments a strobe light flickered within the cave of mysteries that was Blossom's body, illuminating it all for just a fraction of an instant before it went dark again leaving nothing but silhouettes of what may or may not have been burned into Blood's mind. Blood grumbled, closing her eyes and rubbing her fingers against Blossom's nape and spine to try and get another glimpse. Blossom quivered silently, her eyes abnormally wide and her knees shaking. The connection was made, Blood deduced, and so the only way to see into her once again...

She let go. Blossom instinctively relaxed, colour returning to her cheeks. But then Blood's grip bit her neck like a viper once again. "WAH!" Blossom squealed a second time.

Another tiny flash of insight, all too painfully brief. Blood felt something within her own mind beginning to ache, the extra invested effort biting back in a bad way. What she saw was infinitely complex, blocking her out at the first possible opportunity and keeping her out for good. The only way to get through was to try a different entry. Once more, she released before nabbing Blossom for a third time ("WAAAH!"). A hiss of impatience left her lips. This was useless. The tiniest touch and someone like Sora, altered yet still at the core human, was an open playground. Every nerve mapped, each feeling like a string to be pulled, the body itself an extension of Blood's but with a life to govern it. But Blossom, like her sister, was none of that. Just a tiny spark at the tips of her fingers before becoming seemingly inanimate like charcoal. Black, cold, opaque and uninteresting. That dull ache was growing. She had to stop before it snuck up on her. She still didn't know why she couldn't get through! She only wanted to know!

Something else caught her attention though "What's with you?"

Blossom was making a strange whimpering sound, her limbs locked and her face a picture of immense discomfort. Blood experimented by pinching a bit harder and the result was a mortified yelp as Blossom's arms flailed helplessly.

"Ohh, you don't like this do you!" Blood grinned mischievously, her failure to unlock the secret of the Powerpuffs briefly made moot by this playful new discovery. She let go of the hapless redhead but only long enough to change her clamp-down point and strike again.

Pinch. "WAH!" Pinch. "EEYAH!" Pinch.

"Buttercup didn't act like this. I guess there ARE little things that make you different!" Blood chuckled, ignoring those same brief and bitter flashes until the last one, when she noticed something odd. "Wait..."

One last pinch. A big one. This time Blossom yelped in pain rather than reacting to the discomfort of her exclusive sweetspot pressure point. Blood focused at that tiny opportunity and found what she sought. One instant later, she knew she'd succeeded. But at the same time, Blossom could no longer tolerate it, spinning around in a furious and humiliated rage "Get your hands OFF ME!" she screamed, her forearm whipping around with the force of a wrecking ball and catching Blood in the lower throat. Blossom heard Blood's head crack against the ground and stepped back, surprised at herself for such an outburst. She rubbed the back of her neck and grunted. That had really hurt! Blood deserved that. That and more. Blood rolled onto her side, dazed and unsure whether her scalp was bleeding or if that pain was coming from inside her head instead. Blossom, incensed, yelled at her "WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT!?"

All she got was a pained "Ugh..."

Blossom still felt funny. There was a weird pressure in the back of her nose. She sniffed but she knew right away that she hadn't somehow caught a cold. Ignoring it, she rubbed her neck one more time and remembered the times Buttercup had made the most of exploiting that sensitive spot just north of the shoulders where even the slightest unbeknownst pinch made Blossom seize up involuntarily. Neither of her sisters had it. Bubbles had something similar, but it was located somewhere else. Somewhere Buttercup couldn't get to as easily and after finding it once - and ONLY once - never bothered to reach again. That strange discomfort remained. Perhaps it would stay there until Blood was no longer a factor in this strange strange day. "Blood, if you wanna be serious now-"

A sudden force knocked Blossom back as Blood, still holding her head, emitted a harsh yell as shapeless psychic backlash rushed out from her skull in all directions, catching the smaller girl and picking her off her feet for a brief moment like a galeforce wind. Blood staggered to her feet, wincing. Each heartbeat sent a surge of pain through her head and in the distance she felt something struggling to get closer to her; something she immediately shut out as best she could. She still wasn't good at this. With time her control would improve. Getting her head almost clotheslined off by an irate Powerpuff didn't help matters, however.

Blossom lowered her arms from their position of defence and regained her footing, the sudden force that had repelled her dying away like a weakening ocean current against her body. "Geez..." she murmured, her breath still rapid after being caught so unawares. "What now, Blood? What's left in you..." she muttered, more to herself than her nemesis.

Blood, standing shakily, clenched the fist that wasn't pressed against her aching head. Her eyes narrowed in ongoing fury. Her mouth twisted into a scowl. Blossom stiffened, expecting Blood to lash out once more at the slightest provocation. But instead, the auburn-haired girl spun around and catapulted into the sky.

Blossom shook her head "Running, huh? Not this time!" Blossom stomped upon the ground and felt in one swooping instant her mercy to gravity disappear with a rush of wind upon her face. The streak of deep magenta followed her luminously; the light to the little firefly. The sky itself tore past her as she kept a firm gaze upon the retreating esper. Blessed with hawk-like vision she let not the blistering rush of air nor her own breathless speed impinge upon her as she sailed higher and higher, noticing Blood glancing over her shoulder as though expecting her to just go away. "I can't stop." Blossom assured herself "I won't stop." But something felt strange within her head; a building pressure that she couldn't understand or explain. She was barely above the tops of the tall buildings but already her ears began to pop - or they tried to. And then, an all of an instant, a surge of sheer and unnatural pain erupted through the centre of her head, making her hands clap to her ears instinctively as she tried her best to focus. She let out a grunt. "W-What... what's happening?" she asked herself but she couldn't find an answer. She was used to flying at high altitudes where the air pressure was lesser than ground level. But as she continued to rise, the pain doubled upon itself until finally her eyes snapped shut and she came to a mid-air halt, hissing between clenched teeth as her head felt like it was ready to explode. It throbbed with every beat of her heart. This wasn't good. This had to be Blood's doing.

She opened an eye and glanced up as her breath continued to syphon between teeth that her jaw had locked into place. Immediately her mouth opened into a startled yelp as Blood, no longer on the run, tackled her from above and locked her arms around Blossom's waist, driving her shoulder into the Powerpuff's already-aching head. Blossom groaned, her vision fuzzy and her skull now hurting on the outside as well as within. Air once again rushed past her ears, which stung so badly that her eardrums felt like they were going to burst. Disorientation grew and grew and even as she felt herself approaching the ground again, the blinding ache between her ears did not go away. She tried in vain to struggle but a swift knee to her stomach drove all air from her lungs as punishment. Blood smashed her knuckles against Blossom's face, digging them into her cheekbone and then giving a slight squeak of surprise and pain. Blossom had a strong face. A pretty face. It'd take some extra elbow grease to rearrange its features. She didn't doubt the worthiness of such effort though. She released her waistlock and threw her arms forward as she called upon a force that neither girl could see. Blossom lost control. From her fuzzy perspective, it felt as though she was tied to the fender of a big rig, hurtling out of control with no brakes. She wouldn't stop until the asphalt made her.

With indescribable force, Blossom slammed into the roadway, right upon the dotted white line.

Eyes of astonishing ruby, they watched the fallen girl. Blood had no way to tell how hurt she was. Their strange, humanshape bodies - the result of an entirely different scientific mistake to the one that she, herself, came from - were not kind enough to let her catch but a glimpse of their organic mechanism. She found herself continuously glowering in frustration, unable to believe that such a thing could even exist. Months upon months she'd spent, trying to comprehend the power she'd been cursed with. She could see humans on levels that no others could. But these three younger girls drew nothing but a blank. Maybe she simply hadn't figured out how to read them just yet - after all, she was still a beginner despite the terror she could cause. It couldn't have been that these girls possessed something that she simply couldn't fathom - impossible! If there was ever the perfect example of scientific impossibility given life, it was herself. Blood knew these girls could be understood. It would merely take time to practice.

But her concerns meant nothing if she simply killed all three. Blossom lay upon her stomach, her head resting upon her arm and her eyes closed. A peaceful contrast to her violent impact. Perhaps a third of Blood's problems were already solved. It was regrettable that they weren't going to co-operate. If only they knew of the difference they could make for the right reasons. Blood crouched, looking down at Blossom's face. There was a cut on her forehead that was seeping into the short and soft ginger of her eyelash and an ample bruise had had barely enough time to form on her cheek after Blood had punched her. The esper shook her head. All that intrigue about her, and Blossom had been dropped by a simple psychic shove given aid by the force of gravity. "Don't forget what you could have had, Blossom." Blood murmured "Thanks for looking after Sora, at least. It's too bad you didn't want to be part of her new family." Blood stood up again and nudged Blossom with her shoe "We'll be real heroes, me and her..."

Blossom made a groaning noise, and Blood crouched down once again in curiousity. Blossom slowly opened an eye and coughed once or twice as Blood watched her in silent and frustrated respect. Blossom began to prop herself up as she muttered "People who do what you do.... don't deserve to be called heroes!"

The young esper tilted her head, a tiny grin on her face "But all this time you've thought that it's your job to fix things that just get broken again. You wanna save a world that's already gone too far over the edge. It's happening in ways you can't begin to believe, Blossom. Even I don't wanna believe it. I just wanna fight it." she shrugged "I've nothing else to live for, besides. All I know is that there's people out there like you and like me who can become the medicine that fixes this world but they can't do it when they're locked away like animals or forced to hide because the rest of the world's scared of them. But you're out here promoting those fears and encouraging that imprisonment by working for a people whose agenda you don't even understand. You're stubborn, Blossom. Look at you. You're lying there, hurt. Misguided. Why don't you just STOP!?"

Blossom's hands slowly became fists as she rose up from the asphalt. She wiped her wrist against her mouth to smear away the narrow trickle of red. Then she pierced Blood with an incensed glare "I can't stop and I won't stop, Blood! That's the difference between us! I'm not gonna give up on who I am just because of some paranoia that the world's gone crazy! And I know the difference between right and wrong!" Despite the pain in her eyes, Blossom gave a defiant smile "Want a hint?" she leaned closed to the furious esper "Heroes let society see the option of change, and how to best make it. But vigilantes like you give them no choice."

Blood threw her hand forward as her face twisted in absolute anger "Because EVERY OTHER CHOICE IS WRONG!" she screamed as another shockwave of psionic force channeled down to her open palm and exploded from her fingertips, throwing Blossom backward with hurricane force. The tattered Powerpuff skittered along the asphalt. Blood watched her, hoping for a sadistic thrill but instead finding further reason for fury. Blossom simply got to her knees again, her skin unscratched and her gaze unbroken. Anyone else, even Blood, would have been mangled by such friction against the coarse roadway. An impact like the one Blossom took earlier would have shattered ribs but she was barely finding the urge to so much as rub them in discomfort. Blood was at Blossom's side in a heartbeat and sent her knee crashing into Blossom's jaw, knocking her onto her back as Blood again winced at how painful it was to strike Blossom's bone. But again Blossom rolled over and began to get up. Blood's fists were turning white. "STAY ON THE GODDAMN GROUND!" she roared. She spun herself into a kick that slammed hard into the side of Blossom's head, dropping the girl like a limp sack once again.

But Blossom, after a moment, began to chuckle "You're getting frustrated, Blood..." she told the esper, pain etched in her words but not enough to overcome them, "You can't hurt me when you lose control."

"J-Just shut up!"

Blossom began to get up, her face bruised badly "How are you going to lead a team of heroes when you can't keep a lid on your anger? How are you going to seem better than anyone, even me or Sora?"

Blood levelled an accusing finger "No, you are NOT better than me!"

"You're not a hero, Blood..." Blossom murmured, her vision blurry and her whole body numb. She barely noticed that Blood had already swiftly moved behind her "You could never be..."

Blood's fist made sharp connection with Blossom's skull, knocking her to the ground once again. Blood cursed beneath her breath, wishing she could pick this girl's body up and break her spine with her psychic power. But still to her it seemed that there was nothing there. She saw her and could feel the sting on her knuckles after striking her but her mind was telling her that she didn't exist. She grabbed Blossom's ponytail and lifted her up, scrunching up her hair between her fingers "Whatever I do become, Blossom, you WON'T be there to see it!" she placed the sole of her shoe onto the back of Blossom's neck. Then, without a moment's hesitation, she stomped down hard. There was no cry of pain, no prolonged groan of agony. Blossom fell silent. Unmoving. But to Blood that still wasn't enough. She flung her arm forward again, the lightningrod to the storm of her power. Once more a psionic field blasted against everything in front of it like an F5, picking Blossom off the ground and bouncing her along the asphalt and upon the curb where she came to rest against the base of a lightpole on the other side of the road to the much more aggressive esper. Blood felt relief wash through her for just a moment, foolishly believing that it was done. But to her immense annoyance, Blossom AGAIN began to move, sitting up and resting against the lightpole's smooth shaft as the cut on her forehead began to ooze once again. Blood had had enough. She didn't care how much smacking herself into solid X-enriched bone hurt. She flung herself at Blossom and brought her knee forward, levelling it square with the smaller girl's head.

There was a gruesome cracking noise. The base of the metal structure snapped and toppled, sending the glass-encased globe at its top plunging into the asphalt where it shattered. Blood felt the sting in her leg from where she'd struck Blossom. She regretted nothing about not holding back. She turned around slowly, cautiously. The ache in her leg caused her to limp. But that was nothing at all compared to what she just did to her nemesis. When she saw Blossom's sprawled body, she grinned. They could be full of surprises, these strange X-born girls. But even being made from the supernatural won't save you when you're punted so hard in the head that the metal beam on the other side of your skull snaps cleanly. Blossom's eyes were wide but still they were not lifeless. Blood grit her teeth a little. She remembered her vow to dog this girl forever. If everything Blood did within her power to kill her was not enough, then she might fulfill that promise by technicality alone. Quickly she glanced around, looking for some way to book-end this and move on. Letting Sora out of her sight for this long was irresponsible, she knew. Without Sora, she'd never be able to pull this off...

She saw something several blocks down which made her grin. She threw out her hand toward it and let her mind cast the line.

Blossom's head was ringing and her breaths, which seemed to happen automatically and not by awareness, came raspy and shallow. Her eyes were dim against the slowly setting sun. The cold embrace of concrete sidewalk held her body as something felt like it was leaking from the part of her head she could not reach or feel. She swivelled her head, her neck at an unnatural-seeming angle that probably should have hurt if she were in the condition to feel it. She could see her arm, limp beside her body on the side which did not feel cold. She curled her fingers weakly, noticing how they twitched and would not close into a fist. She blinked and her vision grew fuzzy again as though her brain reset every time her eyelids reopened, forcing her to acquaint herself with the surroundings again. Slowly rolling her head over, she looked at her other side. Her hip and other arm were resting against the base of the lightpole, which had shattered about a foot and a half up from where it met the concrete. Oh... that's why her side felt cold. Forcing movement into her arms which she couldn't fully feel, she tried to prop herself up. A noise kept ringing in her ears. She felt dizzy. Nauseous. Her heart thundered like a bass drum between her ears as she tried her hardest to use her hearing in place of her eyesight to maintain her awareness. She wanted to groan and fight off the discomfort. But she had to at least sit up, first. She struggled with all her might to see out of her clouded eyes as in her vision strange little squiggles swam squeemishly side to side. The nauseous feeling only got worse, like her tummy was knotted like the bow on her chest. Crunching her eyes shut and reopening them once again, she noticed her sense of depth and distance returning. With that, she looked in the direction Blood's harrowed breathing came from. Several dozen yards. Elevation 28.2 degrees, azimuth 12 degrees from nose. With one final grunt, she shook her head and her vision at last cleared up.

Then her insides froze over.

Blood held her hand above her head and, suspended in the invisible psionic vortex above her palm, spun lengthwise the gleaming silver and red form of a WestFuels gas tanker. Blood glared down at her disabled prey. A fight was no fun if the loser did not suffer before their final defeat. She saw pain in Blossom's eyes. She licked her lips. If this was the end, she'd make it a spectacular end.

Blossom gave a grim chuckle, feeling herself slump further against the broken streetlamp "Do you know if that thing's even got anything inside of i-" she grumbled as Blood raised a spare finger and poked the air above it. On cue, the huge silver cylinder was punctured - a hole the same size as Blood's fingertip. A brownish fluid gushed and sputtered forth, splashing Blood's arm slightly as it did. Blossom sighed "Ok, I get it..."

"Where's your fight, hero? Where's the unending spirit and determination that leads you on in the struggle to defend this city?"

Blossom didn't expect much, but it was worth a shot. Her eyes lit up. One hit, square to the tanker, and Blood would have no way to outrun the resulting explosion. Then again, Blossom didn't like her odds of surviving that either. Oh well. Needs of the many. Her eyes narrowed a bit, the magenta lighting them flickering like a dying flashlight. She couldn't concentrate. She needed to fire. But she couldn't. Somehow, she couldn't. Her head was still pounding. Something inside was really messed up. The pink shimmer faded and she made a resigned sigh.

"Guess I beat it out of you, huh?"

Blossom weakly tried to clench her fists. Her fingers barely twitched. Sudden movement was impossible. This lamppost felt oddly comfortable right now, anyway. "What..." she grunted against the continuing pain in her head and struggled to finish her sentence "What happened to 'forever'?"

Blood shook her head, fuel vapours rising from the skin on her arm as she responded "Forever is the best you can hope for. And if you can't even earn that, then..." she threw her hand forward. At her command the seemingly weightless tanker became a 34-foot cannonball. "Besides, there's still two more of you!"

Blossom didn't take her eyes off it. As it began to grow bigger and bigger and bigger, there wasn't anything her limp form could do except stare right at-

The world was lit for just an instant by a spectacular flash of green light just as it collided with the spiralling semi right in the heart of its tank. It was barely six feet out of Blood's reach and all too close for her to see the sudden flash of emerald. Her eyes went wide. Her jaw dropped. She had no time to react save for muttering a disappointed "Oh, cra-"

The searing heat of the explosion instantly swept across Blossom's motionless body and she felt the force of it sweep her off the ground like a leaf on the autumn breeze and carry her helplessly. The wind rushed against her face but gravity never regained its grasp upon her. Instead, she felt something much different to the sudden impact against the ground or a building or another goddamn light pole. As the heat of the explosion died away, a warmth lingered behind. Something held her body tightly but gently. A heartbeat gently strobed against her side. She reopened her eyes, the sting of the explosion making them water. She didn't need to wait for a bossy tone to identify her unexpected rescuer.

"Don't move. I'm taking you somewhere safe."

Blossom grinned a little and rested her head against her sister's shoulder "Buttercup..."

"Yup, the big damn rescuer!"

"You're such a brat..."

An ominous black cloud rose above the buildingtops as the shockwave from the ignited fuel passed beneath them, dying out the further it went. Buttercup dropped, landing on a grass median and looking down at her wounded sister "Damn, girl, she messed you up big."

"Bit - nnggghh!" Blossom winced as Buttercup tried to help her stand. Something in her legs felt wonky and unable to hold her weight. She collapsed against Buttercup and groaned "Bit more than I expected."

"You didn't try any of your fancy speeches on her, did you?"

Blossom grit her teeth "...Might have."

"She's a lot like you, you know? If someone pulled that crap on you you wouldn't buy it for a second." she steadied Blossom and looked her in the eye "I think she could sting you in the ass again if you're not careful."

Blossom chuckled weakly "She said... we could fight like that forever if we wanted."

Buttercup shook her head "No, not again. Not if you're gonna end up like this. You're lucky I even found you when I did."

"How? You were meant to be helping-"

"No, I am NOT going back there. I don't belong with the others, being cramped up and afraid just like them. I can't believe this is what they're left to resort to now that we're not here. The cops and the other groups were looking out for sightings of Blood and Sora. You can thank the lady who helped me find you when you meet up with her."

"Meet up?"

Buttercup prodded Blossom in the chest "No more fighting for you. Not now, not again until you rest up. I thought you- can you walk? Good. I thought you woulda put up a better fight than that. I'm taking over and I won't let you argue or pull rank on me like last time. I fought her before and I did alright. It's my turn again, alright?"

Blossom murmured "You can be so foolish."

"Was it foolish that I saved your butt? I need you to go to the intersection of Ninth and Beech. A policelady will meet you there - you saw her before, when we got here. Do NOT come back here, no matter what happens."

Blossom shook her head "Remember the last time you said something like that!?"

Buttercup gave a wry grin, "Aw c'mon, all I got was a bit of a cough. And that ain't gonna happen here. Go!" A tremor shocked the ground, making Buttercup whirl. From the huge smoke plume shot the unmistakable shape of a young girl. Buttercup clenched her fists "GO!" she shouted again. Emerald brilliance exploded from her heels as she roared into the sky on intercept to a very smoke-blackened, VERY furious Blood. Even from a distance she could see the seething ruby eyes glaring at her, enraged that her sudden interference had ruined her playtime with Blossom "Surprise, bitch...!" Buttercup smirked.

Blood clutched her arm - the one doused by the leaking petroleum. She didn't want to glance down at the numb appendage, which resembled a partially-chewed stick of raspberry licorice more than an actual limb. It still oozed red and colourless fluids, crusting over in places where small chunks of muscle used to be - blackened like overcooked pork. She dug her fingernails into the scabby, mottled flesh and, grimacing in pain, ripped it from her arm as new skin took its place from beneath as she regenerated from within. She was tempted to amputate it with a single psionic slice, but that would not help things at all. Throwing the useless excess flesh away, she leered at the oncoming storm of fiery green Powerpuff and loathed her inability to sense or feel any of the inbound pocket-rocket's presence. But there were no rules this time. No first-to-bleed stipulations and no limit to the tricks either could pull. Against the continued agony as she tore more flesh away, Blood found a moment to fondly smile.

Beneath them, the shadow of the still-rising smoke cloud, the unmanned Sorceress vehicle trundled to a halt. Target returns were detected above. Its twin particle cannons rotated skyward and awaited the signal to engage.

Buttercup bared her teeth, drawing her fist back as she flew even faster. "Round two!"



Her calls and pleas continued to go unanswered and it was slowly gettng darker. Bubbles felt a chill of uneasiness growing slowly within herself, wondering if she was even close to finding the wayward zoner or if she was on the wrong side of the city altogether. At first she wasn't even sure where she was, having only come here a couple of times when she was younger. Once she found the fabled Mecca of modern consumerism  - rumoured to have the largest toy store on the west coast - her fears of disorientation were put to rest.

Mulberry Mall... quite a mundane name for Townsville's great big project and tourist trap. On the outside it was just a huge white and grey structure stretching onwards and outwards, surrounded by enough parking spaces to fit all the vehicles of a small county. Ringing around that was a four-lane miniature highway in the shape of an encompassing square, lined by even more shops of the larger, not-suitable-for-indoors type such as auto repair, car dealerships and four large, incomplete towers at the for corners. A real estate development was meant to be added later, once the money-making areas were completed. Its own, self-sustaining subsection of the city of Townsville. Ambitious and complicated. Mayor must have foreseen the Powerpuff Girls moving away in order to create this ahead of time and coax people back to the city about to lose its cultural icon.

No, Bubbles realised. That sounded more like Ms Bellum's sort of idea.

On any normal day, this place would be alive with all sorts of hustle and bustle. Cars and pedestrians. Excited children, run-ragged adults and workers coming to and fro. But it was dead and empty now, like much of the city in the distance behind her. Advertisements and colourful banners still hung around the car dealership. An inflatable man with arms that would wave joyfully (although Bubbles found them a bit scary) lay unused in front of the spa and pool salesman's yard, still connected to its air pump. The parking spaces, larger than half a dozen football fields, were nothing more than an empty sea of asphalt lined with white dividing lines and palm trees for the welcoming feel that the sense of abandonment washed away. If anyone WAS here, they'd surely hear Bubbles' shrill cries. So she tried again.

"SORA!" she screamed, her voice resonating and causing the leaves on the palms to rustle. Her throat hurt after that last one. Still, after waiting and wandering, nothing responded to her. A sudden breeze hit her from one side gently, ruffling her skirt and pigtails. Even though the sun would not set for at least another hour, the wind felt cold against her skin as the ominously empty development around her felt more and more like a ghost town. Still she kept looking, getting closer to the huge supermall as she did. This would have been the hardest place to get into; locked and armed to protect from all invaders the moment the call to evacuate the city was made. That would not stop someone like Sora, she figured. Not when you could jump from one side of a thick wall or security door to the other as though it weren't even there. But why would this thing - this Overseer, be in a giant mall?

What would it do in a massive toy store anyway?

Something glinted from near the top of one of the unfinished border towers - apartment buildings still awaiting their final completion. Bubbles didn't notice as once again she called the name of her missing friend. She murmured to herself in her worry. Something bad could have easily happened to Sora if she wasn't careful. When she thought about it, Bubbles realised there was nothing stopping that same bad luck befalling her-

A distant gunshot rang out and Bubbles at once heard a faint whistling. She whirled and looked straight at what made that air-piercing sound. A fleck of gold, sailing almost too fast for her to notice. She couldn't react - her feet turned to brick. The colour drained from her face just as she felt a terribly familiar sensation take her over as her vision of the supersonic bullet was engulfed by a sudden and brilliant white flash. For the slimmest of moments she felt weightless and disembodied. The universe was spinning wildly, madly, with no way to tell which way was up. Then it was over in a heartbeat as the white flash gave way to the cold hard kiss of concrete flooring. Bubbles landed on her stomach with a pained groan as her stomach felt ready to twist itself in knots. Sora, crouching beside her and extremely frustrated, blew air out between her lips impatiently before staring back through the huge paneless windows that stretched from floor to ceiling, resuming her watch over the mall and its surrounds. The late afternoon breezes were colder this far up the incomplete apartment tower. Her boots could only shield her lower legs from the sensation of chill, her face, arms, midriff and thighs all exposed and washed by the goosebump-inducing air. Her skirt and loose top fared no better, but all she did was close her eyes and put the cold aside. In training she'd been subjected to far worse whilst wearing far less. This old outfit was a blessing compared to what some of her training had her wearing. She didn't know how many of those faceless men caught a full-body look at her, nor did she care. Those days were over.

Bubbles groaned again, staring blankly as her plush cheek rested against the cold, unsurfaced floor. She waited for her head to stop spinning before she sat up. She knew who was behind this before even seeing their face "Sora, I- ugh..." she regretted opening her mouth. Her stomach took it at a renewed opportunity to evacuate itself. She tried to ignore it and got up on her knees "I was looking for you..." she finished after taking several deep breaths.

"I noticed." was the flat response.

"Why didn't you answer?" Bubbles blinked, noticing something peculiar "Hey, where's your hat?"

"You should not have come here. Don't you think it's a little unsafe for you out here?"

"I couldn't let you do this alone!" Bubbles protested "I can't leave you out here! I... I need to know you're alright." she blushed slightly. Sora shot her an irritated glance, her frustration crumbling and giving way to Bubbles' warmth and sincerity. "Why are you up here, Sora?"

"Do you know what just happened to you?"

"Well... yeah you used your flash thing and brought me up here with yo-"

Sora waved her hand and, from her fingernails, the strange wispy vapours spread. Bubbles fell silent, watching as Sora held out her hand beneath the tiny cloud. A large, conical object of a familiar gold tint fell from the vapour, wide enough to be another finger on Sora's hand. She held it between her finger and thumb, turning it over before Bubbles' curious eyes. "Know what this is?"

"Um... a bullet?"

Sora clarified "Ballistic produce. Browning. .50 BMG high-penetration round. Possibly anti-material in purpose. Velocity and precision suggest that its origin was a sniper rifle. My guess would be a Barrett. M-82 or M-107. This," she turned the tip toward Bubbles' face "was shot at" she pressed its cold tip against Bubbles' forehead "at your head."

Bubbles gulped "Th-That can't be right...!"

"It is. It was caught in the teleport when I whisked you out of there. A millisecond later and you'd be in serious trouble." Bubbles' pale face suggested she was terrified at the idea of coming within a whisker of this thing hitting her. Sora nailed it home "I don't care how special your fancypants Chemical X bone structure is, Bubbles. This thing would have gone right through you and turned that cute face into a cratered mess. You left yourself open to an attack by standing out there. Aren't you lucky you blew my cover and I saved you...?"

"Those things can't hurt a Powerpuff Gi-"

Sora cocked her head with an impatient sneer "God you're naive... Don't you know about the evolution of modern combat? Or is your knowledge limited to punches and laser vision?"

"Um..."

"Ever since the advent of superkind and the experimentation of transhumanism, there's always been the fear of facing someone inherently superior to yourself. Look at the tip, Bubbles, look at the tip." she pointed to the shiny, sharp-ended round's point "Average flightspeed would be many many times the speed of sound. High-density penetrator tip. Could be coated in a number of compounds to give extreme hardness. Weighted behind the tip for extra punching force... these things were in development long before either of us were around, Bubbles. Becoming a nationwide celebrity won't help matters, either. Every innovation leads to a countermeasure. These people aren't stupid enough to arm themselves with bullets that won't work. They only don't work because they don't anticipate our powers. Catch us with our guards down and we're dead. This thing could be a local model, or one of the many cheaper foreign knockoffs." she leered at Bubbles "Either way, that thing hits your head and your day is ruined."

Bubbles shook her head slowly "Why would they fire at ME though? I'm on-"

"On their side? Bubbles, the only side that matters to them is their own. They won't care if you're a Powerpuff or the President, if you get in the way they are authorised to kill you. They could have and would have, Bubbles." her apple-coloured eyes stared at the large round "I've seen what this can do to people, Bubbles..." she didn't blink as she glared at the cold, unfeeling projectile. Claire. And Masha. The sight of them after something similar to this hit them... and the latter being fired by Sora's mass acceleration itself... "I'm convinced that Blood was right, Bubbles. Cody's here. That's why there's a sniper in one of the other towers. And an armoured division in the McBurgers down the road there. And the auto-repairs place that's really some sort of underground transport tunnel."

"A what?"

"Saw a truck drive into that garage over there-" she gestured out to far across the asphalt plains, on the other side of the supermall. It was a large red garage retailer - Perseus Autoparts and Repair. Huge roller doors on one side where cars could enter. "It went through there and didn't come out again. Looked like a transport, probably carrying supplies. There's something under this whole complex, Bubbles, and the more I think about it the more sense it makes. I was trying to work out how to best get inside before you showed up and drew their fire."

"Can't you teleport down there?" Bubbles queried.

Sora chuckled a little, amused by the naivety of someone who knew nothing about zoner ability nor the conditions under which they operated. Her innocence made her cuter. "I can't afford to misjudge it, Bubbles. What if I warp into somewhere and get stuck half-in, half-out of the floor or roof? What if I end up warping into a solid steel wall? If that happens, I won't get the second attempt." Another sigh, and she rubbed her head. Only one other child from the orphanage was selected to be a zoner. When Sora one day found his upper half hanging lifelessly out of his dorm wall after a failed jump attempt, she knew she'd be the one at the top of her particular class...

"These people are even worse than I thought..." Bubbles shivered.

"They could have killed you with this..." the bullet began to float as Sora's hand glowed creamy-white "Doesn't matter if you were a hero here once. One shot. Boom."

Bubbles cringed "Stop it..."

Sora smirked, "Well, they won't do it with this bullet." She waved her hand. The bullet crackled with some sort of static before it erupted into a shower of bronze sprinkles which faded into nothingness.

Bubbles jumped in surprise "How'd you-"

"Subatomic energy cancellation. Not gonna describe it - too complicated."

"So what do you plan to do if you can't tell how far you have to travel or what's on the other side of something?" Bubbles murmured, doubting she would even be able think straight if the same limitations and considerations were upon her own shoulders.

"That's not our main concern." Sora abruptly responded. "You turning up means that everyone's on high alert here now. And if they're all armed with deep-penetration rounds, I don't want to be splattered across a parking lot while I try and make a move. Besides, I ain't about to forgive someone who tried to kill my new best friend."

Bubbles flushed in the cheeks at the sentiment, but again felt a bit lost. "How we gonna find that sniper?"

Sora shot her a look of wry cunning "You mean how are YOU gonna find him!"

Bubbles squeaked "Nononono I don't wanna get shot at again!" she flailed her arms.

Sora chuckled, lying down on her stomach and peeking her head over the edge of the unfinished flooring, her hair caught by the gentle breeze and ruffling against her back and sides "You'll be fine. Look, we know he's in one of the towers. I feel a bit stupid about it but when I pulled you out of there as the bullet flew in, I didn't take the time to calculate the origin of its trajectory. I'd rather ditch my conjecture and figure..." she trailed off, noticing Bubbles' blank expression. Her words were bouncing off her. With a slightly frustrated huff, she pointed out to the big open space ahead "We're gonna flush him out. You're gonna be the bait."

"Why me!?"

Sora's eyes narrowed as she glanced between the two distant towers on opposite ends of the huge square multiplex. "Coz I can't fire colourful lasers from my body. You're the lamp and he's the moth. Once he fires, I'll work out his location. Then we can deal with him." she grit her teeth "I'll deal with him. I got you into this mess anyway."

"You trying to be brave or something, Sora?" Bubbles muttered.

Sora kept her eyes narrowed, trying to calculate a bullet's flight time between one of those towers and this one. As she did, she responded with "I've been trained in anti-ballistics and have had guns pointed at me many times before. I don't need to be brave anymore..." Take coriolis into account... "not when..." Longer flight time over hypoteneuse than the perimeter... "...not when I don't feel anything anymore." Plenty of time for her reflexes to act, she surmised. They'd be safe here when their unseen friend responded to them.

"There's so much you gotta tell me about what they did to you." Bubbles mentioned.

"You wouldn't like a moment of it, but if you insist, then I might." she pointed out at the most distant tower, across the hypoteneuse of the roughly square-shaped precinct. The broad-side of each tower faced inward toward the supermall, rather than facing the edges. Their signal would be visible to all. She expected more ground movement after the initial shot taken and the flash that whisked their target away. Maybe the area wasn't as well defended as she'd anticipated. Still, no chances. Matter-of-factly, she gave her instructions "Eye lasers. Fire them up at the furthest tower's roof, then sweep it around. Make it look like you're trying to hit something."

"Won't that show him exactly where we are!?"

Sora groaned, "Yes, that WAS the point!"

"But what do we do when he finds us!"

"Then we go to him. Just shut up and fire!"

Bubbles pursed her lips, not understanding much of any of it. Stepping up to the edge of the building's unfinished floor, which had to be about 30 storeys up, she muttered unhappily under her breath "Here goes nothing." Her eyes lit up and with a discomforting squealing sound that made Sora reach to cover her ears impulsively, two light blue streaks of light lashed out across the darkening sky. Sora was surprised by the ferocity of Bubbles' blasts, the lasers flashing on and off like a constant strobing beacon as Bubbles turned her glance several degrees to the left and then off to the right. Sora felt the heat against her scalp and her exposed lower back each time the azure flashed. It was such a simple technique - one that those nasty scientists wanted to give Cody in his initial first upgrade - but she'd never been this close to anything of the sort before. It was a simple electromagnetic manipulation, refracted and projected by a complex series of lenses and radiation pouches in the ocular system - well, at least that's how the modifications were meant to be. She assumed that it was the same for Bubbles and her sisters. But the intense heat and the squealing noises made her wince. There was incredible power in this little girl, and this was one of her most basic techniques! Awestruck for a moment, Sora was rudely brought back to the task at hand when she suddenly felt, screaming toward them both at supersonic speed, a tiny brass intruder. Reflex was all she needed. A moment later, she found herself staring at a bullet identical to the one she'd only just vaporised, still twirling as its momentum was cancelled out and its lethality was erased.

"Alright, Bubbles, you can stop."

The squealing sounds and vivid blue flashes persisted, lighting up the late afternoon and making Sora wish for her hat back as her head felt like it would catch fire.

"Bubbles, STOP!" she yelled. Finally, the child exhaled deeply and sunk to her knees, her pyrotechnic display concluded. But she was staring out at the far away towers, livid with some sort of untold fury.

Then she gave a simple explanation for it all "Don't shoot me... meanies!"

"All done?" Sora smirked, "Play dead for a moment. Make them think you're dead. If they spot us, I doubt they'd get another shot off in time." She turned her thoughts to the bullet. She observed its position and took its forward momentum into account, plotting its flightpath in her head in moments. Crosswind was little factor. It came from the eastern building. About two floors above the same level they sat upon. Maybe three floors. Didn't matter. Close enough. Her turn to hunt. She made a flicking motion with her fingers, the bullet spinning like a coin as it fell harmlessly to the distant ground below. Sora sprung to her feet. "Come on."

Bubbles was clueless "Wait, what?"

"We gotta catch him by surprise. I'm doing an running warp. You're coming with me."

Bubbles gulped "Another one?" she whined.

Moving a few paces backward, Sora sighed whilst something deep inside her felt warm toward Bubbles' timidness. Such a contrast to that impressive laser blast. "Suck it up, Princess. It's good for you."

"I'd rather not be sick, please!"

Sora broke into a sprint, right toward the worried younger blonde "You'll be sick but safer. Come on!" she seized Bubbles' arm as she ran past her, right up to the edge of the windowless edge. A brilliant flash engulfed them both. Bubbles scrunched her eyes shut and let Sora lead the way as there was no longer any up and no more down, no sky and no ground. Just the spinning and churning brightness and Sora's steadying grasp. Then the light cleared and she felt herself flying forward.