Title: For Lost Years
Author: SeBriar
Pairing: RrB/PpG (eventually; it has indeed occurred to me that we're nine chapters in and two out of three couples hate each other, while the third is barely above indifference )
Chapter Rating: T, because omg so tense…
Chapter Details: Shorter than my usual minimum requirements; planning for big upcoming events.
Disclaimer: Clearly I don't and should never own PpG. It would end up on a three year hiatus before coming back with no warning.
Chapter Nine: Of the Same Coin

Happy Reading!

''Honest unaffected distrust of human abilities under all circumstances is the surest sign of strength of mind.'' -unknown

Brick paced in front of the smart-board that had been set up in the living room of their 'vacation home,' designating it as their planning center since they didn't have an office space and the entirety of their basement was being used to hold an older model of the virtual reality training room.

The lights were off and the curtains drawn, so that the only the glow of the large screen gave off any sort of illumination to see by.

The other members of his family and the lone Powerpuff sat facing him on the couch, giving him their undivided attention.

He was silent and twisting the cap of the marker in his hands as he paced the length of the room back and forth, glaring at the floor. Very rarely in recent years had he come to a point where he did not know exactly how to proceed; at least, not before the Powerpuff Girls came back into his life. What a fool he was to believe he could avoid it for the rest of his life.

It seemed everything going on now revolved around those girls, and he even had one living in close quarters with himself and his family. Honestly, Brick would not put it past Blossom to somehow have planned this entire scenario in case the arrest of his mother did not go through.

He could see it: using the most innocent seeming of her sisters in order to infiltrate their inner circle and gain their trust before making her move. She had always underestimated him, but he would not be fooled this time.

"…Brick? Hey, you okay?" Boomer asked, watching his brother nervously as he continuously walked the length of the room.

Brick halted abruptly, glancing over at the occupants of the couch with a disgruntled frown. He was never one to sugarcoat things -even for himself- and had no problem admitting that he hated the fact that his brothers were able to sit so comfortably with their enemy. He expected it of his mother, whom he personally thought was not the best judge of character, but not his team.

"I'm fine," he finally answered, his dark red eyes, barely glowing in the dim lighting, were all that belied his inner torment. It was a reaction he'd struggled to control for years and had still yet to conquer. 'Just another way I must be inferior to HER,' he thought bitterly.

"Well, if you're having trouble deciding how we should start, why don't we go over where we are right now?" Cathy suggested, sensing her son's troubled state of mind and attempting to deflect his thoughts onto a different topic.

Brick's gaze darted over to her, briefly flashed down to her gloved hands resting in her lap, then averted to a point beyond her head. He nodded in response to her suggestion and went to stand by the smart-board. "Boomer," he queued his brother.

Boomer opened up the laptop he held, hooked up to the smart-projector, and the board instantly came to life, mirroring the wallpaper of the blonde's pc.

There were several minimized windows at the bottom of the screen. Brick pressed lightly on the spot of the board where the one closest to him was located. The web page that opened up was an article from Townsville Gazette. Using his marker, he underlined a specific sentence in the top paragraph.

It read, "Catherine A. Magnesium, a scientist/engineer who has provided the world at large for several years high tech weaponry in which has largely been used against terroristic populace (as well as a handful of notable medical advances), has turned on her country and become the very thing she was helping us keep at bay. A terrorist."

"So as you can see," Brick began, expression now completely void of emotion, "Mother's current position in society is that of an international terrorist. She is wanted in not only every state in America but also-" He paused and pulled up another page, "China, England, and Japan. Magnesium industries began only two years ago allowing its products to be shipped worldwide and these three countries suspect foul play in that the company may have planted such arsenal as the unknown gas element that invaded Townsville High in its merchandise. This is of course unfounded and ludicrous, but nevertheless she is now public enemy number one."

Cathy groaned quietly and buried her face in her hands, shaking her head slowly back and forth in disbelief. She never could've possibly guessed the potential drawbacks of involving the girls in her project. Or, well, she knew there would be some, just not of this magnitude…

"Surprisingly," Brick continued, his eyebrows furrowing, "Or perhaps not, Bubbles' involvement with us is being kept under wraps. That's not to say the people of Townsville are completely ignorant to her departure-" He tapped a different tab and another newspaper article popped up with Bubbles' smiling face splashed across the top. Above the picture, in large bold lettering, was 'PUFF-NAPPED!'

The couch's occupants all grimaced simultaneously at the glaring title. Bubbles shrank back into the cushions uncomfortably.

"-They just believe that we've taken her against her will and either plan to hold her for some kind of ransom, or that we're going to force her to do our bidding," Brick concluded with a deep frown, glaring down at Bubbles, who glanced about the room unsurely.

"For whatever reason," He said with a tinge of contempt, gaze never wavering from the blue Puff, "The remaining Powerpuff Girls don't seem to be making much of an attempt at dissuading these falsehoods."

Bubbles gasped, looking affronted as she clamped her hands into fists against her chest and opened her mouth to finally speak up. "Are you saying-!"

"Are you trying to imply that this is part of some plan the girls concocted?" Boomer interrupted with an even tone, an eyebrow raised inquiringly at his brother. Bubbles snapped her mouth closed and glanced at Boomer next to her.

"I'm not implying anything," Brook replied immediately, his tenor returning to its earlier deadpan. "I'm merely pointing out all the facts and variables of our current circumstances."

Butch snorted from where he sat on the arm of the couch beside his mother, "Yeah right. Don't worry you guys, Red's just being his usual paranoid self."

Brick snapped his red eyes over to him, the dead-eyed intensity clearly illustrating his displeasure at his brother's mocking. "Nevertheless," He said, slowly returning his gaze to the smart board, "This is the situation we are dealing with. We already have a narrowed list of suspects for the attack on the high school, and I've begun working on some contingency plans. I'm open to suggestions, however."

Catherine raised her eyes to the ceiling, and sighed, staring at it contemplatively.

Jen hurriedly gathered the last of her papers, packing them neatly away in her sleek leather briefcase. She then sank down in her desk chair, sighing heavily. She turned her head and stared despondently at the empty desk of her superior and best friend since high school.

It had been over a week since Cathy and the boys were forced to flee due to false accusations related to terrorism, and since nothing incriminating could be found in their penthouse suite on the top floor the police had decided to lock down and search the building for more evidence against the CEO of Magnesium Industries. This was incredibly inconvenient for someone who lived on the second to top floor of the structure.

Hotels were not Jen's preferred place of dwelling.

They refused to reveal what, if anything, they found during their exploration. However, they just recently reopened the doors this morning to the staff so that they could retrieve their personal belongings from their offices.

The office Jen was currently seated in which she shared with Cathy had been thoroughly stripped and investigated. The rather comfortably sized space had once held other furniture such as a nice couch and a few comfortable chairs. It was barren now, as the furniture had to be torn open and removed as part of the search.

Even their computers were taken for investigation, and Jen was more than a little annoyed that her flash drives were gone along with them. She'd lost a significant amount of notes, but there was certainly nothing incriminating on them, so she was not concerned on that front.

Jen did something she would never do in the company of anyone other than her super-powered makeshift family, and certainly never in the workplace. She slumped down in her chair, kicking her stiff heels off and swinging her legs up over the arm so that she sat sideways with them dangling. She crossed her ankles and folded her hands lightly over her stomach, leaning back to gaze blankly at the plain white ceiling.

''I miss them so much…'' She mumbled quietly. She wished there was something she could do to help them.

BRRRRRIIIIIIIING! BRRRRRIIIIIIIIING!

She jumped, startled, at the sound of her cell phone going off in the previously silent room. Without looking, she groped around on her desk before she managed to grab it.

"Hello, Jennifer Carlfer speaking," she answered professionally, sitting up a little straighter and smoothing down the wrinkles in her blouse.

…She shot up, scrambling to jam her feet back into her shoes and grab her briefcase.

"Whatever you need, ma'am, I'm here for you," she stated with conviction as she hurriedly pushed her chair under her desk.

She walked briskly to the door, but suddenly paused with her hand just hovering over the knob.

"I… understand. If you're sure."

Blossom snapped a file folder shut and let it flop down onto the table inside one of the back rooms used for questioning in the police station. She'd been granted clearance to police evidence involving the Magnesium case, however, weeks of research had amounted to nothing. There were simply no leads as to the whereabouts of the Doctor, her sons, or her sister.

She pushed a few loose papers out of her way and picked up another folder; rereading this material was useless to her, she knew, but there was always the possibility she had made a slight oversight and missed a key word that would shed light on the entire process. The chances of this was less than one percent with her photographic memory, but even Blossom would admit she could be obsessively thorough at times.

A knock came from the door to her right, and she quickly strode over to open it. She frowned deeply, when Jennifer Carlfer was escorted in. The woman looked a bit disheveled, most likely from being pulled from her hotel room with little warning at seven in the evening.

This would be the fifth time Jen was brought in for questioning, and she seemed rather resigned to it based on the way she placidly pulled out the chair on the other side of the table and took a seat.

The officer who'd brought her gave Blossom a respectful nod of his head left the room. A detective would be in shortly to assist Blossom with the questioning, but for the next few minutes she would be alone with Ms. Carlfer.

Blossom stared coldly at the company assistant, and Jen looked back at her evenly, not batting an eyelash at the Puff's attitude, and instead mentally drawing comparisons between the girl in front of her and another frigid teenager whose temper she was well acquainted with

"Jennifer Carlfer, you've been brought in for questioning once again under suspicions of collaboration with an individual accused of national terrorism," Blossom stated bluntly, her gaze never wavering. "You volunteered this time. Why is that? Have you decided to admit to being involved, or perhaps offer us a lead as to where Dr. Magnesium and the Rowdyruff Boys are hiding?"

"Of course not. What could I possibly tell you now that I haven't already told you? I don't know anything about the attacks on the hospital or the high school, and I don't know where Cathy and the kids are," Jen replied.

Blossom arched a perfectly trimmed red eyebrow, but otherwise did not change her expression. "Then what information can you share with us?"

It was at this point the detective in charge of this interrogation stepped in, a cup of coffee in one hand and some papers tucked under his arm. His scrawny but tall frame, shaggy dark hair, and bags beneath his eyes, gave off the impression of someone strenuously overworked. He was different from the previous one that accompanied Blossom in questioning Jen and the other employees and acquaintances of Magnesium Industries. The redheaded Puff hoped he'd been well briefed so they wouldn't have to rehash old information.

"I-I apologize for my la-lateness; were you w-wa-waiting long?" He asked Blossom, who frowned at the way he stumbled over a few of his words. Could someone with such low gallantry or this speech impediment be competent in this field? She released a frustrated sigh, but shook her head in response. "Not at all; barely even a few minutes."

"I came here today-" Jennifer spoke up suddenly, and Blossom returned her focus solely to her. "To give you the name of the suspects most likely believed to have caused the gas raid at the high school. "Their names are Hopson, Curr, Smith, and Falman."

"Dr. Magnesium is our prime suspect. Why should we stretch our resources looking further into these people whom we've already questioned without further evidence. Do you have further evidence?" Blossom had of course noticed during questioning these four that they had filed out of Dr. Cathy's office behind the Rowdyruff Boys during the attempted arrest and had her own suspicions, but not enough evidence to at all dissuade her of Cathy's guilt.

"None that hasn't already been confiscated by police," Jen admitted reluctantly.

"Right," Blossom replied dryly. "I will give further thought to the ones accused." She turned to the detective, "Please escort them out, Detective-…"

"D-Detec-tective Net, m-ma'am," he finished.

Blossom nodded, "Alright. Detective Net, please escort Ms. Carlfer out of the station," She turned back to Jen. "We will contact you if we have further questions, or acquire new leads based on your information."

AN: Okay, so, have you ever just been going through your old notebooks you thought you lost read through your old stories, and thought, 'Hey, I can finish this. Heck, I make it even better.' Yeah... not gonna offer excuses for the three year long break, or any promises for what's to come. Just glad to be back doing what I loved. I even found some old PpG artwork too. Haven't drawn them in ages.