There's a murderer in Townsville, killing every villain in the city. The girls must stop them before it's too late. Things get worse when the find out that they must also protect the RowdyRuff Boys while doing so. Can they catch the killer before the criminals die out? It's only a matter of time before their number 1 priorities are next, the RowdyRuff Boys. Will they stop the murderer in time? Better than it sounds, because I really suck at summaries. They're just too hard to write. Read and Review? Your constructive criticism is really appreciated. Collaborative Story written by FFicReader and xX3B.r.o.k.e.n.3Xx.

Chapter 1: Failure ~ xX3B.r.o.k.e.n.3Xx

It combusted. It was over-heated. He had failed again, and again, and again. His experiments had always failed him. The only one that ever went right was years ago, when he accidentally created the best thing he'd ever wanted. The only thing he ever wished for.

Three perfect little daughters. The daughters who saved his life, and the citizens of Townsville's lives repeatedly with no complaints. This city would be dead without them, and it was all thanks to him.

No, it wasn't his doing. It was a confused and scared little primate that created them. He would've never added the Chemical into the mixture on purpose, because he felt it wasn't needed. Without his little partner he wouldn't have the angels he was blessed with to this day.

But that didn't stop him from getting mad at himself for all his failed projects. Where was that monkey when he needed him? Maybe he could make things work…

…If he wasn't an evil, super-genius criminal…

Professor John Utonium sighed, dragging his big fingers through his jet black hair, although, little by little it was going gray from stress.

He would try again, only using a different substance in the mixture. He knew the two he used first were right, he was 100 percent sure it was correct. It was the third one he couldn't figure out. And when he poured the alleged "right one" in, it caught on fire. Struggling to keep the flames away from every flammable item in the room for the safety of himself, and his beloved daughters, who were oblivious to the potential hazard just downstairs. Grabbing the nearest fire extinguisher, he pulled the pin and squeezed the lever, watching nervously as the misty foam gushed out like water from a faucet. As soon as the fire was put out, in a fit of rage, Professor Utonium seized the glass cauldron off of the miniature stovetop and threw it to the other side of the room. It smashed loudly against the wall, breaking into pieces.

He figured he should just give up, for the night anyway. Besides, he had to go take care of his daughters. They had passed out once they reached home, severely beaten and bloody, covered in cuts and scrapes. What ever monster they had battle against was strong, but they, fortunately, were able to defeat it. When Professor came across their wounded bodies, he almost lost all composure and broke down. What monster could've done this to his little girls? But he was even angrier to find out that it was no mutant creature from the island across the lake, but a criminal that had outwitted them, and beat them to a pulp.

Though, what made the girls mad was the fact that it was the Gangreen Gang that did all the damage, which was unbelievable to them, and "unacceptable" on the Professor's behalf. Since when were they strong? This was a question that haunted the Utonium Family's minds.

Professor was working on a medication that would help heal their wounds quicker, a medication with more Chemical X to enhance their strength entirely. But, alas, it failed. He had settled with regular Chemical X to get their bodies back to normal. John sighed inwardly as he stared down upon his sleeping daughters. Blossom, who was lounging on the armchair, Buttercup, who was sprawled out on the couch, and his youngest, Bubbles, who appeared to be so downtrodden and abused, that she had collapsed right on the floor. Had he not watched where he was walking, he would've stepped on her.

He smiled sadly at his treasures, deep in thought. Sometimes he regretted allowing his daughters to go out and blindly fight people, not knowing what they were fully capable. If he lost them, he would lose his mind. He feared the day that the PowerPuff Girls would meet there match and lose the battle for good. Not wanting to think of those kinds of things, he left the living room as quietly as possible, not wanting to disturb the three sisters. It was best to let them rest and naturally heal as much as possible before he gave them the extra dose of Chemical X.

He went back downstairs to his laboratory to get the Chemical ready for the girls for when they woke up. But the sudden realization of the chemical he had failed to use in his previous concoction made him forget about the task at hand. Professor Utonium turned on the vat of, now, bubbling water. He was a very persistent being, and once again, he tried to mix his creation, having a sudden urge to use a certain chemical in the mix this time. He used the first two chemicals, Zhytonite acid and Yimasei F, just like before. But instead of using the chemicals he used the last three times, he used the one that gave him his greatest treasures;

Chemical X.

He cautiously poured a little amount of the black substance into the pot, watching as it turned green and started bubbling over. He wasn't sure if it was a success or a failure, since all of them had bubbled over before anything happened. But it looked as if it was working. Could it be? Had he actually created the right formula to make the antidote for his girls' injuries?

Nope.

He leaned forward to better examine his work, which was a mistake, because it exploded, throwing him back against the wall on the opposite side of the room. The substance splattered all over the floor and walls, but quickly evaporated into nothing, which made him panic for a brief moment. He stood from his stretched out position on the floor and rubbed the back of his head, for it had smacked hard against the wall. He cursed under his breath as he slowly limped towards the lab table, placing his hands on either side of it to steady himself. The smell of chemicals and another unknown scent stung in his nostrils. He winced a bit, hoping that the concoction hadn't found it's way inside of his bloodstream somehow. The stinging went away as quickly as it came, and John shrugged it off as nothing.

The same thing has occurred too many times before- enough times to allow him to shrug it off instantaneously. Instead, his mind drifted off to his failures once more. He should just give up, he wouldn't be able to create something that would help his daughters immediately. It would take time to produce such thing, and it would come with a lot of trials and errors.

He frowned, hobbling towards the other side of the table, when his reflection in the mirror on the other wall beside him caught his attention. Was this really what he had become? An old, over-stressed man, his posture withering away and a near permanent frown etched on his face? He needed to go easier on himself, or he would end up bringing down the ones around him, as well as he himself. He could not prevent his weary eyes from averting their gaze down to his feet. He was ashamed to be an embarrassment to himself.

"Do you not care about them?"

John perked up, his head shooting upwards. Naturally, the first thing he would see was his own image in the mirror, and he expected it to be him, bent over the lab table, looking confusedly at himself in the glass frame. He would've never anticipated the image of himself, standing straight and tall glaring down at him.

It wasn't him. It couldn't be. It was his conscious, taking the form of him in the mirror. That being the only logical explanation John could muster, as unreasonable as it seemed.

"They are your daughters, your only family, your life!" It hissed at him. He stared in disbelief, and yet he took everything it said into mind.

"All you care about is yourself, and how you can't figure out a stupid 'magical potion'!" John stood from his hunched position on the table and sauntered over to the mirror. "You need to stop being so selfish, and look at the more important things. It's the fact that those villains are beginning to get stronger, and are matching the power of your girls! Soon, they'll be overpowering them, and they'll use that as their advantage and kill them!" John's imitation preached at him. But all the real Professor could do was wince at the thought of the villains killing his precious angels. It was unspeakable. Unacceptable. Unforgivable. His reflection began to orate once more.

"You need to make sure none of those villains touch a hair on their fragile bodies, or else anything and everything that happens to them is your fault. It's all on your account! The rotten scum that walk the streets of the town need to be stopped!" It smirked, flashing it's jagged teeth. Even Professor Utonium himself snarled, glaring daggers at the ground below his feet. He hunched over once more, his legs giving away from the rage that coursed through his veins.

Just thinking about the cruel monstrosities that could injure three little girls with no remorse made him sick. Even if they were 17 (Bubbles), 18 (Buttercup) and 19 (Blossom), they were still young women, and the scum that tried to butcher them were no better than the dirt on the bottom of his shoe. Even the dirt surpassed them in terms of greatness. He scoffed, getting a foul taste on his tongue just cogitating about the people that dared to lay a hand on the PowerPuff Girls. It made him want to murder them himself. If they wanted to get to the PowerPuff Girls, they'd have to go through him first.

But of course he would be of no match to them. It was an unattainable dream for him to be able to stop bad guys from inflicting any harm to the PowerPuff Girls. Sooner or later, someone was bound to do it for the sake of the town and for the sake of the town's saviours. And that day had better come sooner rather than later.

John turned his attention back to the mirror, only to find a crouched image of himself glaring back at him. As his features changed, so did the reflection's, matching his look of confusion. Everything was back to normal.

Or at least as normal as normal could be after everything that just happened.

"Professor!" He heard a small voice cry out. On instinct, he leaned upwards, straightening himself out. The middle child had awoken.

Unhurriedly, he marched up the stairs and opened the metal door dividing him from the rest of the world around him. As he turned the knob and swung the door open he came face to face with the familiar jade eyes he loved. "How are you feeling?" He asked, staring right into her eyes. He couldn't stop the smile from passing over his face.

"I've been better." Buttercup replied truthfully. She wasn't afraid of letting go of her pride every once in a while. He lifted a hand and ruffled her raven hair like he would when she was younger. Apparently, it still annoyed her to this very day, since she lightly shoved his arm away. "Quit it." She uttered softly.

"Okay, I'm sorry." He apologized, raising his hands defensively. She grinned at him before going straight to the refrigerator. Typical Buttercup. Her personality had barely changed since she was younger. Although she remained a tomboyish girl, she would, unbelievably, wear skirts, as long as the were puffy and "funky" as she referred to it. On several occasions, Professor called her a zombie, vampire, rock-princess or something of the likes. She would just glare at him, and he'd shut his mouth for a few days before resuming his name-calling. But despite that drastic change, she refused to touch anything pink, unless it was pink and black.

But other than that, she was the same old Buttercup. Professor Utonium chuckled as he watched her exit the kitchen with a bag of chips and a can of soda. Ignoring his snickering, she planted herself on the couch in front of the television where she had passed out just moments ago, and continued to tune in to her favourite show as if nothing ever happened. And yet, on either side of her, her sisters lay there, unconscious. Professor smiled once more.

Yep. Same old Buttercup.

Ace stalked through the junkyard, flashlight in hand and remaining gang close behind him. 4:00 in the morning and it was raining hard, but there was no lightning or thunder clashing in the sky above. His lit cigarette slowly died out, and he flicked the butt recklessly to the side, letting the water droplets extinguish the ember. He grunted, his voice dry and raspy as he called out for his missing friend. Snake hurried up beside him, hissing quietly as he gripped and tugged at the leader's black leather vest.

Ace had to look down to see Snake, due to the fact that the second in command was more than 5 inches shorter than him. He lifted his eyebrow, questioning Snake's actions. And when the shy boy failed to respond, he voiced his confusion. "What?" He barked. His patience was vanishing from the annoyance of having to look for his careless comrade in the pouring rain. To add to that, it was early in the morning, so he was tired and grumpy, too. At least it wasn't a thunder storm that would keep him up once the recovered their missing member and headed back to their shelter.

Snake winced and slightly shrunk back from the visible irritation in Ace's hoarse voice. He carefully, and hurriedly, chose his words before speaking. "Where do you'sss think'ssss he isss?" He hissed meekly, as he followed him. Although, Snake was unaware of how uncomfortably close he was in reality. As Ace's cheeks reddened, both from anger and embarrassment from the closeness of his friend, he wasted no time moving to his left, a few feet away from his slithering pal before snapping at him.

"If I knew where he was at, do you honestly think we'd be out here calling for him?" He retorted, glaring in the young boy's direction. Snake pouted, giving him a sad look that made Ace's face twist into deep guilt, before shuffling back to the rest of the gang. The head of the Gangreen Gang took note of his crude actions towards innocent, young Snake and reminded himself to apologize upon arriving home. He curtly nodded to himself as he continued to walk forward, feeling a twinge in his chest.

From behind, William, or as they preferred to call him, Big Billy, seemed to be the most worried for Little Arturo's safety. "ARTURO! WHERE ARE YOU!" He hollered, causing Ace to turn to him briefly and glare for his loudness. "PFFFT!" Grubber added.

No one gave the slightest bit of attention to that.

Ace, upon sighing, continuously swung the flashlight back and forth, searching aimlessly for Arturo in the dark fog of the morning. "Arturo?" He called out, cupping his mouth with his free hand. "Where are you'sss" Snake finished. The rest of the gang was just about ready to give up, since they had been searching for almost an hour. Usually, he would show up after his name's been called 3 times or less. But, now he was nowhere to be found, and Ace hated to admit this, but he was worried and scared.

Arturo was the youngest of the group, being 14 years of age, and he was always getting into trouble. Ace looked at him as a child, which he was, and didn't want him to get hurt.

"Come on'sss gangs'sss, let'sss go home." Snake reluctantly stated as they all, including an anxious Ace, turned to head back to the direction f their makeshift home. Although, before getting the chance to turn and follow in the footsteps of his family, Big Billy's attention was captured by a strange object he hadn't seen before in the dumpster. Of course, anyone would assume it to be a piece of trash just dropped their, since this was a junkyard, but Billy had to get a better look since his creative mind just couldn't let this thing go unexplored.

He glanced over his wide shoulders, watching as the rest of the group disappeared further and further into the fog. He frowned, turning back to the unknown object before jogging (if you can call it that) up to the unidentified item buried under a stack of trash and garbage to get a closer view.

Grubber, noticing Big Billy wasn't next to him, made his ungodly noise, as well as spitting all over the backs of the people directly in front of him. They turned to him in disgust and confusion, and on more than one occasion they had tried to get him to find another way of alerting them when something important came up. He had said 'yes' but this incident proved that he hadn't taken anything they said into mind.

Grubber roughly pointed over at Big Billy, who was pulling away pieces of metal like there was no tomorrow. "What'sss he doin'?" Snake asked, pulling at Ace's coat again. "I don't know…" He murmured under his breath, expecting the worst but hoping for the best. As soon as Ace saw his partner in crime digging up under the garbage, one thought flung into his mind; a very unwanted thought.

He hoped that under that pile of trash, Arturo would be there, sleeping in that awkward position he had taken a liking to. He had always enjoyed sleeping in weird places. Whether it was a deflated airbag or even a dog's bed, he'd find comfort in it rather than a soft warm human bed. He'd find comfort in any other place, as long as it wasn't normal.

But the wish was squashed like an ant under someone's foot as Big Billy pulled something up and screamed, stumbling and falling backwards in the midst. Ace watched as the rest of the gang rushed over and had the same reaction. He pushed up his glasses, cursing as he rushed over to the scene, only to have stopped dead in his tracks. He had never seen anything so terrifyingly horrible.

"No…"

Pulling off his dark shades, he stared blankly at the sight in front of him. The screams and cries of the rest of the group behind him were drowned out by his heart's wounded beats. Silence fell over him as he fell to his knees. It was all in slow motion. It was as if the world itself had stopped turning around to grieve over the sight as well. And all that was left was the rain beating down hard on his back. Suddenly, everything else didn't matter anymore.

"NO!"

A loud thunder clapped in the sky. He didn't plan on going to sleep today, anyway.

This story will be uploaded two chapters at a time within a two day period. Meaning, the next chapter will be up within a two day span. After that, the third chapter will be updated within two weeks.

Once the third is added, the fourth will be added to the story within two days. And so on, and so forth. So expect the chapters to be posted within two days of each other each time this story's updated. (Confused yet?)

Thank you for reading our story so far! ...Reviews are welcomed, too! (Insert hopeful smiley face here)