Dreams of an Absolution

"I wanted the ocean to cover over me

I wanna sink slowly without getting wet

Maybe someday, I won't be so lonely

And I'll walk on water every chance I get "

Time and Time Again (Counting Crows "August and Everything After")


Dreams of an Absolution

Chapter 3

XxXxX

The lights were all off, draping the white room in a sheet of darkness. Though it was the beginning of August, it was still scorching outside. Yet, somehow the room remained uncomfortably cold. Or maybe it wasn't the room that was so icy...Blossom laid curled up in her blankets, staring at the far wall. She'd woken up only moments ago...already she wished she could fall asleep once more. Her arm hung off the bed, the other clutched her doll to her chest. It almost took the edge off the cold room.

Her meeting with Dr. Elise had gone longer than usual...Buttercup and Bubbles were gone by the time she and the Professor got home. Blossom immediately retreated to her room, her anger had drained her of any energy she had for the day ahead. Falling asleep had proven to be more difficult than she'd have liked. Waking up just now had been surreal. As if she'd never fallen asleep to begin with. Blossom looked up with a jerk when a knock came at the door.

"Blossom? You're needed downstairs," Blossom sighed and threw her book across the room. That roughly translated to 'Come save Buttercup, she's stuck', which never ended well for her. Blossom dragged her feet as she left her room and shuffled downstairs,

"So what did you tell the crazy doctor?" Buttercup jeered the moment Blossom walked into the living room. The Professor groaned and Blossom bristled, her fists clenched and her eyes narrowed. Buttercup was in a really bad mood, apparently, she didn't waste any time attacking Blossom.

"Doctor Elise isn't a crazy doctor, she's a psychiatrist! And what I talked to her about is none of your concern!" Blossom stuck her nose up and crossed her arms, turning to go back to her room. She stopped at the bottom step, turning to glance at Bubbles, who was sitting in the kitchen. Bubbles looked up and the two made eye contact. Instantly, Bubbles looked away, turning to Ms. Keane-the school teacher was sitting at the table coloring with her. Blossom sighed and started up the stairs, but Buttercup cut her off, clearing her throat noisily.

"We got a call while you were asleep," Blossom froze and turned to Buttercup. Her look of surprise quickly became a glare.

"Let me guess, you didn't find anything, right? No green fingerprints, or slimy footprints, right?" Buttercup looked away; she was trying to hide her blush, but Blossom could still see it. It gave her no sense of satisfaction...if anything it made her even more angry.

"The Gangreen Gang had nothing to do with this! I...I asked...listen I don't know who it was, but they were way better than the Gangreen Gang! Alright!? We didn't find any clues at all! Even with the Rowdyruff Boys helping us!" Buttercup was red in the face, not just from embarrassment this time. She was furious, Blossom thought, watching her sister grind her teeth and clench her fists. She smirked proudly and leered at Buttercup. She didn't intend to say anything but-

"What's wrong? You're the leader, can't you do anything without me?" She shouldn't have said it, she should have just kept her mouth shut. But the words just came out...and they felt good. Blossom couldn't help cracking a slight grin at the look of explosive fury on Buttercup's face. The Professor took that moment to come between them.

"That's enough girls, you have more important things to do than fight each other. Now, you need to try to figure this crime out. Come on! Let's go," Blossom and Buttercup traded another glare, but followed their father into the kitchen. Blossom paused at the chair next to Bubbles, then kept going and sat across from her. Bubbles glanced up, then scooted her chair closer to Buttercup once she was sat down as well. Blossom sighed and rested her cheek on her mitt. Buttercup sighed and crossed her arms, staring at the table. Ms. Keane looked at the three, then rolled her yes and sat up straight.

"Alright, now why don't you tell Blossom what happened and we'll see if she has any ideas?" Blossom's lips twitched. Buttercup groaned and nodded.

"Okay...okay...it was really weird. I knew it wasn't the Gangreen Gang! They wouldn't rob a laboratory! They wouldn't know what to do with that stuff..." Blossom blinked and rubbed her chin. Frustrated, she hit her hair away from her face.

"What was stolen?" Buttercup closed her eyes. Blossom watched her, but occasionally glanced at Bubbles. Bubbles had her head down, her mouth shut...but every so often her eyes flashed at Blossom. Once they made eye contact, though, Bubbles stopped this practice entirely. Blossom sighed and slouched in her seat. She turned to Buttercup and glared...what was taking so long?

"Oh come on! What was it already? It can't be that hard to remember!" Buttercup fumbled nervously and gave her a glare. Ms. Keane cleared her throat and the two looked away from each other.

"It was some kind of a...a ray gun I think...molecular...I don't know! Alright?! I don't know science junk, I just know the guy in charge was freaking out! Now do you have any ideas or not!?" This time, Blossom managed to avoid a more arrogant response. She nodded and rubbed her chin.

"I've got an idea, but I don't know how easy it will be to find her..." Bubbles finally perked up, and Buttercup looked shocked that Blossom already knew the answer.

"W-What? Really? How do you know?" Blossom leaned back, staring at the ceiling as she spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Yesterday, when you flew away, I asked Ace who it was that fought the Gangreen Gang at the supermarket. Ace told me that it was a woman who had a reason to want revenge on the gang...now, while it's logical to assume that a good many number of women aren't pleased with the Gangreen Gang, there is only one woman they've wronged who would have the ability to both fight them all and escape from the scene of the crime without a trace," Blossom smirked and crossed her arms, "And that woman is Sedusa," A loud gasp broke everyone's concentration. The Powerpuff Girls turned to Ms. Keane, who looked as if she'd seen a ghost or a mouse. Ms. Keane forced a fake smile and waved at the girls.

"I'm sorry, don't mind me...go on, Blossom," Still, Blossom couldn't help giving Ms. Keane a longer look, even when Buttercup and Bubbles had turned their focus to the details of tracking down the cat burglar.

"Great...she's never easy to find. Where do you think she went?" Buttercup asked in a low voice. Bubbles shrugged.

"I don't know...we don't have any clues at all," Blossom grimaced. Bubbles was right. They knew who it was and relatively knew what had been stolen...but there was no discernible pattern to the crimes. There was no trail left behind to follow; Sedusa was playing at the top of her game right now. Blossom blinked and closed her eyes. Was there no discernible pattern? She was robbing a different store every night...first food, then clothes, and then a laboratory. The third didn't fit the pattern, it just seemed to be out of nowhere. Maybe, she was trying to disguise her real ploy? Blossom slowly smiled and snapped her mitt. Buttercup and Bubbles jumped and looked at her.

"I think I have an idea," Blossom threw her hair back and looked down at her mitt, going over a mental map of Townsville...unfortunately her visualization skills weren't the greatest in town...

"Bubbles," Bubbles squeaked and sat up straight, swallowing nervously. Blossom continued undeterred, "If there was a triangle drawn on top of Townsville...and one point was at the supermarket, and another point was at the clothes store...where would the third point be?" If she was right it should be...

"Um...it would be at the lab place..." Bubbles replied meekly, looking up at Ms. Keane the whole time. Ms. Keane thought for a moment and nodded.

"That's right..." Blossom got up and grabbed a piece of paper, then passed it to Bubbles with a crayon.

"Draw the triangle," Bubbles stared at the crayon being held out to her. She glanced at Buttercup for support, but Buttercup just nodded in agreement. Bubbles took the crayon and drew a quick sketch. Blossom snatched the sketch as she finished the last line and looked at it. Biting her tongue, she rushed out of the room.

"Hey wait! Where are you going?!" Blossom dug around in a drawer in the living room, grinning when she found her prize: a map of Townsville. She flung it open and laid the picture Bubbles had drawn on top of it. Carefully adjusting the angles, and using just enough X-Ray vision to see through the paper, Blossom grinned. She looked up as Ms. Keane and Buttercup joined her. Bubbles lingered back, hand on her mouth.

"Ha! I was right!" Like always, she added silently in her head. Blossom pointed to the map, her eyes still glowing green.

"You can't see it Ms. Keane, but there is a building exactly in the center of the triangle formed by the three that were robbed. I'm willing to bet Sedusa really wanted to rob the laboratory, but to make it look more like a random string of robberies, she robbed the other two places to throw us off! Unfortunately, since the police are more active right now, she didn't have a lot of time to escape, so she picked locations near her hideout!" Ms. Keane smiled and knelt down, looking at the map.

"Hm...that's strange...it's the water treatment plant. I don't know what she'd be doing there," Blossom nodded. It was a strange hideout for Sedusa...but it was the best lead they had. She stood up and started to give orders. She caught sight of the look in Buttercup's eye and backed off begrudgingly. Buttercup cleared her throat and looked down at the map.

"Alright...so let's go get her! I'm sure she won't be expecting us!" Blossom and Bubbles nodded, and together they shot off into the city.

XxXxX

The girls arrived at the water treatment plant in no time at all. The plant was running quietly...most of the workers had already gone home. Still, there was an odd since of foreboding in the air. Blossom narrowed her eyes; something was definitely out of place. The Powerpuff Girls floated around nervously...Blossom rubbed her wrist and gave it a sharp glare. She noticed that her sisters were getting ahead and quickly flew to catch up with them.

"See anything?" She asked. Buttercup shook her head and stopped. She glanced at Bubbles and both started peeking around with their X-Ray vision. Blossom shook her head and crossed her arms. Where would Sedusa be hiding in this place?

Just as that thought crossed her mind, the lights all went out, drowning the treatment plant in total darkness. The girls gasped and huddled closer together. Three pairs of eyes light up in bright colors, peering through the darkness. A sultry, maniacal laugh rang out.

"Oh Powerpuff Girls...I never thought I'd see you again! But I knew you would come...why don't we play a game? Come and find me...and the Molecular Polarizer is all yours!" Sedusa cackled wildly again. Buttercup moved away from the fold; Bubbles bumped into Blossom and quickly followed after Buttercup.

"Hold it Sedusa! We aren't playing your stupid game! Get out here so we can kick your butt!" Buttercup cried.

"Yeah! You shouldn't steal when so many people don't have anything right now!" Bubbles called. Sedusa laughed again, and a trail of lights came on...leading them deeper into the facility. The girls looked at each other. Buttercup shrugged and started into the darkness. Blossom slapped her forehead, but realizing they had no other option...followed her sisters. The lights led down a spiral staircase that went deeper and deeper beneath the ground. Bubbles piped up as the sound of running water echoed in the tunnel.

"Wow! I wonder how deep we're going?"

"Shut up Bubbles," Buttercup was tense, Blossom thought. Chuckling softly, she reached for her sister. Blossom froze-they all froze-as they entered a wide, dimly lit chamber. There sat Sedusa...her skin a sickly shade of green, her hair writhing with newfound life. She was completely naked, and her once seductive green eyes now looked...poisonous.

"So nice of you to join me...I was starting to feel...lonely," Sedusa narrowed her eyes...they began to grow a wicked shade of green...a familiar shade of green.