Chapter Text
University of California Townsville
A brunette in a greenish activewear ensemble and ski mask grunted as she silently leapt up and over the chain link fence surrounding the unfinished dorm complex. Once clear, she turned around and beckoned at some unseen figure in the night to come forward. A few moments later, said figure– this one in blue– cleared the fence, with a pink-clad cohort following shortly thereafter.
“Are you sure this is a good idea, Buttercup?” the blue one whispered. “We could get into some serious trouble!”
“You got any better ideas, Bubs, then feel free to share,” came the retort.
“She’s right, though,” the pink one added. “Besides, I don’t think Dad’s going to be too pleased if he finds out we’re sneaking out at night!”
“It’s only illegal if you get caught, Bloss. Besides, the longer it takes for us to get a grip on these stupid powers, the longer you have to keep worrying about ripping out locker doors!”
If looks could kill, then the glare that Blossom was currently giving her sister would have dropped the latter immediately. “Look, let’s just get this over with before anyone sees us and we end up in jail.” she finally said.
“‘Get this over with’? C’mon, girl– show a little enthusiasm!” Buttercup retorted as she clipped an old tape player onto her hip.
“Tell me that you’re not–”
“Yep.”
Blossom threw her hands into the air. “Do you want to get us arrested?!”
The middle Utonium triplet sharply exhaled in defeat. “Just give it back when we leave.” she muttered as she handed the device over to her sister.
“Only if you promise not to wake half the town by blaring ‘Kickstart My Heart’ at max volume on the way back.”
“Spoilsport,” she huffed.
“Well, someone has to be the responsible one around here, an–”
“Yeah, well nobody said that being ‘the responsible one’ involved shoving a stick up your a–”
“Stop it!” Bubbles exclaimed as quietly as she could. “You know how I feel when you guys fight!”
Buttercup rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said before shooting a dirty look at Blossom. “Now, where do we wanna start?”
The eldest triplet pondered for a moment, letting her eyes travel around the site before settling on a large pile of vaguely pillow-shaped objects. “Strength testing.”
Buttercup smirked. “In that case, up for a deadlift competition?”
“Not interested.”
The smirk widened. “You’re just saying that ‘cause you know I’ll win.”
“No, I’m just not interested in feeding your ego.”
The brunette chuckled. “You know what they say– denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.” And with that, she shot off, leaving a faint green streak in her wake.
“Tonight, we’ll make love ‘till we die!” a boombox blared at full blast as a group of sallow-skinned punks walked past a small apartment building right across the street from the university campus. “Tonight, we’ll make love ‘till we die!”
Right on cue, one of the doors on the upper level opened, and out stepped a young woman wearing a nightgown and an enraged expression on her face. “HEY, YOU!”
The leader of the punks– a young man wearing an orange and cobalt blue life-preserver jacket and a pair of sunglasses– came to a stop. “What’s the matter, sweetheart?” he said, his voice bearing a nasally Italian New Yorker accent.
“You and your bozo buddies, that’s what!” the woman thundered.
The man in the vest-jacket snorted. “Bozos, huh?” He turned around to face a hulking behemoth of a man about his age with a noticeable gut and a shock of red hair covering the top half of his face. “Big Billy, you see any bozos around here?”
“Uh, no, Ace,” the man said in a voice that made it clear he’d never get into somewhere like MIT.
Ace shifted his gaze up towards an abnormally short man riding on Big Billy’s shoulders. “How ‘bout you, Lil’ Arturo?”
“Nada!”
“Grubber?” he continued, looking at a hunchback with a dirty mop of hair atop his head and wearing what could charitably be called rags.
“Pbbbbpppppbbbbbt!”
“Thought so.” He turned to a particularly lanky individual with vaguely scaly skin. “Hey, are you a bozo, Snake?”
“Yesssss,” came the reply, which promptly earned him a punch on the nose from Ace. “I mean no.”
“Well, there ya have it, toots– ain’t no bozos ‘round here! Just us proud members of the Gangreen Gang, passing on through!”
The woman let out a growl. “Why I oughta…” she hissed as she grabbed a flowerpot from the windowsill and aimed it at Ace’s head.
“Whoa, whoa! Let’s be reasonable here, baby!”
“Sorry, buster, but ‘reasonable’ left the station when you decided to wake me up the night before a final!” And with that, she flung the flowerpot over the railing, watching with a satisfied smirk as it broke all over the Gangreen Gang’s leader.
“When can we move on from these stupid things?” Buttercup groused as she picked up a piece of plywood topped with multiple hundred-pound bags of cement like it was nothing. “I mean, can’t we do girders or something?”
“You do realize you’re lifting about two thousand pounds, right?” Blossom replied. “Besides, if we did girders, it’d be loud, unwieldy, an–”
“Ahem.”
Both girls turned around to see Bubbles holding up a fully laden dumpster above her head.
“Aw, c’mon! You let her pick that up while I get stuck with a ton of cement?! Why I oughta–”
Right on cue, the three heard a nearby clock tower striking one.
“Race you back?” Blossom nervously said.
“Sure!” Bubbles gleefully replied before taking off like a shot, leaving the dumpster right in the middle of the site.
“Uh, Ace?” Big Billy said as he and the rest of the gang walked up the sidewalk next to the unfinished dorm complex.
“Yeah?”
“Are those shooting stars?”
“Shooting st– what shooting stars?”
“The ones with the bright tails,” Lil’ Arturo replied.
Ace tilted his head back. There, coursing through the night sky, were three trails of light–one pink, one sky blue, and the last one lime green.
“Think the green one’s from Marsssss?” Snake hissed, earning another punch on the nose in the process.
“Pbbbbpppppbbbbbt!”
“Very funny, Grubber,” Ace snarked. “Now, let’s go see if those whackadoodles building those dorms threw anything valuable in the trash and call it a night! And remember– I call dibs on any and all copper scrap!”