Project ROWDY 31D

"MOTHERFUCKER!"

Butch's voice echoed loud and weird in this place, bouncing off nothing and everywhere all at once. Pristine white void stretched through and far in all directions, everything empty except for the cell they were stuck in.

On a better day, Brick would probably have felt more annoyed that his head was so empty, but today was not one of those days.

Red eyes flicked down from the iron bars all around, trapping the three of them in this jail cell, floating in the middle of absolute nothing. He stared down at his lap, his ripped costume gone and replaced by a set of prison stripes, the kind Mojo always wore half the time the Girls were done with him.

His brothers were wearing the same thing, which said all sorts of fun things about their subconscious and it’s sense of humor.

Butch pounded his fists against the bars, each impact sending ripples through the void but leaving the metal completely unmarked. "Stupid!” He punched the bars again, more desperate and angrier. “Fuckin'!” Another one. “Bars!" Growling like a wild animal, Butch started pulling on them with both hands, sharp teeth going to work on the metal like some kind of feral twelve-year-old beaver.

Boomer was curled up on the floor, knees pulled to his chest, and the silence coming off him was scarier than any of Butch's tantrums. Tears streamed down his face, and he wasn't making a sound. Brick had never seen his brother this quiet, not even when they'd gotten their asses kicked by the Girls back in the day.

"He…. h-he… he just wrecked us." Boomer's voice was quiet, barely audible over Butch’s attempt to gnaw himself to freedom. "Like we were… nothing."

Brick was quiet for a few moments as he floated in the center of the cell, hands clasped behind his back. Eyes fixed on the non-existent horizon beyond the bars, he finally spoke up. "We lost. Not the first time."

"Lost?" Butch hopped off the bars with a huff. The green Rowdyruff floated over to Brick, green eyes blazing and fists tucked tight. "That what you call getting spanked like that? Losing???"

“What do you want me to say?” Brick’s eyes flicked over, red meeting green as he spoke through gritted teeth. "We were outmuscled, Butcher." The numbers were brutal, so high that Brick didn’t want to think about it. 

"He smacked us around like we were babies,." Boomer looked up at him, staring him down with eyes wet and runny. "Babies."

Butch slumped back, shoulders sagging like he’d just taken another punch. "So that's it? Game over?"

"Fuck that." The words came out hard, way harder than Brick had intended, but he meant them and his brothers could tell. “Not done yet.”

"Are you joking?" Boomer sniffled, wiping his nose with the back of his prison uniform. "He mollywopped us."

Butch pulled a face. "Mollywopped?"

Brick turned to face his brothers, red eyes fiery. "Since when do we quit after taking a hit? Remember when HIM brought us back?" He barked the words, fire spreading from his chest to his throat. "Made us stronger? Because the Girls beat us the first time?" That had been different, sure, but the principle was the same. 

They got knocked down, they got back up. 

Harder.

Butch's expression shifted, something stirring in his eyes. "Yeah, bu-"

"Remember when Mojo fixed HIM’s upgrade, got rid of another weakness?" Brick cut him off, not letting the doubt take root.

"That was pretty cool." Boomer sat up straighter, eyes drying up.

Brick floated down, placing a hand on each brother's shoulder. Physical contact wasn't usually his thing, but sometimes you had to break your own rules. "We always come back stronger. Always."

"Yeah!" Butch's expression shifted, jaw hardening into a grin, more raw grit showing like Brick was used to. "Fuck everything else, we’re the shit!"

"We're the Rowdyruff Boys!" Boomer stood up, wiping away the last of his tears as his eyes shined brighter.

"We've survived being literally kissed to death." Brick nodded, energy building between the three of them like a feedback loop.

"We've survived dimension hopping." Butch grinned, fists clenching tighter.

"We've survived school!" Boomer bounced slightly.

"This is our world now." Brick floated higher, his brothers following instinctively. The bars around them were starting to crack, hairline fractures spreading through iron that shouldn't be able to break. "And nobody gets to take it from us. Not even Omni-Man."

"I'm not done showing that mustache who he's dealing with!" Butch's confidence was rebuilding itself in real time, violence and determination mixing in his voice.

"Me neither! He hurt Mark!" Boomer's electricity was dancing across his skin now, blue arcs jumping between his fingers.

Brick felt a rare smile form on his face. "Then let's remind him who we are."

"The toughest!" Butch pounded his fist into his palm.

"The meanest!" Boomer jumped excitedly, voice cracking on the last syllable.

"The baddest!" Brick's eyes started glowing red, heat building behind them.

"WE'RE THE ROWDYRUFF BOYS!" They shouted it in unison, and their combined voice shook the dreamscape.

The prison cell shattered completely, iron bars exploding outward as their willpower erupted in all directions. The white void fractured around them, cracking apart like broken glass as consciousness returned with a vengeance.

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

Brick's eyes snapped open, glowing like twin supernovas. He pulled himself forward, metal creaking as he tore out of the bank vault wall he had been embedded in, blood dried on his face, uniform hanging in tatters. But underneath the pain, underneath the exhaustion, something new was pulsing. Crimson energy roared beneath his skin, veins lighting up with red fire in a way he’d never felt before.

Across downtown Atlanta, he felt Butch stirring. Green energy burst to life around his brother's body, wounds closing as accelerated healing kicked in. In seconds, Butch’s entire body was bathed in emerald light as consciousness returned with explosive force.

On the distant rooftop where they'd left him, Boomer was moving. Blue electricity arced across the Rowdyruff’s still form, jumpstarting between nerve endings, reactivating systems that had been offline. Without warning, blue eyes flew open, glowing electric as the rest of him, power coursing through his damaged body.

Three boys rose simultaneously from different points across the devastated city. Shockwaves emanated outward from each of them, windows shattering, concrete cracking as their power surged beyond anything they'd felt before.

"Butch! Boomer!" Brick's voice carried further than it should have, echoing across the ruins.

His brothers responded instantly, launching skyward like guided missiles. Three streaks of colored light converged above the Atlanta skyline, meeting in front of each other.

They hovered in mid-air, energy visibly radiating from their bodies. Some of the wounds were still there, but most of them had healed and, more importantly, underneath was something new.

Something stronger.

"I could rip a mountain in half!" Butch grinned savagely despite the blood caked on his face.

"Me too!" Boomer bounced in mid-air, electricity arcing between his fingers. "Everything's super clear now!"

Brick scanned the horizon, telescopic vision activating automatically. "Omni-Man's moved. He's over the Atlantic now." 

Butch’s grin widened. “Hope he’s too occupied waling on his kid this time.”

"Let's take him down!" Boomer's excitement was infectious, the way it always was when he thought they were about to do something awesome.

Brick's lips twitched into a rare smile. "Rowdyruffs, roll out!"

Three boys tore into the air with force and power that made gods reconsider. Light trails burned from behind, lighting up the smoky sky so bright it probably fried anyone stupid enough to look directly at them. Half the remaining windows around Atlanta didn’t survive as they rippedthrough the atmosphere, following the thunder and shockwaves that rippled for miles, the sounds of impact echoing across the ocean, each one hitting their eardrums wrong.

In seconds, they were there.

Omni-Man was dragging Mark by the ankle like a broken toy, flying above the storm-tossed Atlantic. Invincible barely looked conscious, face bruised past recognition, one arm bent past what was at all usable. Fuck. 

It went without saying that Mark was tough. Annoyingly tough. But seeing him like that...

Don't think about it. Brick’s fists tightened as he narrowed a set of glowing red eyes. Just fix it.

"You brats again?" Omni-Man's expression shifted as he spotted them approaching. He let Mark drop, Invincible plummeting toward the churning water before catching himself at the last second, injured body barely responding to commands.

Omni-Man turned to face them, arms crossed, cape billowing in wind that probably cost lives to generate. "HOW MUCH MERCY DO I HAVE TO GIVE YOU BEFORE YOU MAKE ME REGRET IT?"

"...KILL YOURSELF!" Butch shouted back.

Omni-Man's arms uncrossed with a growl, fist clenching with enough force that Brick heard the air compress. "That's i—"

"Now." Brick's word was a whisper, but their charge was a roar.

They closed the distance with speed that felt different. Faster. Stronger. 

Like someone had torn the limiters off their powers and forgotten to mention it. Trinity formation, except they weren't Trinity anymore. They were what they'd always been, just with better press coverage.

Colored light trails converged into a single point aimed directly at Omni-Man's chest, all three of them feet-first like the world's most destructive missile.

"Impossible." Omni-Man's expression changed to surprise as he registered their velocity, and that single word was worth more than every medal Cecil had ever offered.

The triple impact dropkick hit.

Hard.

The air quaked and the Viltrumite grunted for a half-instant before he went flying.

Flying through air that screamed in protest. For half a second, Brick felt something he'd never felt before when fighting Omni-Man.

Hope.

They broke formation post-impact, circling with coordination that came from years of fighting as a unit. Butch high, Boomer low, Brick center. Old pattern, new power.

"You've gotten faster." Omni-Man recovered quickly, the man’s eyes narrowed despite actually sounding surprised. “Hm.”

Then he vanished with blinding speed, reappearing behind Butch like he'd teleported.

The punch came fast enough to break sound barriers a dozen times over.

It struck and Butch held.

Brick grinned as he saw it, his brother with Omni-Man’s fist in both hands, having twisted fast enough to catch it. The impact had sent shockwaves through his body that Brick could feel from thirty feet away, but it didn't break him.

"That all you got, old man?" Butch forced the words out through gritted teeth, a grin on his face.

Omni-Man's eyebrows rose slightly. “No.”

The second punch came from his opposite hand.

Brick blurred, the world a rush of motion, as he caught the like Butch, grunting at the raw, force traveling up his arms and into his shoulders. He stared up at Omni-Man, holding the fist inches away from his brother’s face.

It hurt but like Butch, he held.

"Your coordination has improved as well." Omni-Man sounded genuinely surprised, like he'd expected them to still be the same kids he'd casually murdered twenty minutes ago.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Boomer's sonic scream hit Omni-Man's exposed back, sound waves actually distorting the air around them. The Viltrumite winced, and that tiny flinch was everything.

He felt the alien’s grip weaken and Brick kicked off as Butch slammed his head forward, forcing Omni-Man to let go as they all spun away.

"Rowdyruff Barrage. Now!" Brick’s shout synced all his brothers up with him and they all bulrushed the caped villain. 

Brick drove a spinning elbow directly into Omni-Man's solar plexus, the impact shuddering the air. "KING OF CRUSHING!" The force actually sent Omni-Man backward, and the old man’s eyes went wide with shock.

Boomer was already moving, the blue blur launching a flying knee directly into Omni-Man's spine. "DUKE OF DESTRUCTION!" Pain and rage and all sorts of revenge fueled the hit to the alien’s back and sent Omni-Man geysering upward, no longer in control.

Butch burst back in in a flare of green above Omni-Man with a double hammer fist ready to do damage. "BARON OF BERSERK!" THOOOM! Omni-Man's face took the hit head-on, the air shuddering as the Viltrumite rocketed toward the earth fast enough to leave afterimages.

The boys didn’t let up, diving after him like guided missiles with anger management issues.

"ROWDYRUFFS WRECK SHIT!" For a second Brick felt like they were five years old again, terrorizing Townsville just because they could.

A triple hypersonic punch connected simultaneously with Omni-Man's chest, all the force and anger in the world’s smallest hyper-human bodies. Clouds vanished, the storm gutted from their raw power as the blow drove him downward even faster with meteor-like velocity.

TH-THOOOM!

The impact crater was half a mile wide, sand turned to glass from the heat of entry. All three of the boys hovered above the destruction, all of them strained  from exertion that actually felt like exertion for once.

"Did... did we get him?" Butch was breathing heavily, voice carrying hope and disbelief in equal measure.

Brick scanned the crater with telescopic vision, dust and steam obscuring everything. "Don't joke right now."

"Um, guys..." Boomer's voice carried that particular nervous energy that meant something was about to go very wrong.

The sand cloud below dissipated to reveal Omni-Man rising to his feet in the center of the crater, calm as if he'd just taken a brief nap. His costume was torn in places, and there was a small trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.

He wiped the blood away, examining it on his fingertips with mild surprise. Real blood. From something they'd done.

"You boys get more interesting by the minute." Omni-Man looked up at them, previous frustration shifting to genuine interest that made Brick's skin crawl. "I'd really hate to kill you."

Great. Now they were interesting. Being interesting to Omni-Man felt like being interesting to a shark.

He launched upward with speed that turned the sand crater into a bomb going off, glass shards and superheated air slamming into Brick's face hard enough to draw blood. The taste of copper hit his tongue as he pressed forward, reading Omni-Man's stance the way he'd learned to read incoming punches from Butch.

Brick feinted high, then dropped low for a body shot, and Omni-Man turned to counter exactly like—

Boomer's heel kick cracked against the back of Omni-Man's skull, the sound sharp enough to make Brick's ears ring.

"FUCK YOU!" Butch's roar came from the blind spot, shoulder slamming into exposed ribs with enough force to crater a city block.

Triple impact. Brick's uppercut drove into Omni-Man's solar plexus, and for a split second he felt something give. Not bone. Something deeper. The alien actually staggered, defensive posture breaking, and holy shit they were actually—

My turn! Brick shot forward with a silent roar, spinning elbow aimed at Omni-Man's exposed throat. The impact sent shockwaves up his arm, but it felt good. It felt like winning.

"Take that, mustache!" Boomer cartwheeled off Omni-Man's shoulders, backfist combo connecting with wet sounds that made Brick's stomach flip in the best way.

Butch wrapped around Omni-Man's waist, attempting a suplex in mid-air because physics was just a suggestion when you were pissed enough.

Heat vision erupted from all three of them, red-blue-green beams turning the air into fire and ozone. Brick's eyes burned from the sustained output, but he held it, cutting through air that screamed and bled light.

Omni-Man vanished.

Brick's brain screamed move and he dropped, palm strike redirecting Boomer upward just as Omni-Man's arm swept through empty space.

"Got him!" Boomer's overhead kick connected with a crack that might've been skull or might've been the sound barrier giving up.

Butch charged through the gap, wrapping around Omni-Man's extended arm like a green python with anger management issues.

The retaliatory shockwave hit empty air, and suddenly Brick felt it again.

Hope. Actual, stupid, dangerous hope.

"We're fucking doing it!" Butch's rage built as he crashed forward like a meteor with daddy issues.

Brick read the charge, redirected instead of stopped, palm strike to Butch's back converting reckless fury into controlled destruction.

Boomer launched into a corkscrew spin, reading the play like they'd practiced this for years instead of making it up as they went.

Butch's elbow drop would've made professional wrestlers weep. Omni-Man caught it, but the shockwave jarred through his balance. Diediediediediedie! Brick knew he sounded like Butch but he couldn’t stop himself, already there with body shots to exposed ribs that made every part of his arms ache.

"Keep going!" Boomer's dual heel strike connected with Omni-Man's knees, and suddenly they weren't just surviving anymore. “Make him pay!”

Heat vision lanced from Brick's eyes, but he shifted position immediately, forcing Omni-Man to track movement while Boomer burst in like a blue bolt with rapid-fire kicks that sounded like automatic railgun-fire.

Butch grappled from the opposite side, and Brick dropped from above with heat vision burning down twin lasers of concentrated-fuck-you.

They were controlling this. Dictating terms. Making the alien work for his—

Omni-Man's hand closed around Brick's throat, lifting him out of their coordination like plucking a flower. The grip cut off air, made spots dance in his vision, and somehow the alien's voice was calm.

"I liked you, Brick."

Oh, okay. Past tense. Liked. 

As in, not anymore. Not good. Very final. "W-wow, love... l-love to hear that."

His grip tightened around Brick's throat, Brick doing his best not to breathe in as he swung for all he was worth. Fuckyoufuckyoufuckyou! His heat vision was still working, twin beams boring into Omni-Man's chest, and Brick kept his fists flying even as everything started to go dark..

Each punch landed with wet sounds as Omni-Man's face twitched. All it meant was that the pain was real even if it wasn't enough.

Can't breathe. Keep hitting. Can'tbreathe. Keep hitting.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Boomer's scream cut through the ringing in Brick's ears, hypersonic sound waves distorting the air and rippling it for a half-mile around.

Omni-Man actually winced, grip loosening just enough for Brick to suck in half a breath that tasted like copper and ozone.

"MOVE!" Butch's roar came from behind, both fists extended, trailing green energy that lit up the clouds. The impact against Omni-Man's back was strong enough to jar through Brick's bones, and suddenly he was dropping, gasping for air that burned his throat.

They regrouped in the kind of formation that came from years of fighting together, blood streaming from reopened wounds but nobody backing down. Brick's throat felt like he'd been gargling gravel, but he was still floating, still breathing, still pissed.

"You continue to surprise me." Omni-Man studied them with something that might've been respect if it wasn't coming from a genocidal alien. "Most opponents would have surrendered by now."

Storm clouds were gathering above them, nature itself responding to the energy they were throwing around. Lightning flickered between the clouds, and Brick felt something building in his chest that had nothing to do with breathing problems.

"Time for the storm." His voice carried just to his brothers, rough and quiet.

Butch and Boomer nodded without need for explanation. Some things you just knew.

They started spinning in tight circles, creating a vortex of colored energy that painted the sky in primary colors. Faster and faster until Brick couldn't tell which streak was which brother, until they were just one tricolored tornado crackling with lightning around the edges.

The energy converged into a single point, compressed until it felt like holding a star, then exploded outward in a focused beam that made Brick's bones ache.

Red, blue, and green force burst open and mixed, striking Omni-Man dead center.

For the first time in the entire fight, he screamed as he went backward, arms raised defensively, feet finding no purchase in empty air as their combined power drove him through the sky.

Omni-Man’s costume was shredding under the assault, exposing skin that was actually damaged, actually bleeding, and Brick felt something fierce and vicious bloom in his chest.

"Enough!" Omni-Man's grimace showed actual effort as he flew directly into their energy beam, pushing against its force even as they poured everything into it. 

But inch by inch, Omni-Man advanced against the beam. Raw power pushing past raw energy, experience beating desperation, and Brick felt their advantage slipping away like sand through his fingers.

Omni-Man's hand shot out, grabbing Boomer by the arm.

The vortex collapsed, remaining energy discharging harmlessly into the atmosphere as their formation broke apart.

"I am beginning to hate all of you." Omni-Man held Boomer dangling from one hand, the blonde struggling weakly. "And that speaks poorly for me."

"Let him go!" Butch charged forward, and Omni-Man swung Boomer like a baseball bat.

The impact sent Butch tumbling through the sky, blood trail marking his trajectory like red paint across blue canvas. 

He’s fine, he’s fine, he’s going to be fi- Brick's eyes widened, eyes locked on something behind Omni-Man.

"Another desperate tactic?" Omni-Man didn’t miss his eyes. "Looking for imaginary backup?"

"Not imaginary." The voice came from behind, raw and determined.

Mark half-shook as he climbed into the air, one arm limp at his side. His face was barely recognizable with one eye splattered with blood and swollen shut, but the other burned; with the raage that Brick saw against the Flaxans, the same heat that reminded him why he'd started liking the half-Viltrumite in the first place.

"Put him down, Dad." Mark's voice was rough, probably from screaming.

"You still don't understand, do you son?" Omni-Man let out another sigh with his words.

“I do!” Mark charged forward despite his injuries, and his punch connected with Omni-Man's jaw hard enough to turn his father’s head.

"No, you DON'T!" Omni-Man's fist met Mark's face, sending him spiraling through the air once more with a crack that might've been bones or just the sound barrier.

"Now, where were we?" Omni-Man turned back to Boomer, who was still dangling from his grip like a broken toy.

Brick and Butch hit him from behind simultaneously, the combined attack strong enough to force Omni-Man to let go of Boomer, their brother gasping and trailing electricity.

"This is becoming tedious." Omni-Man's patience was clearly wearing thin.

He vanished again, reappearing behind Butch with a punch to the kidney that made Butch's entire body shudder, blood erupting from his brother's mouth.

Brick darted in, only for his vision to go black as the back of Omni-Man’s hadn met his face as he tumbled back through the sky

When he managed to right himself, Butch was already floating beside him, teeth missing, blood flowing from cuts that hadn't been there before, body half-broken but spirit still burning green.

"Fuuuuuuck…." Butch hovered shakily next to Brick, blood streaming from his broken jaw. "H… haathe dis ghuy."

"Your persistence is becoming irritating." Omni-Man sighed like they were mosquitoes at a picnic.

"Did... did we win yet?" Boomer stirred, consciousness returning as he started floating again, shaking his head like he was trying to clear water from his ears.

Mark floated unsteadily to join their formation, completing the four-point defense that probably looked more like four kids playing hero than any real threat.

"Look at yourselves." Omni-Man looked their way with something that looked like pity and disgust had a three way car-crash with anger. "Broken. Bleeding. Barely standing. For what?"

"For ourselves." The words came out steady, certain, even though Brick's throat still felt like hamburger.

"F-fuuuck yeahhh." Butch nodded through his swollen jaw and missing teeth, voice slurred but determined.

"W-we're the Rowdyruff Boys,” Boomer said for all of them.

"And I'm Invincible." Mark's stance mirrored theirs, broken arm and all.

Omni-Man's expression darkened, frown deepening even further.

"No. You're not."