Powerpuff girls (male reader insert)

Fallen Arches

(Opening shot: the city skyline in the afternoon.)

Stanley Whitfield: (voice-over) The city of Townsville...

(The picture shrinks, becoming a graphic next to Whitfield at the news anchor desk.)

Whitfield: ...was once again on the brink of destruction today. (Graphic changes to show the girls in their usual end-shot pose.) But thanks to the brave efforts of those adorable Powerpuff Girls, the day was saved. (Graphic changes to a bar of soap.) Up next: Buying soap can—

(The screen goes dark, and in it, we can see the reflection of an old man with a large, bald head. A scar runs down one cheek, and he wears a monocle and a very sour expression. He has been watching the news on TV.)

Old man 1: Stupid kids.

(Across a darkened room, he is framed by the light in his bathroom. He is brushing his teeth. Close-up of a glass of water with a prescription bottle next to it.)

Old man 1: (from o.c.) No-good whippersnappers.

(A set of false teeth is dropped into the glass, and the room darkens. He sits on his bed, looking out the window, with his back to the camera. It is nighttime. Now he reaches out a shaking hand and picks up a picture from his nightstand. It shows three men: one huge and muscular with a mole on the left side of the face, one with a cape and monocle, one short with dark glasses. All three wear black outfits with white skulls on the chest.)

Old man 1: Little girls, even. (He sneers weakly.)

(A pair of slippered feet slide across the floor, and two hands reach slowly toward a cabinet door. Camera shifts to point out at the man, silhouetted in the light with his monocle gleaming. Cut to the street, where we see the exterior of an apartment complex—Pokey Folks. The old man cackles madly, his laughter echoing through the night, but trails off into a fit of coughing.)

(Night fades into the morning; inside the complex, several elderly people are sitting in, or walking around, a large common area as old-style music plays over the PA. This is a retirement home. Zoom in on two men—one very large and fat, the other very small—playing cards at a table. A belt with a skull attached is dropped between them. They look up toward the camera in surprise. This is the first old man's perspective of them.)

Old man 1: Well, boys— (Cut to him.) —we're back in business. (He chuckles.)

(Dissolve to an extreme close-up of the hotline, buzzing. Pull back quickly; the girls are in their bedroom. Blossom picks up the call, her sisters in the background playing with (Y/N).)

Blossom: Yes, Mayor...The bank?... We're on it!

(Cut to the exterior of the house as they exit through the bedroom windows. They reach the bank a moment later; cut to them in the lobby.)

Blossom: Not so— (She cuts herself off, gasping in shock.)

(Quick series of extreme close-ups of the following: a gnarled hand, the big man's nose, the short man's eyes, the first man's monocle, and the skull from the picture. The three are standing next to the open vault door, loaded down with sacks of cash. They wear their black outfits with skulls on their chests, though they are in much worse physical shape from when the picture was taken. The one with the monocle also wears a cape.)

Old man 1: Well, look who showed up. How wonderful.

Blossom: And who are you three supposed to be? (He leans over them.)

Old man 1: You mean you don't recognize the most feared evildoers Townsville's ever known?! (gentler tone) Oh, forgive me, of course not. (patting Blossom's head) It was before your time, my child. Let me introduce myself. I am Mastermind! And these are my comrades.