Butch followed his contact to what looked like an empty warehouse where there was an older man waiting. Butch approached him cautiously.

“Chief Manor,” Butch said, looking him intensely in the eye. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to bow out of our agreement. There’s something personal I have to take care of right away.”

Chief Manor stared him down. He had been smoking a cigarette. He took one last puff before putting it out. He blew the smoke right in Butch’s face. It made him cough a little.

“That’s unacceptable,” Chief Manor said. “We made a deal, Butch, and if you don’t honor it than I have no choice…”

“Like I told cue-ball over there, nobody threatens me.” Butch was ready to leave the warehouse when Chief Manor spoke.

“Then you go to prison, along with your two brothers.”

Butch stopped dead in his tracks. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard. He turned back. “You would do that?”

“Yep!” he simply said. “Look, kid, I don’t want you. We want the big boss. He’s planning something big, and we have to know what it is.”

“Then you have to do something for me,” Butch said. The chief looked at him inquisitively. “Buttercup Utonium. She’s missing, and I need to find her.”

“Buttercup Utonium? What concern is she of yours?”

“She’s the reason I agreed to do this,” Butch said. “If anything happens to her, then…”

“I get it, kid,” Chief Manor said. “I’ll get someone out there lookin’ for her, but you’ve got to do your part.”

“I will,” Butch said and walked out of the warehouse.

**************************************

Buttercup awoke forgetting where she was. She had sleep most of the day, not realizing how tired she really was. She wished she could go back, before everything got so messed up. She wondered what her sisters were doing. After all, she had left without a word, and what would the Professor say when he got back and found that she was gone.

Then there was Butch, the boy she loved. There he was risking his life, for her, and she just upped and left. Then there was her baby, so tiny and innocent. She looked down at her stomach.