Project ROWDY 8.5
The walls of the primary GDA headquarters nearly a mile under the Pentagon hummed faintly. A low buzz came off the holo-displays, filtered lighting too sterile to ever feel like morning or evening, just permanent nowhere. Cecil stood at the edge of the operations floor, half-shadowed by data projections washing the room in pulsing amber-blue. His arms crossed. Lips tight. Watching.
Stats floated around him like flies: mission durations, collateral percentages, approval ticks inching up like it mattered. Sixty-two percent. Like usual, the director didn’t smile.
Donald entered like the air hadn’t shifted, tablet tucked under his arm, posture brisk. “Sir, we’ve got a situation out of Anchorage.”
Cecil didn’t look away. Just arched a brow like he already knew.
Donald brought the tablet up and tapped. The center of the room bloomed open with a shimmer of hologram—grainy live feed of a four-story white-haired creature kicking its way through parked cars like rocks in a stream. Looked feminine, almost, in a specifically monstrous sort of way. Maybe it was the fur to her hips, or the fur everywhere else. It certainly wasn’t the feet like excavators.
“Well,” Cecil said, almost bored. “You know the drill.”
Donald didn’t flinch. “With respect, sir—the boys just got back from Montreal. They’re still in recovery cycle.”
“You’re joking, right?” Cecil cut him a sideways glance, the measured but somehow cutting look that he mastered his first month in that prison twenty-three years back. “When’s the last time the Terrorbrat Tykes actually needed recovery?”
Donald hesitated, his breathing clipped in a way that Cecil couldn’t help but wonder how his brain translated to the mostly metal that made up his form. Achievements in ignorance, he supposed, as amazing as that was. “Point taken.”
“They’re twelve, Donald. If we had living nukes, the boys would shit on them and use to beat over living nukes and laugh about it. Let ‘em stretch their legs.” Cecil stepped past the table with a sigh. “Besides, green one’s already bitching about how soft the Canadian targets were. Might as well give him something that hits back.”
“I’ll launch the call.” Donald turned, muttering, “And file another skylight requisition while I’m at it.”
– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –
The ops center doors split wide.
Boomer got there first, already mid-sentence. “—and then he says, ‘this isn’t even real poutine,’ like what does that mean? It had fries, it had gravy, that’s poutine!”
Butch flashed in and was already upside down on one of the chairs. Literally. The green Rowdyruff dug into the backrest, arms hanging off the edge like he might snap the whole thing just for fun.
Brick walked in last, quiet. Eyes locked to the tactical display before Cecil even finished turning.
“We’ve got a situation in Alaska, boys,” Cecil began flatly.
Brick raised an eyebrow. “When you say situation…”
“I mean, a goddamn situation, Brick,” Cecil answered back without hesitation. “Frost Giant. Downtown Anchorage. Civilian casualties already climbing.”
That got Butch’s attention. He flipped to standing in the blink of an eye, feral grin wide on his face. “Finally. Something big.”
Cecil went on, tone dry enough to flake as if Butch didn’t say that once a week. “These things predate most society’s gods. Think glaciers with feelings. One of ‘em wiped out a town in the 90s before we figured out how to bring it down without nuking a foreign country.”
Brick squinted at the display. “We extracting or containing?”
“Up to you,” Cecil said. “Just don’t get anyone else killed.”
Brick nodded once, already analyzing. “Alright, boys,” he said. “Flight pattern Alph—”
“Oh my god, just say fly normal,” Butch cut in, already cracking his knuckles.
Boomer tilted his head, giving Brick a look of his own. “I told you that pattern didn’t mean anything!”
Brick’s mouth twitched. He didn’t blink. “Fine. Fly normal.”
They shot through the launch shaft, glass and steel shuddered from the force ripple, metal giving way in their wake.
Donald winced. “So that’s… what, the sixth skylight this month?”
Director Stedman didn’t bother to look away from the screen. “Small price to pay for the world’s safety, Donald. Besides, they’re improving.”
ROWDY 8.5: LINK
I love this story. It’s so fun seeing these brats evolve from being trouble makers to heroes.
1. Funny coincidence since you mentioned it here , but with the talk about them reading comics in the last chapters, I’d been wondering if they’d ever read my hero. Mainly because I can see boomer trying to copy all might’s “I AM HERE!!!”. Maybe even naming his attack like to toshinori does. He’d probably do it cause they have the same hair and eye color, the goof. All might is one of the few good Superman copies, maybe the only good anime one. Would be funny that’s for sure. Also gives him someone to model himself after as a hero since they’re currently stronger than all the heroes other than Omni man, and we know what he does.
2. Enjoy seeing them display more uses of their powers. The ice from brick was good to see. The combo of ice and fire could be deadly in the hands of someone with his brains.
3. They’re right RowdyRuff>Trinity easy lol. Feels like the public might even like that name more than their current one. More personality.
4. Damn, them feeling wanted by the people here and appreciated for the first time ever was kinda sad. I see why they’d like to keep feeling that. Still waiting for them to inevitably reunite with the girls though. Boomers visions of bubbles, if that’s what they are, show they’re at least being searched for. Invincible crossover aside, even just them in dc would have been interesting to read since the show never branched outside of the PPG stuff. Dc always has enough stuff to deal with.
5. Glad to see they’re getting stronger, they’re going to need it with what’s to come. Wonder if brick is gonna create training plans for all of them. I’m guessing that’d be after season 1. After seeing what Omni man pulled along with learning of a whole race like him coming for earth, no way he’ll let him and his brothers slack. Tracing arc is gonna go crazy.
Amazing chapter as usual ZF. I did notice a few places where it reads weirdly, like when Brick calls for his bro’s to remove their headsets (for privacy I guess) but then not even a second later it like that didn’t happen. I’m also guessing this is all before the most recent chapter (Where Guardians are reported dead) If understand this correctly, yes?
It looks like Cecil’s noticed that the boy’s are steadily getting more powerful -either due to their self esteem/outlook, because they’re on the cusp of puberty or a combination of both.