"Hey Barge! Bobby here's got business with you, new k - OW!"
Bobby rolled his eyes at Benny for practically announcing that they were going to rough up the girl, his shrieking falling off with a punch to the liver. He figured this would be routine by now; they go to the kid, Bobby threatens them, Benny hangs back in the background and tries his best to look mean instead of sick to his dumb stomach. Then they decided how to split the lunch money with a nice game of "Bobby gets what he wants and Benny deals with it." It wasn't like he expected a coordinated act, just wait for the damn signal.
Benny's yelling had caught Chloe's attention. The little fishbowl-headed weirdo blinked at them from her position on top of the ladder, laid against the side of the cabin, and said something that he didn't quite catch. Whatever it was, he didn't see any worry in her eyes - no sign she knew that it was Bobby Zilch was coming for her. Maybe she hadn't been told yet.
That was good. It was more fun if they didn't see it coming.
He rolled his shoulders and gave a smirk as he sauntered up to the ladder, fists swaying lazily in a half-ready position. Benny was now smartly keeping his trap shut, seeing Bobby assuming his usual stance.
"Over here, new kid!" he said, angling his neck to look at the tiny girl up on the ladder. She glanced back down at him. "You get the camp orientation outta the way yet? Because I've got my own welcome - "
"Hold on, please." Chloe replied, holding up a single slim finger. "I'm in the middle of something."
She turned back away, lifting some ropes up onto the roof, then crawled up after them with steps so light they didn't even squeak the moldy old panels.
Bobby blinked at her reply, hearing Benny give some kind of noise between a purse dog barking and the start of a sick loogie. His surprise quickly turned to indignation. Looked like he had a brave little snot this time. Even if she didn't know who he was, did he look like he was here to pal around?
"'I'm in the middle of something'." Bobby mimicked under his breath. "You're about to have my foot in the middle of your face, chrome dome."
The only question now was what to do next. She was up on the roof, and he wasn't sure he felt like chasing her up there.
Eying the now-vacant ladder with a widening smile that spread like mold across his face, he caught Benny's eye. The smaller boy gave a grin in response, covering his mouth with his hands to partially stifle the excited giggles that came sputtering out.
"Hope you don't need this!" Bobby called up to her, taking a step back before raising a leg and slamming his foot hard into the side of the ladder. It immediately pitched over, scraping across the wooden roof of the cabin and collapsing in the grass with a dull thud. The little pipsqueak was stranded fifteen feet in the air.
Bobby was already laughing before the ladder hit the ground, the harsh braying mixing with Benny's gleeful accompaniment. He was offered a high five and ignored it, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Whoops! Tough luck, Barge!" he yelled. "Boy, I hope you can get down before dinner!"
There wasn't an answer.
The smile on Bobby's face was slowly waning. He squinted up at the rooftop, taking a few steps back. Chloe was still up there, her back to him, doing something that wasn't answer him. It didn't look like she even knew - or cared - that the ladder was gone.
"Hey, Barf girl!"
There wasn't an answer.
He scratched his head, brow furrowed.
"What's with this girl, huh Bobby? Must be a total space case if she didn't see - "
"Shut up, Benny!"
Benny's mouth clamped back shut. Bobby put his hands on his hips, narrowing his eyes and trying to make out what the girl was doing. What was the deal here? Was she stupid? Deaf? Maybe Phoebe or someone else had already told her not to be afraid of him, and he'd have to correct that misunderstanding later. Maybe she was some kinda special dumbass like Dogen and didn't have enough brain cells to realize he was gonna shake her down when she got her tiny ass down here. Or maybe it was just a distraction and that big Russian kid was sneaking over here to throw him in the mud.
"Benny, go check the other cabins." he growled. His tone of voice didn't leave any room for argument, and Benny scampered away through the campgrounds without a second thought. It was just Bobby and the runt now.
This chick… she'd just gotten to camp. Not long enough for her to have made any real alliances with the hero-types around the grounds. Hell, he hadn't even seen Lili in days - not that he minded. But maybe they were using her as bait. He could definitely see Kitty or Franke snatching up a new kid to use against him. Probably thought he was simple, couldn't resist an easy target.
Bobby grit his teeth at the thought. Those cocky paint-faces.
Oh yeah, there were definitely gonna be some balls busted over this attempt at humiliating him. Maybe next he'd get punked by Elton, another "accidental" encounter with one of those dumb fish. What a load of total bull -
"Okay, what did you need?"
Bobby glanced back up from where he'd been watching Benny haul ass. Chloe was on all fours on the edge of the cabin, looking down at him with bright and confident eyes that shone like lasers. The redheaded bully felt his jaw slacken under her gaze, then came back to himself, snorting and balling his fists again.
"Finally get your hearing checked?" he called up to her. "Throw that dumbass helmet away and get down here, pipsqueak!"
"I can't, the ladder's gone."
The reply was prompt. It was even. Chloe never broke eye contact with Bobby as his lips curled back, trying to think of a retort. Unable to come up with anything, his eyes darted back to the fallen ladder.
"Yeah, my mistake, right? I'll go grab that for you, don't worry."
He marched over to the rickety thing, hauling it out of the grass and dragging it back to the cabin. Chloe quickly moved back as he slammed it back into place, clicking his tongue at the sight of her fingers narrowly escaping being smashed under the top rungs. She was a quick little snot. He tensed up as she started to descend towards him, fingers itching in anticipation for her to run away. Probably when she reached the third step from the bottom. But he was ready for her.
He was still waiting, muscles wound tight like a spring, when her shoes touched down on the grass and she looked up at him. He searched her face, looked her up and down with his face twisted into a sneer. She wasn't running. She didn't even look worried.
That was fine, just made it easier when they were dumb. Bobby loomed over her, mouth opening to demand her money…
"Thanks for waiting." Barge said cleanly, in the same buoyant voice she'd used earlier. Face to face with Bobby Zilch, within easy grabbing distance, she was standing straight with her arms at her sides and her eyes on him. "And I heard you, I was just busy. I'm free now, though."
Any demands he'd been thinking up were caught in his throat as firmly as if she'd closed her fingers around his neck. A gross choking sound came out of him, and he took a step back, looking the fishbowl-headed newbie up and down.
...what was she doing?
She was nothing. Tiny, weak, even smaller than Elton. He'd thrash her to the ground with one good punch to that dumb helmet. Everybody around here knew that Bobby Zilch was no joke, and if you treated him like one then you'd end up breathing out of your ass. Some of the runts and fruits around here had started teaming up, trying to get strength in numbers, but even then they'd be on guard when he came through.
But Chloe wasn't on guard. Her knees weren't knocking under the edge of those shorts, her eyebrows were perched high on her head instead of knit together to match a worried frown. He knew what fear looked like. It wasn't this.
As he watched her, she was even starting to gently rock back and forth on the balls of her feet, paying no mind to how he dwarfed her. She wasn't afraid of his size or the look in his eye that demanded her fear, that expected it.
There was something strange about it. Something he couldn't put his finger on, brain frozen in confusion as it was. It felt like she was miles away, out of his reach.
Out of reach of his fists.
Out of reach of his anger, of his power.
She was defenseless, but Bobby felt like he couldn't touch her.
"Umm…?"
Her voice snapped him back to reality. He blinked with a start, taking a step back. The dull chaos in his brain faded away, his senses slowly coming back to him. How long had Bobby been standing there, staring at this girl?
It was… humiliating to think he'd been so easily thrown off. A feeling he recognized wormed its way back into him, reminding him of who he was. Anger.
He'd get this shaking down back on track. He'd thump that stupid helmet so hard her ears would ring for days unless she coughed up the money.
"Don't rush me, you little turd." he snapped, reclaiming the step he'd yielded to her and tightening his fists. "I ain't getting pushed around by a little girl with a fishbowl on her head. Why you wearing it anyway, chrome dome? Afraid of germs?"
"Oh, this?" Chloe asked, putting a hand to the side of her helmet. She hummed softly, fingers tapping against the hard plastic. "Mmm… I guess it's a reminder? It's supposed to resemble a NASA IVA helmet, but it's not completely accurate. It's also a courtesy though."
Bobby raised an eyebrow. What the hell was an IVA? Did she not get that he was making fun of her?
Jeez, this broad really might be as dumb as Dogen.
"I want them to be able to spot me easily." Chloe continued. "They can already communicate with me but I don't think they know what I look like, so if they know what a spacesuit looks like then this will make it easier to tell who I am."
"...what?"
"Boss!"
Bobby turned towards Benny's voice as the smaller boy raced over to him from the cabins. He didn't look worried, so that probably meant there weren't any voyeuristic simpletons needing a pounding nearby. His partner caught up to him, panting lightly with eyes on Chloe.
"Oh, you finally got her down! Nice one, Bobby!" he grinned. "Did you get it yet?"
"Get what?" Chloe asked.
Seeing Benny about to open his stupid mouth again, Bobby's arm shot out and clamped it shut. With a low growl, he began dragging his panicking accomplice - who was trying to mumble out 'What'd I do!?' and 'Sorry boss! I won't again!' under his palm - away from the scene.
He threw a last glance over his shoulder at Chloe, who now had her head tilted to the side, a puzzled look on her face. Something about it made his stomach drop.
Retch.
"I'll be back, Barge!" he snapped at her. "Next time ain't gonna go like this!"
"Alright… bye then!"
He ignored her wave, the quizzical shine in her eye. He ignored Benny stammering excuses in-between encouragements and accompanying threats towards Chloe.
But she wasn't for Benny, oh no. The boss was gonna take care of this. There'd be another day to figure out what the hell was up with this pint-sized chew toy, and as soon as he figured out what she was up to, whatever she was doing on that rooftop, he'd smash it into pieces and show her who was really in charge of camp.