AN: Well, I certainly never would have thought I would write my first fanfiction for WordGirl, of all things. But I've recently become engrossed in this charming show, and since the fandom is so small, I thought even my meager contribution might be worth something. I hope you'll be patient with any mistakes I make with the writing or the canon – I'm new to this!
I know I'm not the only fan who loves the dynamic between WordGirl and Two Brains/Boxleitner, and would love to see it explored more in the show. Since that doesn't seem likely to happen, I wrote this fic instead. I hope you'll enjoy, and by all means leave feedback and criticism for me. I'd love to improve.
A Few Years Ago
The new lab was going to work out very well. Professor Steven Boxleitner tapped his fingers against his chin, smiling to himself as he admired the space. True, it was a little small, and he wouldn't have minded a window or two. But it was secluded and had all the room he'd need for his experiments, and as a new professor, he couldn't have asked for much better.
He was eager to break in the new space, but for now, his ambitious plans were put on hold. The new semester – his first semester teaching, he thought with a nervous flutter – was starting in a few short weeks, and his life was filled with staff meetings and new student meet-and-greets and finishing syllabi that were due for review a week ago. He really should be making progress on those right now, he thought guiltily, but with all his equipment finally in the new lab, his fingers itched to do some real work. So, he figured, it couldn't hurt to run a few basic tests, make sure no glassware or chemicals had been damaged in the move, maybe make a little progress on that new compound he was working on.
His stomach grumbled as he pulled carefully-stored chemicals out of their packaging and set them on the lab table.
Mini-fridge, he thought. I knew I forgot something. Bring it next time. But his hands paused in their work as he suddenly realized that his stomach wasn't the only thing that was rumbling. The solution in his flask was quivering rapidly back and forth, and a low thrum was building around the walls and floor of his lab. Shoving his goggles onto his head, he took a step backwards, wondering if anything he was mixing could have caused the reaction.
He barely had time to complete his thought before the outside wall of his lab exploded inward, driving debris across the room, upending tables and equipment, and knocking the professor off his feet. Instinctively, he curled into a ball on the floor and raised a hand to protect his face and neck from the shower of twisted metal and broken glass. When the furious pelting subsided, he cautiously opened his eyes and climbed to his feet, glass shards crunching beneath him.
The impact had torn an enormous, jagged hole in the side of his lab. There was something nearly filling the empty space, something massive; Boxleitner raised a hand to cover his eyes from the sudden brightness and struggled to make out the behemoth silhouetted against the morning sun. It swayed slightly, and one long, spindly leg twitched with a metallic scraping sound. As his eyes adjusted, and the thing staggered into the room, it came into sharp focus: a massive machine, with a dark, rectangular body held aloft by eight enormous legs. It seemed dazed from the impact, but it was beginning to twitch and lurch its way into the lab. Boxleitner felt his throat close in terror and he staggered backwards, his heart pounding, avoiding a trip and fall on broken glass by luck alone. He thought he saw a sudden flash of red darting along the machine's legs – but before he could look more closely, the ground fell away suddenly and alarmingly beneath him.
He realized seconds later that some strong, unseen force was hoisting him upwards by the back of his lab coat. Before he could begin to panic, however, he found himself gently deposited on a structural beam high above the floor of his lab.
"Sorry," came a bright voice in his ear. "Need you out of the way for just a second!" A sudden flash of red in his peripheral vision; and then he was alone.
The beam was just large enough to accommodate his lanky frame, and he sat still for several seconds, breathing heavily as he waited for his brain to catch up and tell him what had just happened. A sudden impact that threatened to knock him off his perch jarred him back into reality, and he carefully shifted onto his hands and knees and peered over the edge of the beam. The machine was jerking frantically along the laboratory floor, pummeled repeatedly by something moving too quickly for his eye to catch. As he watched, a lucky hit to one of the legs stopped the metal beast short, and he was able to get a good look at a small figure covered in red, hovering even with the body of the machine.
"Huggy, go!" she shouted, hurling something tucked under her arm towards the body of the robot. "See if you can shut it down!" Something clung to the side of the machine and let out a monkey-like shriek, then scurried downwards towards the belly of the beast. The legs began to twitch again, and the young girl dashed back into action.
The pieces fell into place in Boxleitner's mind. This tiny hero and her monkey sidekick had to be WordGirl, the mysterious superhero who had dominated the front-page news for the past few months. Stopping robberies, saving the town from flooding, rescuing cats from trees – no one knew where she had come from, but everyone was grateful for her help.
As Boxleitner watched, his fear faded and his scientific mind settled into precise observations of WordGirl and her adversary. He tracked her flight, looking for a pattern; he studied the legs and body of the machine, searching for a weakness. The robot's movements grew more and more erratic, its legs jerking almost randomly as it tried to keep up with WordGirl's rapid flight. Finally, it seized up entirely; then, with a screeching of metal, it collapsed, its legs curled up underneath it.
"Nice work, Huggy!" said Wordgirl. She flew down to retrieve her companion as he crawled out from beneath the robot, chattering triumphantly. "Whew. Now just to get this thing back where it came from!" She started towards the machine, but the monkey shrieked loudly, bringing her up short. "What's that?" She followed his pointed finger upwards and made eye contact with the professor. He gave her an awkward wave. "Oh. Whoops!" She quickly dropped the monkey on the floor and flew upwards.
"Almost left you there!" she said with an apologetic laugh. Before the professor could respond, she grabbed him under his arms and lifted him gently down towards the floor.
"Sorry about your, uh…" she said, trailing off and glancing around the demolished laboratory as she placed him on the ground. "What is this place, anyway?"
"My lab," said Boxleitner dazedly, leaning on a table for support as he stared at the destruction. "And what is that?" he demanded, pointing at the shell of the machine.
"Oh, just an experimental space probe gone rogue, you know how it is – Huggy, that's not yours!" The girl swooped down to scoop up the monkey before he could fiddle any further with a bunsen burner.
"Well, I'd better get this thing back to the space center," she said, tucking the monkey under one arm. "It was nice meeting you, Mr…"
"Boxleitner," he said dizzily. "Steven Boxleitner ... Hey, wait!" His mind suddenly caught up with him, overwhelmed with questions for the tiny hero. He'd long been fascinated by the biology behind super-powered humans – the mutations, anomalies, and genetic fusions that created extraordinary talents. And here was WordGirl, right in front of him, and he was letting her get away! He ran a few steps forward, trying to catch her attention.
But WordGirl had already picked up the enormous metal structure as easily as if it were made of styrofoam. Not noticing his frantic attempts to make her stay, she lifted the probe out of the hole in the side of the building, and in a flash of red, she was gone.
Present Day
"Huggy! Attack plan number fifty-eight!" WordGirl carefully deposited her companion on the street below her, in front of the fire station, then zoomed upwards again to face Tobey's robot head on. She darted around to its back and delivered a massive punch, sending it stumbling forwards, right towards where she needed it to be.
But then she paused for a moment, wincing slightly as the blow left a dull throb of pain crawling up her arm. "C'mon, WordGirl, focus," she muttered to herself, trying to ignore the sensation that was becoming more and more familiar. She shot forwards and delivered another punch to the staggering robot – this one weaker still, and giving her another jolt of pain.
"How're you enjoying the new model?"
Wordgirl gritted her teeth in pain and aggravation and turned to face Tobey where he stood on the rooftop of a building, clutching his remote and smirking.
"For your information, I – wait, new model?" The words sank in, and suddenly a glimmer of hope appeared. She seized at it. "Aha! I knew it! What new metal are you using? How did you reinforce it?"
Tobey looked bewildered. "Reinforce?"
"Yes!" she said. "Reinforce, to make stronger. I can tell that you've reinforced your robots, because –"
"I know what 'reinforce' means!" he snapped. "But I haven't reinforced my robots. Actually, I haven't really shown you what it does yet, that was supposed to distract you while..."
Wordgirl stopped listening as her heart sank. She should have known, of course – it wasn't just Tobey's robots that were giving her trouble. But for a second, there had been a rational explanation for a bizarre and frightening situation, and now it was gone.
A couple of heavy thuds drew both Wordgirl's and Tobey's attention back to the matter at hand.
"HEY!" shouted Tobey.
"Way to go, Huggy!"
The robot was swaying wildly, its arms windmilling, unable to keep its balance due to the fire hose Huggy had looped around its legs. In a moment, it would crash to the ground, and the city would be safe again. WordGirl swooped down to scoop up her friend and carry him out of the way of the teetering robot. Now that the battle was done, a deep fatigue began to creep over her, and she let herself dip a little in altitude, her grip on her friend loosening slightly as she struggled to ignore the pain in her arm.
Huggy felt the change and glanced upwards, chattering concernedly.
"I'm fine, Huggy, give it a rest." Another squeak. "I'm just tired, that's all. Yes, I know I never used to –"
"All right, WordGirl!" Tobey shouted, brandishing his remote. "Ready to see what my new model can do?" He gleefully pressed a large button.
"Oh no," groaned WordGirl.
The robot swung its enormous arms to one side, then to the other, rapidly building momentum until it spun like a top, tearing free of its bindings. WordGirl gasped with horror, trying to imagine how she could stop it – when all of a sudden, with a loud clunking sound, it stopped itself, staring instead at something in the sky. WordGirl followed its gaze and watched its right arm, shaken free by the spinning, flying off into the distance, towards a tall skyscraper.
Tobey, WordGirl, and the robot watched in stunned silence for a moment.
"Oops," said Tobey.
WordGirl dropped Huggy onto the roof with Tobey and leapt into flight, tearing off after the arm. Usually, flight was effortless; but this time it felt like every muscle in her body was fighting against her, begging her to slow down and stop and rest. She struggled forward, determined to beat the arm to its destination. "Come on, you can do this, faster, come on…" She put on a desperate burst of speed and zoomed ahead of the robotic arm, stopping short at the skyscraper and rapidly changing course upwards, hands extended to catch the projectile. She allowed herself a small smile. She'd made it; it was going to be fine.
The arm slammed into her with bone-shattering force, knocking her backwards and shoving her mercilessly towards the building. WordGirl cried out with pain and surprise and desperately struggled to slow the arm's progress. Straining as hard as she could, she thought she felt some resistance, but it could hardly be enough – what's wrong with me, why can't I lift this? She struggled upwards, pushing desperately.
She hit the building hard, but she had been just strong enough to prevent the arm from crashing through. WordGirl and the hunk of metal slid down together, and she had just enough energy left to keep the arm from slamming into the pavement with too much force. At last, she lay panting on the ground, ignoring the shouts of alarm from passerby in favor of remaining beneath the protection of the enormous metal palm.
Her whole body throbbed with pain, she was almost too tired to move, and a feverish prickling sensation was crawling over her skin. She shivered involuntarily. What's wrong with me?
It had started slowly, about two months ago – just a bit of fatigue after her battles, or a small headache. She'd chalked it up to not getting enough protein and had reluctantly begun eating everything on her plate at dinner. But she had only grown worse, not better – fevers, exhaustion, and that itching, prickling feeling everywhere, driving her crazy and making her long to jump out of her own skin. Worst of all, she felt herself slowing down and weakening – unable to fly as quickly or as high, struggling to lift objects that should have been light as a feather in her super-strong hands. This, though – this was the worst it had ever been, the first time that this bizarre illness had threatened her life. If she had been just a little bit weaker…
Slowly, painfully, she crawled out from underneath the fingers of the robotic arm. Huggy was there waiting for her – how long was I under there? – and, still ignoring the questions and exclamations of onlookers, not even bothering to try to remove the crumpled heap of metal, she leaned down and picked up her friend.
"All right, Huggy, you win," she said. "I'll go see a doctor."