After her conversation with "Call Girl", Ana's day went similarly in both timelines. She fought Kyle's family, then apologized after. She defended herself against an angry sentient towel and then helped it get high to stop it from attacking her. She acted as a go-between with Craig and Tweek, conspiring with the latter's parents to get the two boys to go to couple's therapy.
And then she had another meeting with Mr. Mackey, who had been told by PC Principal that he wasn't 'thorough enough' in talking about gender the day before. The principal could be an idiot, but sometimes he managed to knock it out of the park - Ana was pretty sure it was always a fluke when that happened. Regardless, the talk with Mackey let Ana specify that she considered herself bigender, partly a binary girl and partly a nonbinary one. She wasn't sure Mackey really understood it, but he accepted it, which was all she really needed.
Her interactions with the South Park cops, however, were different. They started off trying to get her to beat up Nichole Daniels' dad, claiming he was some sort of drug kingpin. She refused, but they tried again later, claiming they'd been incorrect and that it was actually Token Black's father that was the kingpin. Again, Ana saw through this flimsy, racist lie and refused to help.
After that, Ana managed to convince Cartman, through staring, to give her even more superpowers (she'd convinced him to let her dual-class before), she participated in another Civil War between superhero groups, and finally, together with Stan (or Toolshed, his superhero identity), she infiltrated the U-Store-It facility.
It turned out Butters had taken over the place, and that he had also received a large sum of money to defend it. All of Cartmen's group of superheroes, plus Toolshed, fought through the facility, until… until Wendy showed up again, to Ana's delight.
"Why would Chaos want to wrap an entire truck in aluminum foil?" Craig said, as the group passed by one of said trucks.
"That's not the problem!" a voice called out from above. Wendy, or rather Call Girl, stepped to the edge of the storage unit's roof, hands on her hips. "Is aluminum foil really what you guys are concerned with?"
The whole group was surprised, though for Ana, it was pleasantly so. The rest of them gathered around Craig and Ana, and Cartman seemed unhappy.
"Who the fuck is that?" he said, glaring at Wendy. Ana shot her own glare his way, but he didn't notice.
"You were right about the Italian restaurant, New Kid," Wendy said, staring directly at Ana and not giving Cartman the benefit of a glance. "The owner is a part of a new crime syndicate."
"Who the fuck is that ?" Cartman said, his anger rising. Ana found herself resisting the urge to slug him.
"I have no idea," Stan said. That was unexpected… did he really not recognize her?
"Well she's not in the union!" Cartman shouted, practically spitting. Turning back to look up at Call Girl, he said, "Excuse me, are you on Coonstagram?"
Wendy continued only talking to Ana, to Ana's amusement. "There's someone new in town, who's bringing all the crime families together."
"Okay, cool, thank you, bye," Cartman said, waving his hand.
Jimmy either didn't notice Cartman's attempt to end the conversation, or he didn't care. "Y-you mean like a kingpin?"
Cartman rushed over to stand in front of them all, arms outstretched. "You guys, don't say anything! We're not playing with her."
Rolling her eyes, Wendy said, "Check out storage facility 56-D, New Kid." Holding up one of her phones, she gave a smile and a wink, shooting right through Ana's heart. "Text me if you need me. I think you're going to need all the help you can get." With that, she ran off, disappearing from sight.
"So I guess now any fucking asshole thinks they can be a superhero," Cartman griped.
Ana punched him in the face.
"What the fuck, New Kid!?" he yelled, a hand on his undoubtedly sore cheek.
Ana extended her middle finger, then walked away. Glancing back, she was pleased to see that the other boys, sans Cartman, followed suit, none of them seeming sorry for the jerk.
Despite strong glares from Cartman, the group continued pushing through the facility, fighting General Disarray and some other Chaos goons. Eventually, they found the storage unit Wendy had directed them to, where they found several men running a 'cheesing' lab. They fought the men, and Call Girl dropped by to help. The fight ended with a giant explosion that the kids barely avoided.
Though he did nothing but glare daggers at Call Girl and Ana, Cartman kept his mouth shut as Wendy continued to help for the rest of the night. At one point, Wendy texted Ana asking what was up with Cartman's face, probably because he kept holding his cheek with one hand. When Ana texted her back with the answer, she laughed out loud, garnering even more glares from the jerk.
There was a big fight with Butters, and then a meeting in Cartman's basement for everyone besides Call Girl. Ana promised to tell her about it later. After Cartman suggested that an alter-ego of his own hand was the mysterious person bringing the crime families together, Kyle called it quits for the night, and Ana was eager to follow suit.
The next day, after school, Wendy took Ana aside.
"Thanks for filling me in on Cartman's meeting," she said with a grin. The smile disappeared quickly. "But, that little problem Call Girl told you about? It's a lot worse."
Ana couldn't help but sigh. How could this mess get worse?
"The Chamber of Commerce wants to get rid of the vigilante no matter what it takes," Wendy whispered. The news had taken to referring to Ana as a vigilante, conveniently ignoring all the other kids and focusing only on her, for some reason. She was just glad they didn't actually know who she was. "You know the bathrooms in the park?" Ana blinked. "Call Girl wants you to meet her there - right now."
With no reason to waste time, Ana went that way immediately, though the two of them took separate routes. Neither their superhero alter-egos nor their regular selves were really 'supposed' to hang out together, though Ana hoped they could agree to stop caring about that soon.
It didn't take long for Ana to reach the bathroom in the park, where Call Girl was already waiting. "It's clear," she said, gesturing at the stalls. Then she told Ana that she'd noticed the adults in town acting strange, something Ana had noticed as well. She explained that she'd been researching on the internet to try to figure out what was going on, but someone cancelled her phone's data plan.
"My phone is dead," she said, shaking the deceased device in her hand. Ana stared at it in horror. The idea of being without her phone, of being without what was often her only means of communication with people, was terrifying. Wendy might not be as reliant on it, but still, Ana could relate.
"Whoever did this has to pay," Wendy said, shaking. Ana couldn't agree more. "I'm going to D-Mobile to find out what happened. I… I don't want to go alone." This seemed difficult for her… Ana had asked for help before on multiple occasions, but in retrospect, Wendy had never done the same. Ana wondered if it was just because of how independent Wendy always seemed to be, or if there was some sort of underlying fear there. "I'm… I'm asking for your help, Ana." She looked directly into Ana's eyes. "I think... I think you're the only one who understands."
Eyes going wide, Ana was hit with realization. Were she and Wendy more alike than she'd realized? Had Wendy once been as reliant on that sort of technology as Ana was now? It was hard to imagine, given how much more socially adept Wendy seemed to be, compared to her, but it wasn't impossible.
Ana forced out a nod, which brought a smile to Wendy's nervous face. "Thanks," she said, pulling something out of her pockets. "Hey, um, if you want, take this bracelet." It was a charm bracelet, and obviously homemade. It was rainbow colored, and the charms in the middle had letters that spelled out the word 'girlfriends.'
"I have one too," she said, extending her wrist, where, sure enough, a similar bracelet sat. "And you could use it as one of those 'artifact' things, to power your superhero self up." She smiled hopefully, and seemed confused by Ana's bug-eyed expression.
Pulling out her phone and typing furiously, Ana showed the screen to Wendy as soon as she'd finished. It read: " Girlfriends!?"
Wendy's eyes went wide too, and she stared at her own bracelet for a good half a minute. "I- I... I hadn't thought about… I just meant-" She grimaced. "They're rainbow colored, too! How did I not-" Turning her wide eyes back to Ana, she said, "I'm sorry! I meant, like, friends who are girls! ...I'm around straight girls all the time and I just - I understand if you don't want to keep it, I-"
Ana turned her phone's screen toward Wendy again. This time, it read, "I'll keep it, if you decide you mean it in the gay way."
Face going bright red, Wendy said, "I-I-I-I…. I'vegottothinkaboutit." She practically sprinted toward the bathroom door, managing to say one more thing before she threw it open and ran for it: "I'll meet you at D-Mobile."
{}
This time, Ana was in no rush to reach her destination. She knew Wendy would need some time and space, and besides, she was content replaying the end of their conversation over and over again in her head.
When she finally reached the phone store, Wendy's face was a normal color, and she didn't say a word about what had just happened.
"Alright, are you ready to do this?" she asked as Ana approached. "If I can't use my mobile devices, I can't save this town! Let's find out what wrong with this place."
Stepping inside, the problem was immediately obvious. It was crab people; they had taken over the store. Which was unfortunate for Ana, who had listed "crab people" as her superhero kryptonite, since she hadn't anticipated actually meeting any.
With Wendy by her side, though, they wiped the floor with the jerks.
Once the store's human employees were released, they came forward to thank their heroes.
"Thank you both! I don't know what those things were, but they smelled like crab and kissed like people." Both girls stared blankly. "...How can we repay you?"
"Just get my phone working again, alright?" Wendy said.
"Yes, yes of course, Call Girl! Thanks for saving the mobile store once again."
As soon as her phone service was restored, Wendy and Ana left the store and started walking. They did so in silence for a bit, Ana glancing Wendy's way a few times. But Wendy refused to make eye contact, seeming to prefer the sight of the ground.
Finally, after several minutes of walking aimlessly, Wendy spoke. "Thanks for helping out there…" Silence again, then, "So, um… so you would… want to be my girlfriend?" Only at the end did she look at Ana, her eyes wide and scared.
It took no small amount of effort, but Ana managed to say, "Yes."
Cheeks flushing once more, a grin formed on Wendy's face, even as she looked away again. After a moment, the smile faded. "...Stan will be upset."
Ana grabbed her phone and texted, "I thought you two broke up."
Wendy sighed. "We did, but… well, he still gets jealous."
"Screw him," Ana texted. "If you're not together, he doesn't get to be. Or at least he needs to keep it to himself."
There was no response for a bit, and Wendy's face was… forlorn. "Yeah… you're right. I guess I still have some feelings for him, but… well, to be honest with myself, you're way better than him, anyway. He's never been a great boyfriend, really though I tried to deny it."
Coming to a halt, Wendy turned toward Ana, her face determined. "That settles it. Ana, will you…. Will you be my girlfriend?"
Ana answered with an immediate and passionate hug.
Though present Ana was still intent on sorting through her memories, it almost didn't matter anymore. She was now sure that, whatever negatives might prove to exist in this timeline, it was far better than the last one. Taking a brief break from her thoughts, she turned to look at her bedside table, focusing in on a certain rainbow-colored bracelet that she hadn't fully recognized before. She smiled.
Ana had a girlfriend.
{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}
Probably only one more chapter after this one, folks! See you then!
