Invasion

WordGirl steps out onto the stage as the spotlights light up. She approaches the microphone.

"Hey there! Today's word is "retaliation." To retaliate is to harm someone in revenge for something they've done to you. Thank you!"

WordGirl bows, and then leaves the stage.

Chapter 7- Retaliation

A vision of horror greeted WordGirl's eyes as she rose into the sky. The once beautiful Fair City lay in ruin, but the black spider-ships continued their relentless assault, red beams firing intermittently.

"Oh my…" WordGirl gasped. But then a new fire burned inside of her; rage. This was her city. It was her job to protect it.

"You won't get away with this!" WordGirl flew at the closest ship, fist outstretched. She struck the hull at full speed, and it rang like a bell. There was also a sickening crunch in her hand, causing her to cry out in pain. The ship, however, was undamaged.

WordGirl growled, and, ignoring the pain in her hand, continued her barrage. A small laser cannon emerged from the alien ship's hull, adjusted itself, and fired at the attacking Lexiconian.

BZZZAPPP!

WordGirl fell, momentarily unconscious, into the rubble below. A few seconds later she came to, shaking her head as she pulled herself up. She looked around at her surroundings. Ruined medical equipment lay everywhere, strewn across the rubble.

The hospital, she thought. Or what's left of it.

She looked back up at the ship, which had gone back to destroying the city, ignoring her completely. She sighed.

I didn't even put a dent in that thing…

The sound of shifting debris broke WordGirl out of her thoughts. She turned to see Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy digging himself out of the ruins.

"Ow…" Chuck rubbed his head. It took him a moment to notice WordGirl nearby. "WordGirl! What's going on here?"

"Alien invasion," the heroine informed Chuck, pointing up to the spaceships.

"Wow," Chuck said as he looked up in awe. "There's so many of them."

Then he looked down, and his eyes widening beneath his goggles. WordGirl's gaze fell to Chuck's feet, to see what he was looking at; a burned and torn teddy bear.

"Billy…" he murmured. "They hurt Billy…"

WordGirl opened her mouth to ask who Billy was, but then Chuck exploded into a state of rage.

"THEY HURT BILLY!" He hauled out his condiment cannon and took aim at the ship above them. He squeezed the trigger, firing a stream of ketchup. Un fortunately, it splattered harmlessly on the ship's hull. Chuck fired again, mustard this time, and got the same result. There was a grinding sound as the ship's attention turned below.

"Chuck! We need to get out of here!" WordGirl urged. She grabbed him and flew out of the way just as a red laser struck the destroyed hospital.

WordGirl panted as she set Chuck down. "You need to lay off the sandwiches, Chuck…"

But Chuck was a firestorm. "I'll kill 'em, I will! I'll-"

"Calm down, Chuck!" WordGirl cried as she restrained the sandwich man. "I know you're upset, but there's nothing you can do! Not even I could damage those things!"

Chuck settled down at once, falling into a kind of daze.

"And there's so many of them…"

WordGirl sighed. "I know Chuck. I know."

Violet Heaslip had been riding her bike to Becky's house when the ships came. When the lasers started firing, she threw herself into a ditch, the only shelter nearby, and cried as the world fell apart around her. She remained in the ditch long after the ships appeared to have finished firebombing the area.

Violet pulled herself out of the ditch. Her bike was a twisted, molten piece of metal; a beam had passed dangerously close to her hiding place.

"Oh my gosh!" she gasped, teary-eyed. She then remembered the reason she was traveling.

"Becky!" Violet took off running down the broken street toward her best friend's house. When she arrived, she saw that the Botsfords' home was, remarkably, still standing. However, it was crawling with several "men" in black armor, and strange gas masks with hoses connected to a pack worn on the back. Violet gasped again, and hid behind a nearby bush. She peered through the foliage, observing the aliens. She gasped once more as they brought out the Botsfords, one by one, restrained. But someone was missing…

"Where's Becky?" Violet wondered.

"Ow!" T.J. Botsford yelped as he was prodded on by one of the aliens. "Watch it!"

"Just do what they say, T.J." Mrs. Botsford said morosely.

The aliens lined up the three Botsfords, setting them on their knees.

"I think there's been some sort of misunder-," Mr. Botsford babbled until one of the aliens smacked him. Violet had to cover her mouth to silence another gasp.

"Where is the Lexiconian?" the alien demanded.

"Lexiconian? I don't what you're-"

Another smack.

"Dad!" T.J. yelped. "He's talking about WordGirl. She's from the planet Lexicon. How are we supposed to know where she is?"

The alien shoved a picture into their faces. "Where is this girl?" he demanded again, pointing at a certain spot on the photograph.

"Becky?" Mr. Botsford squinted.

"Where is she?" Yet another smack.

"Stop!" Mrs. Botsford sobbed. "We don't know where she is! She never came home from school today!" She broke down crying.

Violet bit her nails. Becky was missing? Where could she be? Was she all right?

"Hey!"

Violet whirled around. She hadn't heard the mechanical breathing at all, not until it was too late. The alien soldier struck her, and everything went black.