Chapter 9: A Change of Heart
It had been several minutes since the call from Hacker had been terminated. Inside Control Central, the four kids and Digit were seated in a circle. Hopelessness was stronger than it had ever been for any of them in any situation they'd been in.
"I can't believe I let this happen…" Becky moaned distraughtly, her face resting in her hands. She had managed to cry herself out, and her puffy red eyes and running nose were clear indicators of this. "I was there. I saw the ship. Those robots were carrying a big box with them. Fern was probably in there. I could have confronted them and stopped them, and taken her once I realized she was in there, before they could get her to Hacker…"
"Box?" Digit repeated, recalling what he had seen earlier that day. "I went to check out the Northern Frontier this morning - that's the place where Hacker lives - and I saw Buzz and Delete show up. They grabbed a box while I was hiding. That must be the same one!"
Becky turned her head towards Digit as he recalled the incident, and her face twisted into an enraged glare. "WHAT?! AND YOU DIDN'T STOP THEM?!"
Digit panicked, not expecting such an angry reaction. "Well, I-I-I didn't know what they were up to! Me getting caught wouldn't have helped anything!"
Becky fumed silently while tugging on her hair before finally relaxing and looking warily back up at him. "Ugh… You're right. I guess not... I'm sorry."
"No harm done," Digit assured with a tired sigh.
"Thanks… That was hypocritical of me, when I think about it…"
No one else was faring well either. The other kids couldn't exactly match Becky's level of despair for obvious reasons, but they were well are of what the fate of their home planet would be if they didn't figure out a way to stop Hacker. The thought of what might become of their families and everyone they knew was almost too much to bare. As much as they wanted to remain confident that they could figure something out, seeing WordGirl of all people in such a morose, distressed state didn't make them feel any better.
Inez looked up as WordGirl spoke, feeling her heartstrings being tugged at the heavy regret in the heroine's voice. "Don't beat yourself up, WordGirl. You couldn't have known you were being spied on. None of us would have realized it either."
"You might as well just call me Becky now…" Becky replied, removing her face from her palms, brushing her cheeks dry and sniffling. "It's not like I have a secret to keep from you anymore."
"True…" Inez supposed, removing her glasses to pinch and massage the bridge of her own nose.
"So… Becky Botsford, am I right?" Matt asked out of curiosity. "I've heard of you and seen you at school here and there."
"That's right…" Becky confirmed with a slow nod.
"Yeah, me too," Jackie concurred. "I actually recognized Fern as well. I remember seeing you helping her pick her stuff up off the floor one day at the end of school," she recollected. "It was really rainy that day."
Becky forced a small smile, recalling the instance Jackie mentioned. "I know what day you mean. We missed our buses, so I offered to walk her home since I had an umbrella..."
"...So I guess you like her, huh? As in LIKE like her," Matt wondered. "I just noticed he called her your 'girlfriend…'" he explained, making air quotations.
"M-hm… I do…" Becky replied, her lips twitching. "We've been talking for a little while now. We haven't been more than friends, but I realized about a week after we met that I liked her… which is strange because I never realized I liked girls at all before. I thought I only liked guys…"
"I'm so sorry this happened to you both…" Inez said sympathetically.
"I'm just really scared for her. From what it sounds like, Hacker is worse than just about any villain I've ever thought, and knowing Fern is being held captive by him, I… I just can't… it's… it's just so awful…" she lamented, her voice growing shaky again. "Fern is so shy and passive. It's not like she's completely helpless or anything, but she's never been in a situation like this before. And god knows what he might do to her if we fail…"
Digit frowned and pulled out a box of tissues from his chest compartment. "Here ya go, Becky. Take these."
"Thank you…" Becky said as she took the box, pulled out a couple tissues, and thoroughly blew her nose.
Matt frowned, growing tired of the depressing atmosphere that had set in between all of them. "We're not gonna let this happen, you know. We'll get her back and stop Hacker yet."
"But how?..." Becky asked, balling up the tissues. "If any of us go there and try to break into his ship, he'll probably see us. And if we try anything like that, he'll… he'll…" She grabbed another tissue and dabbed her eyes, not wanting to picture something so horrible as Hacker standing over her crush's lifeless body, or worse. She hated feeling so helpless and knowing that someone had managed to find a true weakness of hers.
"We'll figure something out," Jackie replied, standing to her feet. "We always have before, and we're not gonna just give up and beg for mercy now. All we need is to think up a plan. Make room, I gotta pace."
Everyone else scooted aside so Jackie had more room to walk around. "But Hacker said he's only giving us twenty-four hours, remember?" Becky reminded them. "If we don't have anything by then, we might not be able to get Fern back!"
"We have to at least try, Becky. It doesn't look like we have any other option," Inez pointed out, moving up against the wall so she could get into position to sit on her head.
"Exactly, and we'll need as much of that time as we can get to deliberate," Matt agreed, pulling out his trademark yo-yo and messing with it.
Becky sighed. She knew they were right. Crying about it wasn't going to save Earth or get Fern back. They needed a plan, and five heads had to be better than four.
Matt placed a hand behind her back and rubbed it comfortingly. He understood how she felt. If he saw Inez in the same position Fern was in, he'd be as horrified and enraged as he knew Becky was at that moment. "Trust us, Becky. Don't worry. We'll get Fern back safe and sound in no time. There's one thing you have to learn about us: We never give up."
…
Back in the real world, on the Grim Wreaker, Delete was standing by himself in the hall, leaning against the door that led to the small prison cell on the ship, which their prisoner had now been taken to and was being held in. He was currently the one tasked with keeping guard. The job was quite boring, and the robot had nothing to distract himself with but his own confused thoughts, as well as the periodic muffled sobs coming from behind him, which he chose to ignore as best as he could.
He had only become increasingly torn regarding this entire plot of Hacker's, especially now. It had been one thing whenever they'd captured members of the Cybersquad, as they were their direct adversaries. But this girl was an innocent bystander who'd just so happened to be unfortunate enough to have a connection to WordGirl. He remembered the look of terror that he had seen in the girl's eyes as he and Buzz had apprehended her, right before they had knocked her out and stuffed her into the box. He doubted he would ever forget it, nor how much he had winced seeing her fall to the floor unconscious. Her head was probably really hurting right now.
And even the fact that she was an innocent bystander wasn't even so bad in and of itself. What really tore at Delete was knowing what Hacker planned to do to her if WordGirl and the Cybersquad failed to surrender. Even Hacker, as despicable as he was, had never tried to murder an innocent person in cold blood before, especially one who was so much smaller than him, and tied up to boot. No way would she be able to defend herself. Delete could hardly bare the thought. He wouldn't want to be around if and when the time came.
Delete's attention was pulled away from these dark thoughts when he began to hear voices down an adjoining hall to the one he was in, and he quickly realized it was Hacker and Buzz. He listened in as best as he could as they passed by.
"Gee, boss… You're really gonna do that to her?"
"Of course I am, you dunce bucket! If they fail to agree to my offer, I want to have it made very clear to WordGirl that she made the wrong choice."
"It just sounds kinda harsh is all."
"Well being nice isn't going to get those brats to surrender, now is it? Picture it - They don't surrender, we make a little trip to Castleblanca, 'borrow' one of the dungeons in one of the castles, and once the girl has been punished enough for WordGirl's mistake, we'll finish her off and take pictures. We'll leave them for WordGirl to find, and I'm sure that she'll see the light."
"Well, alright… If you're sure, boss."
"I'm quite sure, Buzzy old pal. And once that's done, we can carry on with the rest of my plan…"
Their voices now began to grow quiet again so that Delete couldn't hear them anymore. Not that he wanted to. What little he'd picked up had horrified him. He had had no idea Hacker was planning to torture this girl, on top of everything! Hacker never failed to show how contemptible he could be, but he had never planned anything so dark and mortifying before. Could Delete really stand by and let this happen?
The robot sighed, sliding down against the door and sitting down. He often hated being the softest, most sensitive one on the team, but he was beginning to think it might not be such a bad thing. Hacker and even Buzz were certainly more abrasive than himself, but he realized that having such a hard exterior also appeared to make them numb to some of the most basic morals, especially in Hacker's case. Was this how Digit had felt once, a long time ago? Is this somewhat similar to what he had experienced?
As confused as Delete had become about where he stood in relation to his boss and his fellow robot henchman, he now realized he couldn't let this happen. He couldn't let an innocent teenage girl be tortured and murdered. He didn't even want Hacker take over the world or even Cyberspace anymore, and destroy so many people's lives. It swept over him all at once, and he knew now that he had to do something. And as he sat there on the cold floor, he began to hatch an idea.
…
Fern should have been able to cry herself to sleep that night, but she was far too terrified for her life to do so. It had been several hours since she'd been abducted from her home and taken aboard this giant ship, several miles away from everyone she knew, and now it was most likely well past midnight. She couldn't tell for sure though, as there was no clock there for her to look at.
Frankly she hated herself for allowing this to happen to herself. For many years she would imagine being a brave detective, getting into perilous situations, only to valiantly remove herself from them and obtain the object of her search. This wasn't to say she didn't know better, though. These were only fantasies, and she knew that in reality she wasn't exactly the strongest or bravest person.
Nevertheless, she still felt she should have been able to react better than she had. Despite hitting her head, a constant reminder of which being the dull, throbbing pain there, she could still remember seeing those two robots breaking into her bedroom. She remembered the sharp wave of panic that had overcome her, and how she jumped to her bedroom window in a mad fury, desperately hoping to get it open and call for help. But the taller robot had grabbed her with his extending arms before she could do so. She barely had any time to react before she felt herself getting knocked hard on the head.
So here she was now, bound and gagged and left on the cold floor of a little metal cell, held prisoner by a horrid man who she knew intended nothing good for her, provided his offer wasn't accepted.
She could still hardly believe so much of what she'd heard as Hacker had explained his plan to her. It was a brief explanation, but the main points had certainly been made quite clear to her. Being informed that Becky was actually WordGirl had been astonishing news to her at first, but after having time to think about it, the similarities were obvious, and she was amazed she hadn't realized it sooner. Becky was so much like WordGirl, and that wasn't just to say that she looked and sounded a lot like her and both were good with English and words. No, what really sealed the deal for Fern was simply knowing what a good person Becky was, and how much she was willing to put others before herself. She felt extremely lucky to be her friend.
If anything had been a true surprise to Fern, it was learning that Becky returned her romantic feelings for her. This is something Fern had no hope of expecting to happen. Of course, that was hardly a good thing in this situation. Her stomach felt like it had dropped like a rock when Hacker explained it was because Becky liked her that he was going to use Fern as leverage. She couldn't stand thinking how much Becky was likely hurting right now. It had been obvious earlier how furious Becky was to discover Hacker had kidnapped Fern.
It saddened Fern how little she could get any happiness out of knowing this now, though. She likely would have been extremely joyful under normal circumstances. For all she knew, she might never see Becky again or get to talk about any of this with her. She didn't want to die. She was only 14. She had so much life to live, and now it might all be taken away from her.
On the other hand, however, she knew if Becky accepted Hacker's offer, it would mean she was agreeing to surrender, and that would mean Hacker would be taking over the Earth. Fern was confident in feeling she wasn't at all worth the fate of the world. And what would become of Becky if that happened? For all Fern knew, he might just trade herself for Becky, and then they'd still be separated.
It's hopeless… Fern lamented to herself, trying to adjust into a more comfortable position against the wall and wriggling around her arms and ankles in yet another futile attempt to get loose. She had tried for hours, but the ropes were simply too tight. It seemed there was really nothing else she could do aside from sitting sorrowfully in the dark, waiting for some awful fate to befall her.
The last thing she expected on this night was hearing the door to her cell quietly being unlocked and seeing it slowly begin to open, letting in a sliver of light from the hall. It took her a couple moments to react due to her tired state, and she had to blink a few leftover tears from her eyes, but fear quickly began growing inside her. Was it Hacker coming to get her already? Oh god, oh god, oh god!, she panicked, her eyes growing wider and her back stiffening. But it hasn't been twenty-four hours yet! This isn't fair! No! Time can't be up yet!
Thankfully when the figure stepped inside, she could see the silhouette of the taller of the two robots that had kidnapped her earlier, and not actually Hacker himself, only illuminated a little by the dim light from the hallway. This was a slight relief, but she still felt petrified having one of her captors approaching her while she was so defenseless. She flattened herself against the wall as fearful, frail cries escaped her throat, muffled by the cloth blocking her mouth.
"Hey, hey, shh… It's okay…" the robot said as calmly as possible, showing his hands, as if he was attempting to relax a startled animal. "I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I promise."
Fern, of course, would have been perfectly justified in not trusting him. But the look she saw in his eyes appeared to suggest he meant what he said. This was strange to her, as she had never seen a robot act so… real before, as if he was an actual person. Granted, Tobey McCallister's robots were the only ones she was familiar with, but it was still an odd sight to her.
Fern didn't back away any more, so the robot slowly reached down towards her mouth and pulled the gag down. This surprised Fern, and she was relieved to be able to take a few deep breaths with her mouth. After doing this, she met the robot's eyes and narrowed her own. "What do you want?" she spat icily in a hoarse voice, as she hadn't been able to speak in hours, and her throat was parched dry.
"Shh!" the robot shushed once again, but still in a rather gentle way. He looked over his shoulder, as if he was concerned about being heard. Without another word, he reached down and gingerly grabbed Fern's shoulders before turning her around.
Not wanting to be shushed again, but still afraid, she protested in a somewhat loud whisper, "H-hey! Let go of me! What are you doing?!"
"I'm getting you free," the robot replied quietly, fiddling with the knots of her bindings.
Fern turned her head back in confusion, trying to get a look at him. "Wait, what? Why?"
She heard the robot sigh, and he hesitated a moment before answering. "Well… I overheard the boss talking to Buzzy. He was saying what he was planning on doing to you if WordGirl and the Earth kids didn't take the offer."
"...What?..." Fern asked, feeling a pit engulfing her stomach once more.
"You don't want to know…" the robot replied morosely, continuing to undo the knots as he talked. "But I realized I can't let him do that to you. The boss has always been mean, but… never THIS mean… I just can't take it anymore. We're getting you outta here, and then… I decided I'm also leaving the boss… and Buzzy."
Fern was quite stunned to hear this admission. So one of these people had a heart after all. "You are?"
She heard the robot sniffle a bit as he went on. "Yeah… It'll be hard. I've been with them for so long, but… I finally realized just how bad the boss… I mean, how bad Hacker is. I don't wanna be like him anymore."
Fern's arms were now completely untied. She stretched and took large, cleansing breaths after the ropes slumped down to her sides, and the robot went to untie her ankles, which he managed to do much more quickly. Fern remained silent all the while, completely taken aback by this robot's change of heart. Once her ankles were free, she stood up with him and looked at him, extremely touched as she rubbed the parts of her arms that had been irritated by the ropes, despite being covered by her sweater. "Wow… well… Thank you… um… What's your name?"
"It's Delete… but Buzz calls me Deedee…" he replied, slumping sadly a bit, his antennae drooping.
"My name's Fern…" she returned sympathetically. "Sounds like you two are good friends."
"Yuh-huh…. Like brothers… But I don't think he'd come with me. He'll probably stay with Hacker."
"Maybe he would?"
Delete was quiet for a moment and looked regretfully at Fern. "...He didn't object to what Hacker was gonna do to you…"
The two stood there a minute in a heavy silence as Delete slowly broke down and began crying. "W-what am I gonna do?... I can't stay here anymore, b-but I don't have anywhere to go…"
Fern felt rather sorry for Delete. He may have helped in her kidnapping, but he obviously felt bad about it, and it seemed that he wasn't a truly bad person. He appeared to be going through a lot mentally at this time, and she could relate to that. "...Why don't you come with me?" she suggested.
Delete looked back up in surprise, wiping his eyes and looking aghast at Fern. "R-really?"
Fern shrugged. "Well sure, why not? If we tell everyone that you've changed and don't want to be bad anymore, and that you saved me, maybe they'll understand and give it a shot?"
Delete smiled gratefully. "I… well… I guess we could try…"
Fern beamed in return, glad to see him cheering up a bit. If he was genuinely willing to go good, she was willing to give him a chance. She even decided to lean in and give the robot a hug. "Thank you so much, Delete. Whatever happens, I'll never forget what you're doing for me."
Delete blushed, not expecting Fern to go so far as to hug him or thank him so strongly. "Oh! W-well, you're welcome…" he replied with a chuckle. When they parted, he gently took her hand and began leading her along. "Now come on. Let's get you outta here."
Fern frowned anxiously as they entered the maze of hallways. "But how will we get to… Cyberspace?" she asked, hoping she got the name right. She recalled Hacker using it earlier while explaining his plan.
"Don't worry," Delete assured as they turned a corner. "I have a plan."
…
Everyone at Control Central was struggling to keep their eyes open. All five of them had been seated around a table for several hours, tossing ideas back and forth and trying to work out some sort of plan of action. Each of the kids had been forced to make quick return trips to Earth to give their parents an excuse for not being at home that night, as well as getting the truck home in Matt's case. Becky had also called Fern's parents and told them she had come to spend the night at her house, which they believed. And as much as they would have enjoyed going home to rest, they knew they had no time to waste given the perilous situation Fern was in. Yet after so many hours of discussion, it seemed they were hardly closer to a solution than they had been that afternoon. They had gotten pizza to tide them over, but it seemed none of them were very hungry anyway.
"Maybe we could try disguises?" Becky suggested, propping her head up by her chin. "Convince him we're salespeople or something?"
"In the middle of the woods? As if Hacker would fall for that," Jackie contested, shaking her head. "Matt, you've been quiet for a while. Any ideas?" she asked, turning her head to find that Matt was completely slumped over, his face flat on one side on the table. "Matt! Come on! This is no time to nap!" she scolded, repeatedly smacking the boy's exposed cheek.
Matt jerked upright, brought out of his stupor. "Wha?... Oh, right. Sorry, Jacks…"
"Oh, who are we kidding? It doesn't seem like there's much of anything we could do that wouldn't alert Hacker of our presence," Inez moaned, letting her head hang off the back of her chair.
"But… but we have to do something!" Becky objected. "We can't just not do anything! I mean, I don't want to surrender. If I do, Hacker's gonna go and conquer the planet! But if I don't, then Fern's gonna…" Choked sobbing cut her off, and she reached for the nearly empty box of tissues.
"Oh Becky, don't start cryin' on us again. We know you're upset," Digit said, flying over and rubbing her back.
Becky dabbed her eyes and blew her nose, taking a few deep breaths to try and relax. "...You know… I was thinking not too long ago about possibly finding a way to tell her I like her… I guess she already knows now, and now we might never get to talk about it together…" She was then forced to grab another tissue and clean herself up yet again.
Her words hit Matt quite strongly. If the situation hadn't been so sensitive, Jackie likely would have pointed out that this was the kind of thing she was talking about before, about why it was a good idea to just tell Inez how he felt already. This may have been an extreme example, but he knew he would feel absolutely awful if he was in Becky's position. If something like this were to happen to Inez before he could tell her how he felt about her, he didn't know if he could live with himself. "Come on, guys, there has to be a way to get her out of there!" he asserted, pounding his fist on the table. "There MUST be a way we're just not thinking of, some other way! We can't just let this happen!"
"But Matt, I just don't see any way we could do it without Hacker spotting us first," Inez argued, albeit defeatedly.
"Who cares?! There's always hope, right? Even if we couldn't do anything at all ourselves, miracles have been known to happen! There's always a chance something great and unexpected could happen, right?"
At that moment, all at once, they heard a small cough from behind them. Not expecting to hear anything else, or anyone besides themselves, all five quickly turned their heads to see a figure standing in the doorway. Despite being a bit scraped up, on the verge of breaking down emotionally, and clearly extremely exhausted, she appeared to be in relatively good condition.
Matt couldn't keep from chuckling inwardly to himself and thinking, Wow… Can I call them or what?
