Thinking back on it. Tobey was probably one tantrum away from being evil again. So many stupid people, even Becky was grating on his final nerves, still suspicious of his moral shift. Not that he could blame her. The change was so jarring he had to keep reminding his mother that he deactivated his remote, it helped remind himself to. it was now pointless to threaten rampage on other classmates who picked on him. Eventually he was at his breaking point, skipped school one day and made his way walking all over downtown looking for a robotics shop. Then he ended up here, he remembered the construction going on all around him but the shop kept going nearly empty. Say for one friendly face.

"Ugh Omar! what are you doing man your suppose to heal me!" Jacki's voice yelled from right next to Tobey's ear as he was knelt down trying to help pat down a spilled lemon soda from earlier with Becky "well I'm sorry but I'm a little busy fighting off corn demons ok?!" Omar sighed back, "your All are fighting the corn demons but at least your not stuck inside of the corn demon mothers asshole" Angel softly added "I have a plan just give it a minute!" a stiff robotic voice snapped, Orpheus almost slambed his phone down on the table and pouted leaning back on his chair. Becky gave a small giggle "you know, even if I don't understand this game quiet yet, it's pretty fun listening to you guys play" she said dabbing a fresh paper towel on the spill, Omar gave her a soft smirk "ey now that's only cus your not feeling like your about to lose your second character" "second character?" Becky asked raising a brow "what happened to the first one?"

the cheerful giant only dropped his smile for a second to glared at the ginger teen across the table "we don't talk about them" Tom just waved his hand and continued to scroll. Omar sighed and turned back around to Becky and Tobey "anyways I think you guys already picked up all you could, how about you just toss those paper towels out and check out the theature room?" Becky raised a brow but Tobey seemed to go wide eyed with realization and beamed "I hadn't even thought of that!" he exclaimed in excitement, Omar watched in a pleased face.

Becky narrowed her eyes a bit at, what quiet frankly was a rather suspicious door way, but knowing damn well she could knock Tobey on his ass she followed in anyway. Tobey scoffed a bit at her noticible hesitance "whats with the scared puppy walk Botsford? Scared of little old me?" he asked crossing his arms and putting two fingers to his chin as he grinned "im aware im devilishly handsome, but that doesnt make me the devil when im excited does it?" he asked. Becky snorted, 3 years ago that would have been absolutely true "oh please..with you and your sordid affairs Tobey how could i not be slightly suspicious of what your plans are in the dimmly lit backroom of a game store i hardly even know" Tobey looked at her a bit puzzled for a moment, "Sordid?" he asked, and Becky smiled at him taking the bait. "Sordid, something involving ignoble actions and motives; arousing moral distaste and contempt. Like how you were rather known for your sordid affais just to get a super powered girls attention" she teased. Tobey frowned, crossed his eyes a bit and seemed to mock Beckys tone of voice "'like how you use to do trying to get a super powered girls attention'" he said and looked at her a bit wearily "come now Botsford do i really seem the sort of charlatan to you now a days that id lure you into dark corners to do unsavory acts?" Becky raised a brow and pointed behind him "is that not what your doing right now?" Becky drawled out the question. Tobey gave pause, taking a split moment to assess the facts for himself and laughed "eh...fair point" he said and raised a brow "but tell me when my charlatan levels peek a bit higher from now on eh?" he chuckled and walked into the dim area "oop looks like im a bit late to that because your at about a 30% charlatan level" "come oon" Tobey groaned. Becky gave a light laugh as she walked into the room and looked around. It didnt even take a moment before she realized "is this a library? in a game store?" she asked surprisingly as she looked around at the small nook space around her "its a hobby store" Tobey sighed a bit in annoyance. It wasnt huge, bearly bigger then the average janitor's area, but the walls were covered end to end in books. Manga, comics, and classic literature alike decorated the walls end to end with their colorful covers, however, she could see the clear bias to the robotic engineering section off to the side and just gave a snort. Tobey had noted the shelf as well and had taken measures to stand in front of it pretending to look for something else to cover the area.

Becky gave a small smirk "hmmm now i wonder which area lures Tobey McCallister the most," she hummed and mocked innocents as she looked over to the super hero section "could it be supergirl?" "stoooop" "oh no its probably ironheart" "i mean it Botsford" Tobey groaned but Becky couldnt help but continue "could also be one of the double Ws" Becky looked over and smirked "would it be Word Woman, or Wonder Woman? hmmm choices the choices" "your enjoying yourself arent you? your enjoying my torture" Tobey sighed and pushed off the robotics wall "maybe, just a bit," Becky chuckled, noticing a book at the very top of the shelf she tried to reach up, but her fingers bearly even grazed the bottom of the book, even little jumps didnt do much good as she would fall back down right as her fingers would run along the spine of the book. Becky groaned "why did the shelves have to be this high?" "what?" Tobey mused a bit with a chuckle, a book of his own in his hand "is Becky Botsford surrending? in a library?" he looked down at the ground "did hell freeze over?" "har har Tobey, har har" she deadpanned and was about to pull herself higher with a heel to the bottom shelf before Tobey clicked his tounge "Becky really?" he sighed finally noticing the book she was reaching for "yes" Becky snapped and carefully lifted herself up to get the book she was after. Before it was in her grasp however a faint drill like sound could be heard behind her head reaching past to the book before her, and took it down to Tobey as he read his own book with a crooked smile. Becky rolled her eyes "coulda done that earlier?" "i could have. but i was having to much fun watching". Becky glared at Tobeys cheerful nature and carefully hopped from the shelf as Tobey opened the book and looked it over "havent you already read this dictionary?" he asked "i could have sword this is the same one ive seen at your house" Becky just grabbed the book away from Tobey "look what i read in my spare time is my buisness" she stated proudly. However she was still greatful for the poor lighting now, it hid her embarressment of the repeatative book choices she made well enough, but Tobey just scoffed "uh huh" Becky shot him a glare and pulled her book close, like she was defending its honor"oh what leg do you think you have to stand on," she frowned "your probably reading Robot engineering 2: virus protection".

Tobey didnt look away from his book "actually volume 2 would be repairing broken robots, volume 7 is Virus," he shook his head "and no Botsford for your information im actually reading 'Seneca'," he smiled and held up the very well worn out book with the image of a greek statue head at the front, though it was once shiny and glossy, it was read to the bring of disintergation, the spine was paper thin, and the edges were worn down to the white paper underneath the glossy black cover art. The book was literally being held together by clear tape and that sight alone made Becky reel. "yikes," Becky whinced "that looks like its seen better days Tobey" she noted. Tobey just shrugged "i suppose," he mumbled a bit, and then lazily tipped the book ober to examine the obvious damage himself "ive read this book so many times i think its actually almost as damaged as the buildings i use to demolish" he chuckled "ah my destructive habits seem to follow where i go eh?" Becky gave him a bit of a concerned look, but Tobey looked rather distant abuot his poor joke. Placing a thumb in the space he left off Tobey flipped the pages back to the opening cover page of the book and held it out to Becky "here look" he pushed the book lightly, Becky leaned in a bit and the familiar childish scribbles of "TTM" scrawled across the page in black marker, faded over time and gone over with the clear tape for protection. Tobey proudly held his head high "this book was a gift i donated to this library, every so often i come back and read it," he pulled the book back gently, "it helps me compose myself". Becky blinked a bit and smiled "its been that helpful huh?" she asked and Tobey nodded as she gave him a light bump "impressive McCallister, looks like you arent as helpless as i thought you were" Tobey frowned "lovely vote of confidence Botsford, truely uplifting" "i try". Tobey sighed rolling his eyes and flipped back to where he was reading "well you are in your home enviroment..how about we enjoy it before taht delivery hm?" Becky thought for a moment, and shrugged, 'yhea why not' she thought and made her way next to Tobey and leaned over from his side, making him reflexively back up a but "what?" Becky raised a brow "what?" she asked back and earned a confused look from Tobey "uh..why you over here?" he asked, "i thought you wanted to read that dictionary" "ah yes but that was before you got me with this 'mysteryious book turn Tobey good' subplot". Tobey gave her a deadpanned stare "using my words agaisnt me to read this book is playing dirty Botsford" "yea well you should know better by now not to arm me with words McCallister" Becky retorted and lightly hit his arm "now lower it down i cant read" "its just a collection of poems Botsford, rather stoic ones at that so im unsure if youd me intrested" "try me" Becky dared and yanked the lanky boys arm down more. Tobey was far lighter then the douche bag Becky had mess with like a ragdoll from earlier, so the shift of weight made her basically yank Tobey down a full foot closer to the ground to her, just so she could read the book in his hands at her preferred height. Tobey chalked it up to her being more focused on the book then on him but she almost had him ram his head into the back of hers, and at a rate so fast he bearly had time to stop himself just before impact with her soft brown hair. Tobey froze still, unsure if he should move. To the side? right or left? would she just yank him again? but what if she thinks hes trying to move closer to her like Toman was earlier? Tobey shook his head and groaned in his head as he stepped a bit away from Becky, ever focused on the poems in his hand.

'this woman is going to be the death of me' Tobey groaned to himself, biting his tounge and just reading along with whatever page Becky had now found herself on. Lucky enough Tobey had already read this book end to end, these poems were second nature to him. Glancing down and seeing Becky have a bit of child like wonder in her eyes as she read the new poems before her, Tobey gave a soft smile and read in silence along with her. Flipping page to page, poem after poem, the only sound between the pair was the pages turning and the distant cheers of Tobey's friends game session. This one moment, this small fraction of time. It was perfect, a small bit of paradise that found itself on this planet, snug and content in the warm air of the Barrage. Made one want to have this last forever..

"I wouldn't get too cozy Becky..this story isn't all fluff" the narrator warned her, no joke, nor cheer in their voice. It would have sent shivers down her back had her ears not picked something up.

A deafening scream, quickly followed by a whole chorus of screams, Becky had to stop herself from gasping but she couldnt stop herself from going buggy eyed. "Botsford? is something the matter?" Tobey asked, having quickly noted the alarmed look on his assistants face, "No! ah..no its nothing," Becky chuckled "i just realized, i had promised Bob i would find him a Tuba" she mentally slapped herself, Tobey looked even more confused "why on earth would you remember to bring Bob a Tu-" "heee has been really bored, yep thats it, and he asked me to find him a tuba" she smiled and hastly put the dictionary down gently on a draft table off to the corner of the room "ill be right back" "wh- your going right now?" Tobey asked, a bit disappointed and held up his book "ah-i mean, wouldnt you like me to go drop you off at the music shop later after we're done or?" "its a special sale going on until 1 Tobey i won't make it in time," she quickly said and almost ran out but stopped herself "ill be back in just a few minutes i promise, wont take long!" "w- Becky!" Tobey called after her but was far to slow to react as she was already running out the front door. The dnd table having grown quiet Tobey watched as they all leaned in their chairs to peek over at Tobey with a concerned look. 'Shit' Tobey cursed to himself and turned back around embarrassed 'she better come back soon cus I'm not explaining that her monkey wanted a tuba'.

Meanwhile, Becky was running as fast as her civilian self could, running into an alley way she looked around, making extra sure that there werent any security camers around before uttering her iconic words. "WORD UP!".

Alot of times, things happen a whim, a mistake someone makes could result in someone else benefiting the fruit of their labor. Trashed concept could be a piece of treasure to another who happens upon it. In this case, in this moment. Becky was more positive then ever now, the ghost of Tobey's past were before her, and entering full swing. All along main street, lined in neat rows and rows were robots at least 12 ft tall, huge and barrel chested, they reminded her a bit of that word bot suit Tobey built her ages ago but seemed to be less round and cheerful, more like now they were sharp, more polished then Tobey's original design, they appeared more slick and less kiddishly rustic and more corporation sleek. The saving grace in the fact Word Woman could count atleast over a hundred robots was that they weren't as huge as Tobey's would be back on a regular tuesday. The army of robots stretched for what looked like half of main street, marching with the occasional robot moving out of order to swing and destroy stores that dared to have their doors closed to their leader and entered the premises. who stood on a platform a collection of robots held up, tall, confident, and cackling like a maniac. It was none other then a good old classic enemy of Word Woman. "Chuck?" She questioned, catching the round mans attention, he had aged as youd expect old bread left out to dry to age, he had gained more weight then when he first started to be a villain, so much so it was rather concerning but what caught Word Woman off the most was his goofy put together outfit seemed to be replaced by a chefs outfit in the same signature colors, the sandwich helmet he wore before was the same but it appeared to have gathered blue and green mold with age, but Chuck didnt seem to mind it. "Ah word girl! Just in time for the show!" he cheered and held up his arms "have you met my friends?". On cue the robots around him looked up at Word Woman and immediately locked on to her, raising their arms that immediately turned into giant canisters with bright yellow liquid and began to fire off high pressure streams of mustard. "Woah!" Word Woman gasped as he flew around, in between, left and right and abve all the streams of mustard, barely getting time to breath as she dodged them all while Chuck laughed. Word Woman frowned and flew straight up till she was out of reach, but still had to dodge the few streams of mustard that could reach her "seems like im meeting alot of eventful friends today" she frowned, then Word woman heard something. Shooting her head up Word Woman spun around to notice a sleek helicopter heading her way, "4 you news? What on earth?.." she muttered, yelping a bit as she dodged out of the way of a nother high pressure mustard shot, and the door to the helicopter opened. "Hey what the hell you doing kid!?" "thats not safe close the door!" two voices yelled. Word Woman looked over and her jaw dropped "SCOOPS?" she practically yelled, at the door of the helicopter, in a goofy looking fedora with a notepad strapped by the ribbon, a bright yellow hoodie, and blue jeans was short asian teenager with relaxed posture as he happily waved at Word Woman from the door "Word Girl check it out! They let me on the plane!" he yelled, Becky could barely hear him over the sound of the helicopter blades spinning.

Scoops face was happy then scared as he hung onto the helicopter for dear life, despite being harnessed on, after thr pilot yelled and swerved out of the way of a hot sauce stream. The concoction missing and landing on q building, it actually ended up melting part of the roof top it was on like it was magma."Oh dang..Word woman i suggest you get your ex crush out of here before something real bad happens and Chuck actually lands a hit" the narrator urged, sounding more concerned now then he did previously, Word woman almost questioned it but then saw the pilot swerve some more "quickly, I am suggesting you do this Quickly Word Woman!" Word Woman groaned and shot for the helicopter, lightly pushing it and Scoops away from blasting range. Scoops gave her a sheepish smile but was only met with a glare "Scoops what are you doing?! you know better then to get this close to a battle range!" Word Woman yelled, again moving the helicopter to avoid another hit. Scoops tapped his head "uhh no, They know better," he said pointing to the camera crew terrorfied for their lives as the pilot gritted his teeth making panic adjustments to the flying casket, "Im Scoops, and I always get the story" he smirked and turned around, yanking the camera away from the camera man and flicking it on with q smirk "I warned you this was going to happen" "I thought you were joking!" "a good reporter never jokes about the latest stories..then I'm just spreading false info-" Word Woman Groaned and moved the plane again, Scoops scrambling to grab the camera and level it properly "whatever, just stay out of range!" She yelled and then zoomed down to the Robot army below. the mustard bombardment once again aiming squarely at her as Chuck laughed. "You heard her Paul!"the pilot nodded and tried to keep level so Scoops can zoom in with the professional news camera.

Meanwhile back at the Barrage, Tobey had his head in his hand and looked like he was going to strangle someone, all while around him the bobs bot battle Barrage crew gathered around him giving him a sympathetic look and various pats on the back. "it's alright Tobes," Angel soothed "yhea we've all been rejected one time or another, shit just happens ya know" Jacki added. Tobey slapped his palm on his eyes and pulled it down in irritation. "guys I wasn't rejected, nor did I ask her anything," he growled "im telling you the truth, she went to go find her monkey a Tuba!" Orpheus nodded and hit play on his phone "Whatever you say Tobes, we just want you to know we are here for you" "Oh for heavens sak-" "alright alright guys stop making Tobes feel bad," Omar said and made his way over to the long bean bag chair with remote in his hand "I just got a text from Michelle, she says shes getting a special news coverage right now and to turn to 4 You News" he said and flopped down next to Tobey. The weight shift practically sent the boy flying in the air before he flopped back over the polyester cushioning.

Tobey groaned and slowly picked himself up, glaring forward and swatting away the teins from conforting him again "Yes please Omar," he frowned "save me from this 'i feel sorry Tobey doesnt have a love life' tragedy" he snapped. looking up he now wished he had shut the fuck up as first thing on the giant projector was Word Woman in all her glory as she ripped the arms off the mustard robots. "i dont think the universe likes to hand you passes Tobes," "oh shut up" Tobey snapped.

"This is special guest reporter Scoops coming in, we are getting exclusively close range footage of Word Woman doing her job once again and protecting the city!" Tobey rolled his eyes, of coudse it was Scoops, he wouldnt shut up about being a new intern to the news station for the summer since he submitted tge paper work. "as it stands now it appears that Word Woman is fighting specialized condiment robots!" Scoops yelled in excitment and zoomed in on rhe rampage as Word woman took in one big breath and blew away the robots. Tobeys face dropped as he watched her blow one offbits sockets, "that..." he softly gasped at the robot "is th-" "WOOOOH look at her go! dispite the long years, it looks like Word Woman hasnt rusted at all in her robot boxing skills" bam! "oh..wow she actually boxed em" Scoops said a bit surprised as Word Woman took down Robot after Robot. Tobey just silently watchd, intently watching the heroines moves and punches and narrowing his eyes to get a good look at the detail of the robots whenever Scoops zoomed in. A boiling dead glare of rage

Their arms torn off, their heads aswell, Word Woman was demolishing robot after Robot before eventually Chucks manic laughter was reduced to a whimper as she stomped on his platform "hey hey hey move it you guys!" The robots holding the platform looked up at him "I sev...severa...sovergn estimated your guys abilities, move!" The robots beeped in reply but were knocked to the ground by Word Girl straight ramming into them, sending Chuck stumbling and rolling on the floor of tge road Chuck looked up. "That's Severely Chuck," Word Woman sighed "meaning," she tossed up the bots and they beeped cries of help "to an undesirably great or intense degree, ngh!" She went over the bots and put her feet together, stomping at the one she threw the highest and rushing down with it and one, two, three, four, five, six other bots gathered perfectly in the middle ans skewered infront of Chuck. Sending an array of condiments everywhere. "Like how you severely underestimated my ability to fight robots again," she scowled and made her way towards Chuck. Chuck whinced and whimpered as he rolled himself over and frantically pushed himself back reaching shakenly for the small mini cannon on his side, Word Woman just kicked it out of his hands "or how you are severely mistaken if you think I'm just going to skim over these robots," she grabbed Chuck ht the collar and he cried as he was lifted in the air light nothing "start talking Chuck. Where did these things come from?"

Yes where did these come from indeed! Too bad yall are going to have to wait to find out :p

Once again yall i hope you enjoyed this chapter! But if you think the hype just ends at robots buckle the fuck up cus I'm going all in on this mother fuckaaaaaaas