"Nope,"

"But-"

"No,"

"Please if you can ju-"

"Never"

Word Woman was about to Scream.

Once she had made herself into the building, the chatter of the prisoners all stopped and stared at her, most were super villains she put away, others petty criminals she pit away, the rest she never even seen, yet they avoided her gaze like the plague. Word Woman was known to every criminal in the city, if you were never caught by her either you were lucky or Extremely smart about how you committed the crime. Which, was rare in itself. Word Woman ignored the glares and avoided eye contacts as she made her way to Lady Redundant Woman's cell, where she was bored and playing catch with herself, herself,oh look herself, and herself. tossing about a wadded up piece of paper, one of the copies tossed it to Lady Redundant Woman but she had turned her attention to the bright yellow and red figure of Word Woman.

"Look as much as the visit is appreciated Wordie, its a bit more on the downer side if your going to suggest giving you my baby again"

"Lady Redundant Woman, please at least hear me out about this-"

"HA!" Lady Redundant Woman snubbed up her nose, crossing her arms protectively over her beautiful new printer "not gonna happen Wordie, Incase you haven't noticed this has been just the upgrade I've been needing, now i may actually get somewhere in my crimes"

"All that did was buy you Time Lady Redundant Woman," Word Woman frowned, "did you really expect me to give up finding you so easily after you escaped?"

The villanesse glanced at Word Woman, flinching at the unnerving glare the hero was giving, shifting in her place she remained planted in her position and gave a smug look "still escaped though Wordie, that's the key factor here," she smiled, and then rested her elbows on her knees so she could rest her chin on her hands looking up at Word Woman "even with that walking Toaster flying around i was able to avoid being caught for a few days with this baby..you Really expect me to give it up?"

"..." Word Woman frowned, this whole time she had been barely grazing the floor with her feet as she floated in the prison, out of habit really, but quietly she lowered herself down to the ground "I have a couple people I care about, I've made a few new friends recently, Lady Redundant Woman. Those friends are normal, everyday civilians that couldn't do more than defend themselves with what they had when i wasn't there.. Your last attack? nearly crushed them. Beatrice." her tone turning cold she slowly stepped forward toward Lady Redundant Woman.

Her smile faltered, as did the false bravado she presented "t-thats on YOU," Lady Redundant Woman almost yelled, as she pointed up at the teen "your getting lazy, slothful, inactive.. if You were a better hero Word Woman instead of being laid back. Maybe they wouldn't have had such trouble in the first place," she snapped "if anything your 'friends' are lucky i didn't even know they were your friends cus then for sure i would have zeroed in on them, get a nice crime spree done holding them hostage, captive, rans-"

Word Woman grabbed Lady Redundant Woman by her collar, bringing her halfway up from sitting in her cell bench and glared down. Not saying a word.

THAT is what sent a shiver up the villains spine the most, was that she didn't hear a single sound be uttered by the heroine she's known for years. Word Woman was always so playful, so cheery in their banter. With every villain and even petty criminal Word Woman had a jovial tone about their crime in progress, carrying it even into their arrest.

But the silence that Word Woman gave?

Felt like ice.

"wow oh uh...i, i think you've made your point Word Woman"

...

"Word Woman?"

Word Woman's face twisted a little, realization coming to her eyes, but that didn't remove the cold, icy anger from her expression.

Word Woman took in a sharp breath through her nose, then calmly and slowly let it out as she loosened her grip on Lady Redundant Woman, who quickly scurried away from her, backing right into the black brick walls behind her as she stared up at the young hero.

...

"lets try another question" Word Woman said, bending down to be at eye level with Lady Redundant Woman as she shrunk into the bench "who gave you that machine?"

"i don't know" Lady Redundant Woman exclaimed, backing away as she saw Word Woman's eyes narrow "i-i Don't, honest! After my break up i ended up being approached by some guy...uh handsome, nice suit, very charming...uh and he just..GAVE me this printer, even giving me a power supply sample..said that it was the main piece that kept it running s-so i would have to buy more of it from him if i wanted to keep using my new baby..like a subscription!...the price isn't cheap either"

"she's telling the truth" a meek voice said from the pair's left.

Looking over, Word Woman saw none other then Chuck, who flinched a bit at the hero turning to face him, he kicked his feet a bit nervously, "i can vouch for her"

Word Woman stared at him a moment then stood up, walking over to the open cell door he stood to the side of, "vouch how?" she asked

Chuck gulped, his hands fidgeting with a plastic-wrapped sandwich "remember the attack i made a while back? one with the cool, awesome robots. with the sauce blasters!" Word woman raised a brow

'cool?' she thought

"a-anyways, they were from someone just like the guy Bea was talking about," he rubbed the back of his head to remember "uh- tall, nice..." he looked to Lady Redundant Woman between the bars as she rubbed her arm anxiously "did he have a gold pin on his collar when he talked to you to?"

Lady Redundant Woman paused a moment, then nodded "yep, uh huh, defiantly..had MC in a circle-" her eyes drifted to Chucks chest then she pointed wide eyed and jumping to her feet "like that!" she said, Word Woman looked and so did Chuck down at the neat gold-threaded 'MC' embroidered onto his new chef uniform "hey wait why did you get new clothes?"

Chuck waved his hands "i dunno, he just gave this to me too...i guess maybe he didn't like the ones i was wearing?"

Word Woman and Lady Redundant Woman looked to each other, then bobbed their heads in agreement

"ok that sounds about right, corect, and accurate" Lady Redundant Woman said

"yhea you were wearing the same exact costume over and over since i was a kid Chuck..most the other villains have a new look to them,"she said. Chuck paused then looked over at Lady Redundant Woman with a smile "oh also i Love the new outfit, the colors really do scream villain"

Lady Redundant Woman looked at Word Woman then at the outfit, smiling. the tension from earlier now gone, and focused on her new hand sewn outfit "aw these old colors?" she asked then showed her gloved "you don't think the magenta, cyan, and yellow clash do you? was worried, paranoid, and stressed with the purple on the outfit and all.."

"oh no!- actually think its pretty clever detail since your whole theme is copying like a printer"

Chuck nodded "yhea and the white gloves with the black outfit fit with the black and white on the paper thing too"

Lady Redundant Woman smiled at the pair's praise and hugged her outfit "aw thank you both i worked hard, diligently, and put a lot effort on it," she then turned her attention to Word Woman

"probably not as hard as you thought, you sprouted up so quickly! i remember you had at least 5 different outfits before this one because you sprung up so fast, rapidly, swiftly."

"yhea, you really did grow up fast Word Woman"

The Heroine looked down a bit bashful "thanks you guys.. oh actually i had a bit of help with this one from Hugg-"

the narrator cleared their throat, catching everyone's attention to look up.

"uh...as much as i and the audience love this villain hero bonding moment..buuuut"

Word Woman blinked, and shook her head "u-uh right my bad, that's on me" she chuckled

"mhm"

Word Woman cleared her throat then looked back at Chuck, who had straightened himself and tried to look serious "so this guy just Gave you guys free stuff?"

Chuck nodded "yhea, walked right up to our houses and gave it to us..mom was pretty upset at first cus she thought i used her credit card.."

Word Woman winced in sympathy, as Chuck continued "I'm sure other villains got similar offers, and he gave me an power supply thing too..i guess cus i couldn't clone my gifts the extra supply might have been to add more kick to the bots but i only used half..ya know save the rest for a rainy day?"

The sandwich man reached behind him and rifled around his back pocket a moment before pulling out a black glossy canister, small 'tink tink' sound being heard inside

ow.

Word Woman touched her head blinking, she felt a small throb squeeze her brain but brushed it off as Chuck presented the canister "the liquid is just water, the guy said that the use of any liquid can keep the actual fuel inside more potent, for when it's used"

Word Woman lightly took the canister from Chuck's hands "did he say what the actual fuel was called?" she asked, looking the object over as Chuck tabbed his chin in thought, "uh...i think so?...it was uh...ugh what was it uh..." he brought two fingers to his temple and groaned as he tried to remember but sighed shaking his head "I'm sorry Word Woman, i don't remember" he cast his eyes down sadly "i remember he said it but i don't remember the name of it..."

Word Woman shook her head "it's fine Chuck, you already helped plenty," she smiled "this is the first big crack in the case I've gotten so far"

Chuck looked up, and beamed "really?"

she nodded, then felt another throb in her head just before the second, canister, was presented to her from between bars. It was in a different canister, small and square, but with the same glossy outside and small objects that clanked around on the inside. "in that case here," Lady Redundant Woman said, then dropped the canister, Word Womans reflexes being quick as a pistol like usual caught it the moment see saw it be released, she looked at her confused but the villianesse smirked "Chuck might remember the name at some point, so I'LL be the first to hear of it. i can gather up some more of these, so i can spare my spare this time" Lady Redundant Woman winked.

Word Woman looked down at the canister then at the villainess who looked at her smiling. Now feeling guilty for the threatening manner she had Lady Redundant Woman in a moment ago. She opened her mouth to speak but then felt a light amount of weight be added to her hand as Chuck happily put the wrapped up sandwich on top of the square canister "oh also i heard you were coming so i whipped up a sandwich I've been working on," he smiled "Pea Shallot Pesto Panini with thin-sliced beef!"

Her eyes lit up and she looked at the sandwich "ooo no way really?!" she asked, her tone as happy as it was when she was little, she knew Chucks sandwiches were good. She just never thought of putting PEAS into one.

Chuck nodded "i heard a long time ago your favorite food was peas, so i had whipped this up to experiment.. you just happened to visit the same day i made a batch of them," he put his hands in the air jazz hands style "I call it, Word Woman super hero deluxe Special Sandwich.." he looked at the two jazzing his hands with excitement.

Word woman gave a sheepish smile "it...sounds good...the name could use a bit of work but it sounds thoughtful"

"and like a mouthful"

Chuck deflated a bit

Word Woman chuckled, sure her villians angered her. crossed lines. but..if shes learned anything, that doesnt mean they're bad people.

on instinct she reached her arms full of items to her side and paused "ah..."

she stared down "forgot i don't have pockets"

"seriously? you made the most durable suit for yourself ever and it doesn't have pockets?"

Word Woman sighed "look my job is to punch things and jail criminals not carry stuff around, it's not like i can just carry a purse around with me wherever" she adjusted herself a bit so she could carry all the items at once.

"ya know," Lady Redundant Woman chirped "you could always visit the robot kid, the one from when you were little?" she said as if Word Woman needed the reminder of Tobey's existence. Word Woman scratched her cheek a little, bit from awkwardness, but sure the curious face she made covered that

"Tobey?" she asked

the older woman nodded "yhea, wasn't sure you'd remember him, dorky kid, used to wear bowties a lot, with a silly british accent Anyway," she leaned on the bars smiling "he's a good kid now. he comes around every once in awhile to check on us still"

wait what?

Word Woman raised a brow "he, visits?" she asked 'never told me he visited the villains still'

The pair nodded, "yeah it's pretty sweet actually," Lady Redundant Woman chuckled "gives us villians small gifts around the holidays , even though he isn't a villain anymore"

"he's a bit grumpy," Chuck smiled "but he's got a real soft spot for a lot of the villains when they end up here.."

Lady Redundant Woman nodded her head "anyway, last i heard from him he's still inventing crazy shit," she nudged Word Woman slightly "should ask him if he can make like a special purse for crime-fighting..i'm sure he'd hop, leap, and jump at the chance if You ask"

Word Woman chuckled a little, shifting her feet "ah yhea...yhea maybe," she looked around at the dazzling air around her to avoid eye contact "i might think about it, since it seems collecting evidence is a new thing now" she then turned her attention to organizing the objects once again so the sandwich Chuck graciously gave her didn't get squashed by the canisters, totally missing the two villains grin at each other and give a quick fist bump. They quickly looked nonchalant and looked away when Word Woman looked back up.

"right...uh" Word Woman sighed "sorry i was a bit rough on you Lady Redundant Woman, i...i am a little bothered by the whole thing"

Lady Redundant Woman gave a snort "little, mildly, or just a teeny bit bothered?"

"..." Word Woman grimaced a little as she looked down, "Alright really bothered.." she sighed out.

Lady Redundant Woman shrugged "it's fine Wordie..try Not to do that too much though," she seemed uneased at first then gave a false smirk "you can be scary when you do that silent treatment, it's pretty effective for you if you need to get something"

Word Woman chuckled "hopefully i won't be needing anything to that degree anytime soon"

"So she tempts fate"

Word Woman tried to ignore the narrator as they said that and floated above the ground once again. "Well, I'm gonna head out now...if you remember the name Chuck, let me know?"

Chuck smiled nodding "of course, it's going to bother me for a while anyway. I'll try my best to remember"

"thanks anyway," she flew up, "I'll be seeing you guys later?"

"robbery"

"probably property damage and robbery"

Lady Redundant Woman and Chuck both said respectively. Word Woman nodded "noted," she chuckled "later you two"

With that the heroine zoomed away, only slowing and stopping at the entrance door where she seemed much chippier than she had before waiting for the door to open.

Chuck glanced to his side at Lady Redundant Woman and awkwardly patted his sides "do...do you think we should have told her about Dr Two Brains going miss-" "he's not missing" Lady Redundant Woman replied bluntly and turned back into her cell, a bitter expression on her face "he's just being annoying as usual..."

Chuck nodded "r-right" he said, almost like he was trying to reassure himself alongside with Lady Redundant Woman, returning a bit to his place while he turned around to go back to his own cell "...right"

"ugh, my head.." Word Woman groaned as she put a finger on her temple and squeezed her eyes shut as she flew in the air exiting the prison, "why is it killing me all of a sudden?" she asks to no one particular and tries to take a deep breath wh-

BWOOOOSH

her eyes snapped around. facing the direction of the sudden noise.

what was that?

Disgusting.

This was truly. utterly

Disgusting.

Helpless to do much else other than watch, Tobey stood off to the side lines of his own laboratory, dressed in neat, pristine clothes he bought with Becky resting under his usual lab coat. it clashed heavily against the high class clothes with its soot and oil spots at the trim.. For once in his life he actually cared about the clothes he wore as he sought comfort in the fabric specially chosen by his assistant, his hands gripping and his sides but his feet planted firmly to the ground. Watching all his inventions, plans, prototypes, almost every single one that his father managed to get his hands on that didn't suit his interest found its way to a pile in the center of the junkyard.

Which happend to be almost every one of them. Half the projects were just for fun..others..comfort. didn't matter much now by one, they all were gathered by men in purple jumpsuits and hats from a truck and carelessly tossed them. Breaking a few as they did. Each pin he heard snap off and metal pieces, and fell to the floor with a clank made Tobey's heartache.

But he didn't dare move.

The blonde boy flinched as he saw one more be tossed and shatter on impact, looking to the floor "are they all almost gathered?" he asked, voice soft yet irritated, a tone met with a hum in disapproval.

"looks like it," his father said, looking over the trashed heap of inventions and nodding as he reached under his arm and threw a gauntlet at Tobey, the boy allowed it to hit him and fall to the ground. Staring at it before bending to pick it up. Deep red with black trimmings..cliche much?

Tobey frowned at the colors at first then quickly glared at the shine of his reflection in the glossy finish when he remembered what it was for. Mr. McCallister smiled, waving off the workers who took all their gear and hefty selves out of his sight. then turned to give a cold, emotionless look at his son. Tobey could only look at him briefly then to the ground as he just stood there waiting like a damn idiot. Mr McCallister shifted his feet and began to walk away with his phone in his hand

"do try and not kill yourself by mistake with that please..," the older man then switched to a more cheery tone "ill be having lunch with my beauty, i dont need you doing anything to mess that up..so i would rather our time together not be spoiled by having to tell her any sort of news about you" Glancing up at his father, it seemed like every other emotion the man made up to now was as fake as Tobeys accent. You almost wouldn't be able to tell the kind of man Mr McCallister was when he spoke of his wife, even when he spoke of her with Tobey. Claire McCallister seemed to bring a sort of light into his eyes, Tobey could see it, but it was clear as day that look was never going to be directed at him, the moment his father turned to him again.

No emotion.

"after next week, you'll actually become of some use..so do try and get everything in order by then," mr McCallister gestured over to the pile, phone in hand as it dialed and began to walk away "get to cleaning once im gone...the bloody thing is annoyingly loud"

"...yes sir"

Mr McCallister nodded

"...hello?"

The voice on the other end caught Mr Mcallister's attention and he straightened himself out, walking away from his son "Beautiful! Always lovely to hear you," he beamed warmly "im on m-..Theodore? he's fine. he's doing some cleaning in his..what He calls his laboratory. It doesn't matter. he's doing well, i'm on my way to pick you up for lunch" he continued to talk and talk and talk.

Tobey was convinced his mother probably set the phone aside to give half-hearted replies to his father as he heard him ramble on and on about how wonderful their lunch will be off in the distance. Almost hearing him through the limo walls as mr McCallister hopped in.

Tobey let out a shaky sigh of relief, trembling a little as the air escaped his lungs. The weight of his fathers presence finally off his shoulders, but the fear was still snaked around his torso. This hurt.

This hurt so much...

He stood there for what had to have been hours..just watching his shadow slowly move and extend as if he were a sundial. The thin figure of his shadow eventually ending up pointing closer to the pile and led the boy's blue eyes up to it. Tobey took a deep breath, sliding the red gauntlet on to his arm..it was...well to say it was ill fitted would be the understatement of the year, it was clearly designed for someone much healthier and filled out then Tobey was, but he strapped it on as snuggly as possible regardless.

Bracing himself, Tobey flicked it on. The gauntlet powered up, the black lining glowing red for a minute before it sent a jolt of pain up his wrist to just below his elbow where the gauntlet ended. It practically brought the genius to his knees clenching the device from the brief shock of pain, a design flaw his father was more than willing to overlook in this prototype.

Tobey took a few deep breaths, the electric pain quickly dissolving into a warm sensation that made his arm feel a little numb. Planting himself down, Tobey looked back at his inventions remembering every sleepless night spent drafting, meticulously designing a plan for each one. raising his arm, remembering each time one of them cut his hands, and then remembered his lovely assistant helping him build each and every single one of the machines they worked so hard on.

Shut his eyes tight.

BWOOOOSH

He fired, the kickback sending him flying backward as a bright red beam, that started small, blasted out of the jet-like end where his hand would be. like it was a roaring fire, that shook ground as the impact of the beam landed and exploded. The kickback just from Sending the blast was enough to send him off his feet, the actual explosion sent Tobey flying further. tumbling into the rusty, flat iron wall of the junkyard with a loud BANG. He let out a grunt from the air being knocked out of his lungs with barely enough time to react as he covered his face as debry of rocks dust and everything in between went flying everywhere.

It went quiet..taking in a short, shallow gasps of air Tobey slowly lowered his arms from his face and looked over to th-

Oh great, Tobey let out an irritated groan as he immediately could tell his glasses were knocked from his face, he was blind as a bat, Tobey narrowed his eyes and strained them just so he could See his hand right in front of him then even more so when he tried to look at where the pile of inventions he was meant to destroy was..

They were scattered, that much he could tell. Tobey started to stumble to his feet but settled for just sitting on his knees, he inched a bit closer and sighed as relief washed over him seeing a crater a few feet away from where his inventions were originally.

He missed...

then a brief cold ran over him

He.

MISSED.

Tobey ran his hand over his face and folded in on himself a bit, His father was for sure going to see all the machines in one piece and know he didn't listen. Hitting the ground with the gauntlet repeatedly each time he cursed

"damn it"

clank

"Damn it" his voice began to falter and crack,

clank clank

"DAMN IT"

clank clank clank clank clank...

...

"did you always have such a potty mouth?" a sweet voice asked, softly.

One last Clank occurred before Tobey registered who the voice was from, and spun around. He couldn't see. But he would recognize the beautiful figure of red and gold anywhere. Especially when it floated gently near him. Tobey opened his mouth, but his words failed to leave his throat. Instead, the formerly evil boy genius was on his knees gapping up like a fool at Word Woman, making her chuckle. That sound alone sent a rush of red into his face.

"what was that you said before about, 'leaving me speechless one day?'" Word Woman asked as she floated closer and knelt down to his level "did i steal your thunder?"

Tobey was quiet, then scoffed lightly shaking his head and casting his eyes down "i said i would leave you breathless..not speechless...never in my life would i want you to be speechless Word Woman" he smiled weakly.

Shifting her feet a little, Word Woman scratched her cheek a little. Literally, every single person she has ever fought would be hopeful for her to be speechless. Everyone but Tobey anyway, still corny as ever. Which made him avoid eye contact with the heroine that much stranger. Where's his dopy lopsided smile?

"..you ok?" Word Woman asked, craning her head a bit to try and meet Tobey's eyes but he didn't even seem to notice at first, but his eyes flickered to her anyway, looking helpless but to look at her best he could without making a sour face to clear his vision.

Tobey took in a deep breath, puffed out his chest and slapped a wide grin "I'm Tobey McCallister III, I'm always ok, better then ok even!" he lifted up his arm "i was just testing a new model device my f...friend! yes my friend!" He fumbled a bit with his smile to turn off the blaster "perhaps i need to readjust the settings- it has a bit of a kick to it you see" he said sheepishly gesturing to the crater. Word Woman frowned, raising a brow as she looked between Tobey and the smoking hole in the ground then crossed her arms "seems a little..destructive? i thought you stopped making things that destroy stuff.." she looked back again at the hole and then took note of the silver-blue objects scattered all around and immediately made her way over

"ah...w-well I mean Technically yes this is destructive-BUT I can give you 100% positive Tobey seal of approval that the design for this blaster wasn't meant to harm anyone. Strictly protection and self defense" Tobey sped out his words, he has no idea of what his father has plans for it, but truly he designed the gauntlet with a totally different purpose then to destroy. it especially wasn't designed to destroy its creative kin.

"aren't these all the inventions you've been making?" Tobey froze and watched his burry goddess make her way towards the mess he barely missed "gau-" "why are they all scatter- aw wait are they broken?" Word Woman genuinely sounded heartbroken, Becky worked so hard on all of these, not to mention seen how many of them took an actual physical toll on Tobey. She bent down and picked up one of the more toy-like inventions, a simple sphere drone meant to shoot off confetti for celebrations. It was a cute little thing and nothing really serious but she rather liked the cheery nature of the bot. Though now it had a massive crack in the middle and seemed to only come apart in her hand as she picked it up.

"this one was cute too" she mumbled a bit, Tobey's demeanor deflated and his smile faltered "..i..they wer-" he took a step forward hearing the massive crack of glass break under the sole of his shoes, and looked down with a dreadful look "oh of course"

Word Woman looked around back at Tobey, confetti bot still in hand as she floated over, looking down at his glasses she had to fight back a sigh. Losing his glasses in the lab was one thing. breaking them was 10 times more annoying...did she just call this place a lab?

Word Woman shook her head "how bad?" she flatly asked while Tobey dusted the shards into his hand, she winced when she saw him cut his fingers a bit on one of the shards but Tobey didn't seem to have much of a reaction to it. "well put it this way," he sighed looking over the chunks, grabbing the stepped on frames and held it up to his face with a frown "i dont think ill be seeing your beauty this time around"

Word Woman herself looked over the damage and rolled her eyes, one lens was basically Gone and the other had so many cracks it may as well have been a kaleidoscope, "smooth"

"I try" Tobey sighed, rubbing his eyes and bit, they were actually getting really irritated from being blurry so long, "i..a...I... Woman if it's not to much..might I ask a favor?" he asked, very quick to turn himself around and look as poised as he could look with how messy he made himself just now. Word Woman raised a brow and before she could ask what kind of favor, Tobey sheepishly guestered to the pile "I um...I.." he started...seeming to trip on his words then took a breath "me and my lovely assistant worked hard on those inventions...I uh, I'd rather she not see them all torn asunder by my blunder" he chuckled nervously looking at the red blur of Word Woman unable to read her expression and shyly tried to joke "get it? asunder? blunder?...hm" he mentally kicked himself and looked down rubbing his neck clearing his throat "ah ha..um what I mean to ask is if at all possible could you maybe hide my inventions elsewhere?..someplace my lovely assistant won't see it?" he asked.

Word Woman stared at Tobey for a moment. meek, shy, stuttering? Calling someone else lovely Right In front of Word Woman? She laughed lightly crossing her arms but that seem to make the boy stiffen "ok so," she raised a finger "to get this straight. i show up, your scatterbrained, and your first request is to hide your mistake somewhere your 'lovely assistant' won't see?" Tobey frowned looking down

"Well when you put it like That it does sound...strange" Tobey huffed "and I am Not scatterbrained thank you! my brain is perfectly in place it's me and my lovely assistant's inventions that are scattered...she worked very hard putting up with me to help make them," the blonde said, then began to kick the dirt under his feet unaware of the wide eyes on Word Woman that just kept growing looking at him "if you don't want to help me Word Woman I understand but I really don't want her to see all that hard work broken into pieces so I'd rather spend the next few nights sleepless and rebuilding them by myself then let her see them all ruined...and i figured..."

"that a superheroine would be much more effective cleaning this up?" Word Woman asked, Tobey clamped up, drawing his arm back to himself and just nodded while hanging his head.

Glancing at the mess..Word Woman gave a sigh when she Really wanted to groan. Even when she's Fair City's greatest protector and a dazzling superhero, Tobey still managed to rope her into work...still. Glancing over at Tobey who was putting his pride aside to even ask her this type of favor as Word Woman, she couldn't help but think it Was pretty sweet of him to think of Becky when it came down to the mess.

To think of Her.

Word Woman shook her head, thankful Tobey was blind as a bat without his glasses to avoid seeing the redness she felt tinge her cheeks as she bit the corner of her mouth "I guess I can do this favor for you this One time," she stressed, then looked at Tobey who he seemed floored by her acceptance "Only because you asked so nicely and because i think you thinking of your 'lovely assistant' when it comes to this mess is pretty sweet"

Tobey went red "i- wait hold on now-" Word Woman was too busy smirking at his red face to wait and listen to him, before he knew it Tobey's entire vision was a haze of a whirlwind sand, dust, red and yellow hues, and what he Swears is a mini tornado forming in front of him before raising his arms up to stop any of the dust from getting in his now unprotected eyes. Word Woman in the meantime was gathering up all the inventions at lightning speed, zooming around and picking each one up and forming it in a jenga like fashion in her arms before Zooming away. Her base wasn't too far off from here anyway so she simply flew up, glanced around for the familiar tree line, zooming there and back in little to no time at all. Being absolutely sure that placing the inventions down wouldn't shake the earth or alert Dr Two Brains inside she was near. or he would definitely be nagging about it later. By the time Tobey lowered his arms, Word Woman was back and landed right in front of him. dusting off her red gloves. Smug smirk ever present on her face as she floated next to Tobey

"all clean," She affirmed momentarily forgetting she was Word Woman and tried to shove her hands in her pockets before remembering she was in uniform and pretended like she meant to put them on her hips. Tobey watched her briefly, formless she may be the movement was...familiar. He squinted a bit looking at her and the hero raised a brow giving a chuckle "what?..don't believe me or something?"

Tobey flinched back and shook his head vigorously and waving his hands dismissively "no no no not at all, I have total faith in what you say Word Woman..I uh.." he cleared his throat "uh..Uh.. just..you and my lovely assistant had the same mannerism there for a moment, when ever dhe finidhed helping me clean or move something she always puts her hands in her pockets," he chuckled "p-probably only my imagination"

huh...

Word Woman tilted her head a bit looking over Tobey curiously. Tobey stopped laughing and looked up, a bit anxious by Word Woman's sudden silence "...uh did I say something wrong?"

Word Woman shook her head, "not really" she smiled "just didn't realize you were so observant of your lovely assistant that you would pay that closely to her mannerisms," her tone rather direct but playful she put her hands behind her back, "stalker much?"

Tobey frowned "i-i am not a stalker! I just happen to be Very use to having her here at my lab is all, it's only natural that I expect to see habits she displays...sort of-"

Word Womans giggle cut him off, "And not to mention this entire conversation, you've only called her 'lovely assistant'," she smirked, floating closer and basically circling the boy playfully, enjoying the sight of him becoming increasingly flustered

"i-..that has nothing to do with anything! i-i just call her that out of habit" Tobey almost yelped hiding his face

"oh?" She was having too much fun at this point "you know her name, could you call her that just as easily and casually as you calling her lovely is all thanks to habit?"

"absolutely!" Tobey yelled, knitting his eyebrows together as he let his mouth run with whatever his mind thought up on the spot "its simple habit nothing more. Why I even call her last name more often then her first one"

"so you don't think she's at all lovely?" Word Woman asked and it sent a jolt through Tobey's system and his mouth running before he could even catch it

"Of course she's lovely, what are you talking about?!" Tobey almost snapped, but less in an embarrassed way and more of..a protective way?

His tone is what threw Word Woman off the most, he went from sweet and cute to protective and insulted at the drop of a hat. She had fully expected him to be smug and say Becky wasn't lovely. 'oh word woman , you're the only lovely one i see' is more or less what she expected Tobey to say, but that?

Her stunned silence seemed to jog Tobey's brain to work a bit better and his hands flew up to his mouth as his eyes went wide. Just now he registered what he just said and the bite back of it was becoming clear on his face more so than ever.

"..."

come on say 'that isn't what you meant.'

say it.

Word Woman bit the corner of her mouth anxious as she stood still in the air next to Tobey waiting for him to deny himself correctly this time. The blonde ran his hands over his face, taking a breath, cleared his throat, and straightened himself out.

do it.

say it.

...

"...sorry, for the outburst," Tobey again rubbed his eyes as a way to distract himself "i um..l- lets just move on from this conversation please?" he stiffly moved and tried to get his legs to work himself over to a corner where a duffle bag laid in waiting, he looked like he was trying to remember how to walk.

Word Woman in the meantime Buried her face in her hands the second Tobey turned around.

He seriously didn't deny it...she would understand him calling her that as a tease, or a joke. Maybe even to amuse himself but Becky never once thought he was actually serious about calling her Lovely..but regardless of what she thought.

He didnt deny it.

Not only that, he didn't deny it in front of WORD WOMAN!

What.

The.

Hell?

She peeked between her fingers over at Tobey as he hunched over the duffle bag and began to rummage through it, "i DO have something for you Word Woman, uh it was meant to be a gift, long time ago," he seemed to move a set of clothes off to the side in his bag, tools, then pulled out a small red cube with yellow lines running through it like a circuit board, the yellow accents shimmering almost like gold against the matte red, "i suppose i can use it as a thank you? for taking care of my mistake?" he asked rubbing the back of his neck as he was stiffly moving back to her, then presented the cube up in the palm of his hand "if you'll have it that is my dear"

Word Woman stared at the cube, after of course having to briefly take in and let out a quick breath to regain composure, reminding herself she was still her hero self. she gently took the cube from Tobey's hand and looked at it closer. "what is it?.." she Had seen Tobey hold the item before, since about a year or two ago he'd been fiddling with the cube in his hands whenever he seemed to be anxious or nervous, even after becoming his assistant he never really elaborated on what the box was, or what it did. Looking at it closer it seemed the constant rubbing of his fingers on the edges began to wear down the paint, she turned it over for a moment.

Then again.

Word Woman began to shake the thing in her hands briefly trying to at least hear what was in side but nothing, she puffed her cheeks a bit and began to lightly tap all around the cube and paused when Tobey laughed

"wait, wait hang on, I'm sorry my dear," Tobey raised his head happily, his embarrassment dissolving in each hearty chuckle as he held out his hand again with a smile "allow me?" he asked

Word Woman tucked the cube closer to herself for a moment then sighed handing it back to Tobey "isn't your whole thing big red buttons?"

Tobey snorted "well it Was, and Is," he pulled the cube close "but i had designed this when i was going through a phase where i wanted everything to be without the obvious buttons..useful in some areas and things but uh..admittedly not my best for others" He took the cube and like muscle memory he turned it to its corner where one small area had a darker square in the middle, not popping out obviously like his normal buttons would, He put his thumb to it pushing down and held it there briefly, making the yellow lines light up. Tobey smiled, held out the cube, "Word Woman, meet, C.A.P.T " he swung his wrist lightly and in the same motion let go of the cube, allowing it to fly up at Word Woman.

It glowed and popping out came wires and frames and before it got to close, a cute old school Tobey style monkey robot gave a cheerful beep mid-air before landing on Word Woman, it latched onto her arm, looked up at her and its scope like eyes shaped into a happy expression giving cooing electric beeps nuzzling into her. Tobey beamed "C. A. P. T, " he announced each letter and bounced his finger at each one like a rhythm, proudly holding his head up "Capture. Assistance. Providing. Tool, or Captain...i noticed some time ago you started to leave behind your sidekick, though i really didnt appreciated having him tossed onto me," he seemed a bit bitter on that last bit, remembering all the times Huggy was practically strangle holding him when thrown at Tobey in a battle but rolled his eyes bobbing his head "buuut with me out of the criminal game, and him being gone i felt like you may get lonely on your day to day, so i made him"

The little monkey robot beeped again, letting one arm go, reached up and coiled around Word Woman's neck. Pulling itself up onto her shoulder and perched himself there. It was extremely small, compared to huggy, the small robot monkey's biggest parts were its cute head and its hands feet, it was no bigger than her phone at home. Word Woman put her hand near her shoulder and it hopped into her palm happily.

"Eek," Word Womans squeaked with a massive smile, she bounced a bit in the air looking at the cute monkey robot in her hand and pulled it closer to her face, its response was to nuzzle the top of its head on her nose with a coo. "awww," Word Woman could barely contain her glee and nuzzled the robot back giggling a little "Tobey he's so cute! and you made him for me?"

She looked over at Tobey and it was like he was on cloud 9. even though he couldn't see her expression, the sounds of joy Word Woman made because of something He made had the scientist smiling like a dope. It was a bit of a relief to see his lopsided goofy grin again as he nodded his head "YeS-" he cleared his throat, this time trying to play off the rare voice crack that made the heroine smirk "ah yes indeed, i made him with you in mind my dear..a-and!" he held up a finger as he grew closer, eyes lighting up with excitement to talk about the robot but he walked passed Word Woman and stood at least 10 feet away "I've added upgrades and tested it over the years, look watch, just say his name, point to me and say 'neutralize'" he grew louder as he walked away, cupping his hands "go on do it!"

Word Woman chuckled, she was hesitant yes, but Tobey looked so excited to show her how the robot worked, she saw him like that a lot as Becky. Not as much as of late, but his excitement for the robot to demonstrate his abilities made her equally excited as well. Nodding "alright!" she yelled back, then looked at the robo monkey "Captain," it looked to her then watched her point at Tobey "Neutralize"

It beeped, eyes went yellow and it turned in her palm, launched from her hand, ran towards Tobey as he grinned and began to run away but the little monkey was way too fast. Catching up quick and extending its limbs wide like a net the little monkey made a musical chime and wrapped its arms around Tobey, surprising Word Woman with how long the limbs went as it spiraled down the lanky teens body, coiling as far down as his ankles. Tobey made it only half a step after the money latched on before he completely fell over with a yelp, skidding to a halt when he hit the floor. Word woman winced, and though it looked painful, Tobey didn't react to it. instead wiggled like a worm on the floor. Flopped himself around to face up and laugh

"I'm okay I'm good!" he assured back happily but Word Woman was already moving to check on him regardless, knowing Tobey he would have a broken bone and still be smiling at her saying it worked as planned, "The Captain-" he strained against the wires "has a grip strength-" he kept struggling "of 720kg!" he grunted and finally relented to the monkey's strength, sighing as he laid still and the monkeys' face lit up blue and gave a happy chime, Tobey gave his little invention a sideways smile "even Warmer won't be able to fight against this strength. oh! and-" he caught Word Woman's red and yellow blob lifted his shoulders and hopped himself around beaming

"a-and he has several other voice commands," Word Woman gently grabbed at the coils of Captain,

"you can also change his name!" Tobey was picked up as he went on, "He's got a learning AI, a GPS tracker, a recording system-"

"Tobey" Word Woman chuckled

"if you want i can include a feature that lets you know the time-"

"Tooobey" she tried again while dusting him off

"In case your busy doing something, but get distracted in battle, and-"

Tobey's ramblings died immediately when he felt Word Woman wrap her arms around him on top of the Captains coils and pull him into a tight embrace, his voice betrayed him, letting a small squeak out when he felt Word Woman's helmet graze the side of his head and her hair that gently rested on her shoulder tickle his nose. Word Woman hummed a laugh in her throat at Tobey's immediate silence and continued to hug the human burrito that was her friend as she spoke.

"He's already amazing as he is Tobey," she hugged a bit tighter "thank you"

"h- i a- h, ah..." Tobey's brain malfunctioned, briefly, he sputtered a moment...

swallowed a lump in his throat...and cautiously lower his head to nuzzle his chin into the crook of Word Woman's neck, grinning ear to ear "..i-it was a pleasure, my dear"

WOOOOOOO YES CHAP 13! And as suggested by a few of you, in a much longer chapter!

Originally this was chapters 13 and 14 separately, but now knowing you guys want longer chapters i extended it so the word count i will try to hit for each chapter is 7-9k words. Lucky enough, i got a new well timed Beta Reader to help me out here and suggest edits aswell as check my grammar and spelling for this chapter! So be sure to thank them for the dialogue flowing better this time around.

Again i love and am still blown away by the support and comments i get from you guys on this fic, which aside from this being my destresser motivates me even more to work on the next chapter. So please any comments or suggestions you guys leave behind is appreciated!

Thats pretty much all i gotta say for now, again if you want more Tobecky fluff or angst feel free to check out my tiktok or Instagram for art and videos based on Word Woman, ya don't have to if you don't want to but its there if you do!

But until Thursday, see ya guys later!