Disclamer: This is a Fanfiction and in no way reflects the ideas of the show's creators.
A/N Ha, proof read. I've grown to like the outcome of this chapter. I mean, it's no fun to write if I know the ending right. A lot of stuff's been popping up so I haven't had a whole lot of time to write. I'll try to be more dependable with my updates, but no promises. As for Tobey and WordGirl; I haven't forgot them. Please feel free to review and have a Happy Easter!
Université des Études Sociologiques student Em was settling in for the night. Classes had been rather rough that day and all he wanted to do was get a good night's sleep. As he laid his head down on his pillow, the door to his dorm room flew open.
"I'm back! Did you miss me?"
Em almost fell out of bed at the sound of his roommate's voice.
"Dude," Em gasped. "I thought you were hosting Sixty Minutes this month?"
The placid grin melted off the roommate's face.
"I was supposed to," the man began. "But then they found someone 'better suited' for the job. This planet's full of fickle people."
"You mean they changed their minds with little reason; even when you had a contract. That is pretty fickle."
"Yeah, well I needed to get back to work anyway. I can't wait to see how WordGirl's doing."
Em watched his roommate bring in his suitcases and place them on his own bed. The man unpacked several items before speaking again.
"I think I'll go check on her right now."
"She's probably asleep."
"I doubt it. See you in the morning Em."
"Night."
The man left the dorms and made his way to his workstation. He loved spending time there. Even though he would always be graded on his work, he enjoyed studying Mother Earth and the funny characters that inhabited it. WordGirl just had to be his favorite person to study. On his first day at the school he was so taken in by her antics that he made his whole study focus on hero-worship and heroes. He could spend countless hours at the work station computer jotting down notes, interacting with WordGirl and sending his cameras all over the city.
He had to laugh at the thought. He had become so engrossed in WordGirl's life that he couldn't help but involve himself. He played the role of narrator and shared his findings with his classmates; and being WordGirl was from Lexicon there was no infringement to High Law. He was free to talk to her all he wanted . . . and as long as he never let the professors see his "show," he'd never have to explain why he had been talking to other Earthlings as well.
Once there, he entered the small work area and flicked on the lights. His room had been messed with! He was shocked. No one at the school ever messed with another student's work station. It was against policy and could be an infraction of High Law.
"Who was in here?"
The man picked up several scripts off the floor along with pens and empty folders. His computers were also tampered with. They were left on with their field cameras all placed on . . . Tobey's house?
"I wasn't watching him last." The man said gently to himself as he pulled his chair up to the monitors. He wasted no time in checking the damage that might have been done. Typing away at the rather primitive keyboard provided him by the school, he turned on all his cameras and monitors.
Each screen displayed a different view of the city. Some were hovering downtown, some at the school and others around the villain's usual hideouts. He had placed these little viewers everywhere so that he could always follow WordGirl's adventures.
"The guys must have come in here to watch for themselves. Maybe they couldn't wait for me to get back," he pondered aloud as he looked over all the screens. "They probably couldn't enjoy any of it." He laughed. "No audience can appreciate a good story without its narrator."
The narrator began the process of studying his screens. Hopefully he could find WordGirl and let her know he was back. He'd never let her know that he was a student at the university of cause; he didn't want to mix her life on Earth with his rather foreign one. But it sure would be nice to catch up on all . . ?! One of the monitors caught his attention.
It was Violet. She was running along the street huffing and puffing.
"Oh," Violet breathed in defeat. Unknown to the narrator, she had been trying to follow Two-Brains' van since it left the police station. There was no way she could hope to catch up to the vehicle now, and that meant there was no way for her to help Becky. . . no she couldn't stop, her best friend needed her. Violet continued to push her body on.
She splashed thru puddles and almost slipped twice, but she reached the end of this block and peered around the last building. The van wasn't down this road; maybe she just missed it. Violet recollected her dress and made her way down yet another street. By the end of this road, however, Violet's legs could handle no more abuse. The girl released her grip on her dress before leaning against a building to rest. There was no way to get to the lake. She didn't know the way without the van's help.
Pant.
She would just have to head back and tell her mommy. Violet looked back the way she came, but nothing looked familiar. She couldn't remember the way back to the police station! She was lost!
"Oh, dear." Violet stood away from the building and gazed helplessly down the street. Even though the rain was gone and the moon was beginning to break thru the clouds, there was an eeriness that drifted along the empty roads. Violet knew there was a dangerous person running around, and here she was alone. "I should have told mommy where I was going first."
For a moment the narrator thought about asking Violet if she were lost, and better yet, what she was doing outside alone at night. But then Violet heard something. It sounded like footsteps coming from just down the street. Violet became increasingly nervous.
"Who's t-t-there?" the girl asked as she drew into herself. The steps became louder as a shadow crept around the corner to rest at Violet's feet. Violet shrieked as the person revealed himself.
"Shh, Violet," the voice was easily recognized by the girl. "Do you want us to get kidnapped too?" TJ Botsford stood winded in front of Violet. It appeared that he had been doing his best to keep up with her.
"TJ? What are you doing here?" Violet asked all fear removed.
"I saw you leaving and thought that maybe you knew where Becky was. Dad sure doesn't." TJ lowered his gaze as he spoke. Violet only smiled at him. She was too relieved to be saddened by TJ's disposition.
"Well, I think I might know where Becky is, but I'm not sure how to get there."
"So where is she?"
Violet bit her lower lip. It wasn't that she wasn't happy to have TJ's company, it was just that he had mentioned Becky; Violet remembered the little secret she was trying to keep. If Violet allowed TJ to follow her, he might find out that Becky was WordGirl . . . but then again, if something bad happened to Becky it wouldn't matter if her brother found out or not.
"She's at the country club, I think."
"But that place was blown sky high," TJ protested. "Didn't you watch the news?"
The narrator raised an eyebrow.
"Well . . . maybe there's a clue there." Violet offered. TJ seemed to muddle over this bit of information for a moment before speaking.
"Violet, you're a genius!"
"Thanks . . . I think." Violet wasn't certain what it was that she had done to deserve such a complement, but at the moment it didn't matter. "I'm still not sure how to get there."
"I bet I know where to go." TJ boasted. "I've been studying some of my mom's city maps lately. I know where just about everything is."
"That sounds boring," Violet looked back down the street as she heard a low rumbling sound; perhaps the van was coming back. "Why would you study maps?"
"I figure that if WordGirl ever needs a new sidekick, he would have to know the city pretty well. Come on, we need to head this way." TJ grabbed Violet's arm and began pulling her to where he guessed the lake would be.
Both kids stopped however when the rumbling became louder. Aiming her gaze at the sky, Violet saw a bright star shoot by, or, at least it looked like a star. It was brighter than anything else in the sky and it passed with a rather loud whoosh.
"What was that?" Violet turned to the young boy beside her.
"I don't know," TJ shrugged. "But I hope it has nothing to do with Becky."
The narrator didn't need to guess what that was. He was almost certain he knew what had just taken off. The narrator turned his attention to several different monitors. He began flipping thru several cameras looking for the one he had placed in WordGirl's ship.
"Come on, come on."
The narrator had no idea what was going on. Had Becky left Earth? The narrator flipped thru several views hoping to find WordGirl's ship. And then another screen flickered to life. The narrator turned to it, his mind still spinning with the events he just saw.
Was that Claire and Dr. Two-Brains digging around in . . . rubble? What happened there? Was this where Violet wanted to go?
The narrator turned his full attention to the screen.
The remains of the country club were still scattered about; broken furniture, singed construction.
Two-Brains kicked around a few assorted items as he searched the rubble doing his best not to strain his wounded arm. He didn't seem to notice the passing star, either that or he chose to ignore it. There wasn't anything he was looking for in particular; he was just hoping something would stand out.
"We need to go to where you last saw him," Claire protested as she stood from the debris she had been searching in. "We're wasting time."
"Quiet down," Two-Brains hushed. "This was on the way; it doesn't make sense to head over there just to have to come back." The mousy villain unturned another fragment of the demolished building to see what looked like the side of his van; a side that had since been removed due to Tuesdays events.
"You know, I owe WordGirl a lot." Two-Brains said removing his gaze from top the van door.
"What about my son?!" Claire didn't have the patience to listen to the doctor's hurt tone. "I didn't let you out so you could waste my time digging thru broken wood and discarded party favors!"
"Look lady, I'm just as worried about the kids as you are, but I won't . . ."
"Worried about the kids?! You could care less! You probably just lead me on so you could get out of jail!"
"If you're in so much doubt of my character, why'd you let me go in the first place!?"
"Because I want my son." Claire's sturdy demeanor deteriorated before the doctor's and the narrator's eyes. "I can't lose my son." The words became lost in her tears as her body trembled with emotion. "Please, if you've seen my son, take me to him."
All her motherly fear had built up inside of her and could hold back no longer. Two-Brains watched the woman before him reach out and take hold of some erected rubble to help her keep her balance. The woman then covered her face with her free hand as she allowed the tears to generously come. She had broken; after remaining strong before so many people, she had finally broken.
The narrator could only watch with stunned confusion as he was certain any words he used would be a wasted effort.
Even breathing seemed a bother to the doctor as he stood watching this woman. This moment was so fragile; any noise would be loud enough to shatter it. He didn't want to damage a soul as wrecked as hers was now.
Or did he? Why should a villain like Dr. Two-Brains care about this?
"Leave me alone." Two-Brains felt a sharp pain rip through his head; his mouse brain was throbbing.
But it was foolish for him to care! Here Claire was unable to function; this would be the perfect opportunity for the doctor to escape. So run,
"You don't have control over me!" Two-Brains fell to his knees gripping the exposed brain on his head.
Run! This would be the perfect moment to regain control!
"You. Don't. Have . . . Control!" The pain was almost more than anyone could bear alone. "I want to help . . . WordGirl, the explosion, my life . . ! This is my body!"
The doctor's vociferation only served to heighten Claire's own fears, but it didn't take her focus off this moment. She removed her hand to take a look at the pain overcoming the doctor. What a sight! The man appeared to be trying to perform a distorted form of self craniotomy.
As quickly as she could Claire made her way to the man and began trying to pry his hands away from his head. He proved to be very determined.
"Two-Brains you have to stop this!" Claire breathed heavily as she over exerted herself in this activity.
"Don't you see," his voice seemed to come from no place within him. "Squeaky isn't who's doing this to me, I'm doing it to myself."
Claire wasn't sure what the doctor was trying to say. Her earlier tears were impairing her vision as her body began to protest the fight she found herself in. He was pushing on her and pulling at her hand and, even with gloves on, he was scratching her fingers. She just wasn't built for this kind of activity. But it didn't take a medical genius to tell that if Two-Brains succeeded in what he was trying to do, it wouldn't end well.
"You're going to kill yourself! Is that what you want!?"
"Anything's better than feeling like this, I'm trapped, all the time trapped. Not now! I can't please it anymore."
Even as the mousy villain continued to yell, something inside him seemed to ease a bit. He no longer struggled with Claire, but allowed his arms to fall lifelessly to his sides. With exhausted effort, Claire kneeled down beside him.
"WordGirl was my dearest friend, and I've almost killed her."
Claire was shocked that the voice coming from his mouth was not that of the Dr. Two-Brains she'd come to know. This man sounded different, cognitive, regretful . . .
"Steven Boxleitner?" the narrator's voice came as a mere whisper ignored by all.
"She needed me now more than ever. She can't fight this guy . . . and now I'm still useless." The man clenched his fists. "I was always useless!"
"That's not true . . ." Claire tried to say.
"Yes it is!" Two-Brains turned his head shapely to look at the woman beside him. "While I've been letting myself be used like a puppet, Scoops' been kidnapped, Tobey's being shot at, WordGirl's about to get killed . . . And all I can do is think about hard pressed bacteria curds! If anyone should be dead it's me. The whole city's doom!" Two-Brains dropped his head.
Claire wasn't certain how to react to this. She wasn't completely sure she understood what he was trying to say.
"I'm sorry for the things that have happened to you, Mr. Boxleitner," she was very careful not to upset him with her tone or any physical touch. "But if you want to help these kids now you can't dwell on the past. Please, please help me find my son before you make another mistake you'll regret."
All his fear, all the time wasted . . .
"You're right," Prof. Boxleitner laughed weakly. "I'm the only one that can help me now, and those kids. Let's get back in the van. We'll head down to the apartments near the bay; that's where I last saw Tobey-"
The narrator sat in disbelief. What was going on here? Did something happen to Tobey?
"Man, I leave for a week and the whole city falls apart."
The narrator returned his efforts to finding WordGirl's ship.
"But why would she leave?" The narrator continued to pass over pictures. "She was happy here . . . and her ship is broken. Huggy doesn't have the know how to fix it. Why would they leave?"
It just wasn't making any sense. WordGirl would never leave earth. Another part of Claire's and Steven's conversation stuck out in the narrator's head; Scoops had been kidnapped.
Somehow all this information made the narrator feel rather sick. There was no denying that oddities had indeed accrued in his absences. In his mad search for WordGirl, which was possibly pointless if her ship was out of range, he would have to keep an eye open for Tobey and Todd. A fact that was more upsetting then the thought of Wordgirl leaving; the narrator's equipment had been spying on Tobey's house. Whoever tampered with his equipment knew where Tobey was.
"I'll have to ask around later, right now I need to find Becky."
In his haste the narrator almost skipped the camera's that were focused on Todd.
"Wait a minute . . ." the narrator flipped back to the image of the city's ace reporter huddled up on the bed of an unfamiliar room. "That's not Scoops' house."
The image was of Todd hugging his knees and staring out the window. He must have seen the star pass too. The narrator smiled slightly.
"Well at least Scoops is okay." As if in response to the narrator's words shouting could be heard coming thru the door to the bedroom Todd was in.
As the boy turned despairingly toward the door, the narrator sent his camera out into the hall via the gap under the door. The hall was dark and the images were hard for the narrator to make out. Barely visible were the silhouettes of two men auguring. One man was closer to the hall window while the other remained closer to the door. It appeared the first had gone to the window to see the 'star' pass. His face was slightly lit and the narrator immediately felt that he recognized the man. The man spoke,
"Treason you say?"
"Killing the grandson to the king is treason Adler. He's next in line, not you." Curtis did his best not to sound threatening to his partner. He knew these words would only further Adler's anger, but he had to speak his peace. Curtis stood, waiting his punishment. It didn't come.
Adler stood motionless at the window.
"She's gone." He said plainly. "And I wouldn't be surprised if she took the boy with her."
"What . . ?" Curtis was confused. Curtis was sure Adler would have killed him upon finding out that he had wanted to help Todd, but now Adler was just staring out a window as mellow as could be.
"WordGirl's escaped."
"Shouldn't we, go after her?" Curtis didn't know how to respond. Adler had put so much stock into catching WordGirl so he could be king . . . maybe what Curtis had said had changed Adler's mind. "Maybe she just left to get away from us, when we leave she'll come back."
"Not likely," Adler walked out into the living room area of the lake house. "She's probably on her way to Lexicon as we speak."
"But you need her to be king right?" Curtis followed at a distance.
"What's the point when the king has a grandson, isn't that what you said." Adler stood in the middle of the room lit by the various computers around him. "I wouldn't want to be a traitor now would I?"
Curtis couldn't read the tone Adler used. Was he being serious? Curtis waited at the entrance of the hall and looked at his partner. Why hadn't Adler punished him yet, and how was he so sure WordGirl and Theodore had left?
"Does this mean we're heading home?" Curtis breathed.
"Do you think I plan on giving up this easily?" Serious stare.
"What do you want from me then; I won't kill Britannica's heir."
"That just proves your loyalty; a good quality to have Curtis. I won't have you kill the boy, but you are either with me or you're not. I will be king Curtis, I've come too far, seen too much to let this opportunity pass. Are you with me then?"
Curtis felt like running, or fighting his way out of there. This wasn't going to end well. Adler was too blind to see that this plan was doomed to fail. If WordGirl had Theodore with her, it was too late . . . but better to go with the flow for now. When Adler put his guard down Curtis could safely get away from here.
"I'm still with you Adler, I just don't want to commit treason. Besides WordGirl and the heir are already going back; we can't stop them, they're too far ahead."
"That's a good one." Adler let out a hearty laugh. "WordGirl's a superhero."
"Uh . . . wha, what does that have to . . ."
"We have the only thing she could ever truly care about right here."
"I'm not following."
Adler laughed again as he went to a window. He pointed at the cityscape beyond the lake.
"The city Curtis; she can't leave it for very long. It needs her." Curtis frowned at what Adler was saying. "All we have to do, my dear loyal assistant, is destroy it."
"But that's against High Law!"
Adler quit his smirking as he heard those words.
The narrator didn't need to see anymore. He left his work station and immediately headed for Mr. Comte's office. Something needed to be done. It appeared that two Britannicans were breaking High Law, and worse yet, endangering dear friends of the narrator himself.
"Mr. Comte!" The narrator shouted outside of the office door. "Mr. Comte if you're in there come out now!"
"Just a minute." The groggy elderly voice answered in response. "Let me get a robe." The old man must have been sleeping in his quarters located in the back of his office. This was a great convenience to have the principal of the school constantly on campus. "What do you want?" The man asked as he opened the door.
"Sir, there are two men here, on Earth, from Britannica and they plan on harming WordGirl and . . ."
"Calm down man, do you want to wake everyone in the school?"
"But sir . . ."
"Look young man I'm quite aware that there are Britannicans here and I can assure you everything is fine. Go back to sleep." The answer was harsher than the narrator could ever remember his principal using before. The man turned to go back into his room just as the narrator reached out and took hold of his arm.
"But sir their braking High Law a-and if we don't report them, then . . . then we'd be committing treason."
"Go back to your room boy."
o
"We're on the wrong side of the lake TJ," Violet spoke to the young boy beside her. "Is this what you meant to do?"
"We're not on the wrong side," TJ protected as he squinted to try and see the other side of the lake. "We're just uh, taking a short cut."
"Oh," Violet laughed reassured in TJ's directional skills. "That's good because I'm not sure what kind of trouble Becky could be in. We should hurry."
TJ paused for a moment and looked at the lake. He wasn't sure how they had ended up on this side, but at least now he could just follow the shoreline to the other side.
"Come on Violet," TJ made his way to the shore. "We'll just walk down here."
"But that's going into someone's yard." Violet waited on the street as TJ quit his walk to the shore. "Mommy says it's not polite to walk in other people's yards unless you know them."
"Seriously Violet?" TJ glared at his sister's best friend. "We're trying to save my sister here."
Before Violet had a chance to respond to TJ's outburst, there came a sudden sound. TJ motioned to Violet to come down to where he was, though he wasn't sure why. As the girl came alongside him TJ began to feel a bit frightened. It wasn't that he was afraid the homeowner would come out and be mad at him for trespassing, his fear came from something else.
The two kids crouched low as two men exited onto the back deck of their lake house; unknown to them to be Curtis and Adler.
Their conversation had carried on for quite some time after the narrator had left them, and so had their intentions. Adler was rigidly forming a more tactful plan, while Curtis led Todd out on the deck; a cloth roughly tied around the boy's mouth.
Violet couldn't suppress a small gasp that escape. TJ could only start in outraged disbelief.
"Well Curtis," Adler smile. "While I focus my energy on getting WordGirl to come back, I can't worry about a traitor in my mist." Adler looked down at the struggling boy with a solemn face. "This is your last chance boy; either you tell me who WordGirl is or I'm going to have Curtis here tie you up and toss you back in that lake."
"Me?" Curtis asked without thinking. Adler didn't even glance up at his partner, but his tone clearly expressed his anger.
"If you want to prove your loyalty to me, then I suggest you toss this child in the water. Or were you lying to me?"
While Curtis stumbled over the words to give his partner, Violet turned to TJ and whispered,
"We've got to save him."
TJ quickly surveyed the land around him. There had to be something they could do; something they could use to distract. But nothing was coming to mind. Should he yell something or try to run up and save Todd. . ?
Then, as TJ's eyes lifted back toward the road, he saw the answer and a plan began forming in his head.
"Violet, you stay here," TJ whispered as he began crawling back to the road. "I think I can distract them. If you can, try to get him out of there." TJ hurried along leaving a very distraught eleven year old behind.
On the road, the paperboy had just finished up the paper route and was getting ready to head home when he saw a familiar face come out of the backyard of one of the house.
"Mr. President, is that you?" The boy asked placing one foot on the ground to steady him and his bicycle.
"Johnson," TJ barked. "Give me your delivery bag."
"No way," The boy gripped his bag tightly. "They only give ya' one and you have to pay to replace it."
"This is an emergency; gimme the bag."
"No."
TJ let out an aggravated sigh. Maybe he'd be willing to trade the bag for something.
"What if I let you be president of the International WordGirl Fanclub for one day? Sound good?"
"Really! Would I get to wear a crown?"
"Sure."
"And have everyone call me Mr. President?"
"Whatever you want Johnson; just give me the bag."
Without a moment's hesitation the paperboy handed over his wears and peddled off with a grin. TJ didn't even have time to roll his eyes as he threw the bag's sling over his shoulder and made his way to the front door of Adler's hideout.
Three loud knocks.
On the back porch, Adler had quit his bickering, much to Curtis' relief, and listened. The knocks came again.
"Get the boy back inside." Adler spat at his partner before heading in. "Last thing I need is another witness."
Curtis did as instructed and Todd was placed back in the bedroom.
Adler took a deep breath before opening the door. He wanted to look as 'normal' as possible, so he plastered a smile on his face and assumed the overly cheery disposition that seemed to infest everyone in this city.
"Good, morning little boy." Adler winched at the jovial paperboy before him. "Don't you know it's rude to knock on doors at five in the morning, hmm?"
TJ could easily see that this man was faking his behavior, and, if one was to look hard enough, twitching could be seen troubling Adler's right eye.
"Uh, sorry, but there uh, seems to be a problem with the delivery you ordered." TJ wasn't certain why a paperboy would stop at a house. It had never happened at his home before and he had never been a delivery boy before.
"Maybe that's because I never Ordered a paper!" Adler took another breath to try and clam himself.
"Oh I'm sure you did. Because, uh, my route says everyone on this street gets a paper. So, uh, you need to pay your subscription or . . . I'm going to have to tell the boss to, come here and get it himself." TJ was proud of his story. It sounded so believable and it had taken Adler by surprise. Plus, if Adler didn't want any adults coming to his house, he would have to pay the fee.
TJ watched as Adler fiddled with his pockets in search of some money.
Violet on the other hand, was trying to see which room Todd had been moved to. She could only hope Curtis wouldn't be there watching him. Violet watched the house, praying that a light would come on in one of the windows showing where Scoops had been taken . . . but no such luck.
"Oh my, oh my." Violet suddenly felt very tired. The night had worn her out and was testing her faith to its limit. What could she do? She had to help him, that's what. Gathering all her wits and strength, Violet began crawling toward the house. Slowly at first, and cautious of even her breathing. Violet was fearful of being caught and even more fearful of the thought of failing Todd. Adler was still at the door with TJ when Violet got to one of the house's windows. Upon her tiptoes, Violet peered into the room. It was empty. Violet slipped over to the next window. Bingo.
Curtis led Scoops back into the room and sent a quick glance over his shoulder. Violet watched the man speak with Todd. The boy didn't seem as frightened by this man as he had the first, but Violet knew better than to make her presences known now. As the second man exited back into the hall, Violet reached up and lightly tapped on the window.
"Scoops," her breathy call faintly permeated the glass. "Scoops I'm here to rescue you."
The boy looked at the window in skepticism, mouthing Violet's name.
"Don't worry," Violet spoke as she began trying to open the window. "TJ and I are going to save you and then get these bad men arrested." Violet struggled with the glass for several moments. No matter how she pulled at the window, it wouldn't budge. "Come on window." Violet continued to struggle.
Todd could only watch in slight fear. He glanced back at the door and then back to Violet. He knew that window wouldn't open; he had tried opening it before. There didn't appear to be a lock on the window and yet it held its position flawlessly. Todd was beginning to feel uncomfortable watching Violet. What if Adler came in and saw Violet outside? Would he kidnap her too?
"Just stop," Todd began waving his hands at the girl. "Go get help." Todd motioned for Violet to leave, but she didn't seem to notice. As Violet gave yet another large tug on the window, Todd saw a sudden burst of sparks erupt from the bottom of the window across the sill. That must mean the window was electrically sealed. The window was electrically sealed!!
"Stop!" Todd neglected his volume level. "Violet you have to stop!"
The door to the room quickly opened as Curtis re-entered to check the noise. When he saw the girl on the outside he knew immediately what was happening. Violet saw Curtis' entrance as well. She wasn't certain what Todd was trying to say, but she knew she needed to save her friend now. With everything she had left Violet grabbed the window; Todd turned to face Curtis; the man glared out at the girl.
Just then the window's defense mechanism kicked into high gear. Before Violet had a chance to step away from the window, the glass erupted in an electric explosion. The glass shattered as Violet was blown back and away from the window. Todd and Curtis both covered their ears at the sound.
"Violet?" Once the crash had stopped, Todd looked back for Violet. He quickly ran to the recently opened window and looked around. "Violet!?"
The girl had been forced back out into the waters of the lake. She wasn't unconscious, but she wasn't in a state to swim on her own either; she was going to drown! Todd wasted no time climbing out of the window and running down to the edge of the water.
"Get back in here!" Curtis tried to follow Todd, but the window proved too small for him.
The noise was heard from the front of the house as well. Just as TJ was about to collect a small sum of money, Adler turned on his heels and went back into the house.
"Wait!" TJ tried to stall. "You still owe the delivery fee!"
Todd continued to stand on the shore of the lake watching a disoriented Violet try to keep her head above water. His feet felt firmly rooted, just as they had when he tried to cross the bridge with Becky. Why couldn't he move?
"Come on." Todd gritted his teeth as he urged his body to enter the water. Why wouldn't he save her? He knew how to swim; Violet was his friend he didn't want to see her die. "Move, come on, move." It was then Violet's head went under water and Tuesday came flooding back to Todd's mind. Drowning . . . he was afraid of drowning. Without even being in the water his body was going into panic mode. But then something else seemed to overcome the boy.
Quickly removing his shoes, Todd waded out into the lake. The further he went, the higher and higher the water raised; soon to his chin. It was now or never; He wouldn't let Violet drown.
Todd took a breath and went under. He waved his arms around the best he could in hopes of finding Violet. Slowly he began to open one eye. Perhaps he would be able to make out his surroundings; the water was too murky however to see anything, and the dirt began to sting. Todd closed his eye and forced himself to go deeper into the water. His lungs were beginning to protest the time spent submerged, yet Todd refused to give up. It was his fault she was here in the first place; he couldn't let her drown, no one should have to suffer like that. He couldn't allow that. Suddenly his hand struck something.
Todd came alongside what he was hoping was Violet's body, luckily it was. Todd gathered Violet up under the arms and endeavored to swim back to the surface of the water. Unfortunately, this proved more difficult then Todd had first imagined. Violet's body was weighed down by the princess costume she was in; the dead weight wasn't helpful either.
Air was becoming scarce!
He kicked and flared about in the water to no avail. There was no way he could pull both himself and Violet back to shore.
What if swimming wasn't the solution? Todd quickly thought back to how WordGirl had managed to move the group under water. He didn't remember much but she seemed to be flying more than swimming. Perhaps he too needed to do something different. Maybe . . . maybe he could walk Violet out. That could work. If he allowed himself to sink to the bottom of the lake he could drag Violet out.
Against his body's will, Todd allowed himself to sink down. His lungs again complained about the activity, nevertheless Todd did his best to ignore that burning. Walking on the lake's floor was a slower process them Todd had imagined, but it was working. And just when he thought he could take no more, the surface of the water broke and Todd was able to take a breath of relief. Todd brought Violet's head above the water to which she took a quick and small gasp; a sign she hadn't drown. As the two came further out of the water, Violet's costume became more cumbersome. Once Todd felt that he was far enough out of the lake to sit and still breathe air, he did so. Violet tried her best to sit up next to him; facing the lake.
"You," Violet spoke softly still a bit dizzy from her ordeal. "Saved me."
Todd laughed a bit uncomfortably at the thought of just being that deep under water. "It was nothing." He could only hope he'd never have to do that again. But to Violet it was a big something. With the little energy she had acquired from her thankful state, Violet leaned over and gave Todd a small kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you so much."
Todd responded with a blush. He suddenly felt a more intimidating feeling than that brought on by his phobia.
The tender moment wasn't given a chance to last much longer though. Adler's voice came up behind the couple startling them from their blissful daze.
"Now isn't that sweet," both youth turned around to look up at the man. It seemed he hadn't lost his entire arsenal to the police. Adler stood holding a gun at the pair; Curtis standing reluctantly close by while clenching TJ's arm. "I don't have time to deal with more witnesses, and I'm not going to." Adler tilted the weapon toward Todd first.
Rain? A few sprinkles began to fall, then a few more, and a few more. Soon a noise louder than anything else the group had heard could be heard across the lake. A torrential rain was racing across the lake and in the direction of the small group. Before Adler could think to pull the trigger, the rain was upon them, and visibility was zero.
Adler's voice came out as only a mumble thru the clamoring rain. Todd quickly reached over and helped Violet to her feet. Even without being able to see clearly, the two managed to get around Adler. Violet's fatigue tripped Todd up however, as he couldn't pull her along as fast as he was trying to move.
"I'm sorry." Violet strived to be heard over the water. It was all just too much for her, and then . . . the rain stopped. The five people stood frozen for a moment; dripping . . . moreover TJ heard opportunity knocking. TJ was compelled to action, speedily stomping on Curtis' foot to obtain his freedom. Once free from his captor, TJ came next to Todd to help him up praying they'd have enough time to get away from whatever it was Adler was holding. Unfortunately the three never got far enough in their escape attempt. Adler snapped out of his momentarily confusion and readied his weapon once more.
The kids gasped as Adler wasted no time in firing on them . . . or at least he tried to. The trigger was pulled but only a dull thud came from the weapon. The powder had gotten wet.
Regrettably Alder's anger hadn't dampened as he longed forward at the group of kids.
"No, this has to stop." Adler's assault was blocked.
It was Curtis who came to the small groups rescue this time. He ran in-between the group and Adler, slowing the enraged man down as he did his best to hold him back. All the kids, especially Todd, could hardly believe their eyes.
"Go, get going!" Curtis called over his shoulder still wrestling with Adler.
The group did as they were told, both boys helping Violet along back up to the road. TJ sent a worried glance back toward the two men just in time to see Adler gain the upper hand with a punch to Curtis' stomach.
"We need to hide, now," TJ looked everywhere for a means of hiding . . . but then another option came into view. A motorcycle seemed to be heading their way. TJ began waving his arms in hopes of flagging it down. He wasn't completely sure how this passerby could be of any help, but right now he was desperate. And to his amazement, the motorist stopped. The man driving the bike was indeed a stranger to TJ, but his bike had a sidecar, so what else mattered.
"Hello there young man, I know this might-" Before the man could make any type of proper introduction, the three kids were packing into the vehicle. Todd helped Violet into the sidecar while TJ Climbed up to share the seat with the driver. "Well, that was easy." The driver laughed.
"We need to go, Now! Please." TJ ordered and the bike revved up. The small group was far out of reach of Adler who could only stare in aggravated disbelief as his witnesses sped off into the dawn.