Disclaimer: I don't own WordGirl, this is a fanfiction; nothing more.
A/N- Thanks again for the patients. Please enjoy and R&R.
The humid air whirled past the group upon the motorcycle, still too damp to dry their clothing. TJ silently turned back to see the violent stranger disappear into the night. The lake house and its crazed occupant were now far out of sight. It was over, he, Todd and Violet were now safe. . . but it was clear that they were the only ones safe.
"Where are you Becky?" The whisper slipped out of TJ's lips just loud enough for the driver to overhear. The driver said nothing. TJ lowered his head against the back of the driver. He closed his eyes tightly, the tears were coming. A whimper.
The driver could feel the warm tears soak into his shirt and knew exactly what the young man feared. The driver sighed and quietly gave his full attention to the road.
There was a small windshield on the sidecar that kept the wind off of Violet and Todd. The two were able to ride along comfortably and catch their breaths. Todd seemed to recover faster than Violet, seeing as she had just been electrocuted and suffocated. Todd glanced at her with a concerned expression on his face. He then sent his gaze up to the two persons mounted on the bike.
Huh, what a rescue team. How these people somehow saved him still didn't make sense, but who was he to complain. They saved him. To his right, Todd could see darkened houses zip past. There were streetlights . . . that he could see. The sun was going to raise, and he, wasn't . . . wasn't going to die.
A feeble quick sob escaped from his lips. Todd brought one hand to his face to mask his overwhelming sorrow, clenching his free hand as he fought the emotion.
"Scoops?" Violet's voice came as a whisper, aching, but full of concern. "What's wrong?"
Todd didn't answer at first. He didn't need to. Violet reached over as best she could and placed her hand on Todd's clenched fist. This action evoked a greater response than did her words. Todd looked at Violet's hand and then covered his face again.
The group road silently for about a mile.
"I'm taking you kids to the police station," The driver spoke at last. "They'll know how to help you better than I can."
All the children thought about these words. None of them were ready to head back to their parents just yet. Each had a reason for being out tonight and, though good deeds had been done, none of them wanted to give up on their mission.
"You can't take us there." TJ protested first lifting his tearful eyes to look at the driver. "Our parents are going to freak out and then will never be allowed to help my sister."
"I'm sorry kids, but I can't help you any further than this."
"But WordGirl can," Violet spoke as loudly as she could despite her condition to be heard over the motorbike. "We have to help her, she can't be that far from where Scoops was." Violet released Todd's hand to plead with the driver.
The driver only narrowed his eyes as he watched the road. He refused to listen to the children's cries. He was heading for the police station.
"Please, we have to find WordGirl."
"What about my sister? We're looking for Becky!" TJ shouted down at the girl beside him. "You said we were looking for my sister. Those people probably still have my sister."
"Both of you be quiet!" The driver hollered tightening his grip on the bike handles. "I'm taking you to where you'll be safe and that's final!"
"Not until I find my sister!"
TJ suddenly reached up and covered the eyes of the driver. The bike swerved on the wet roads, shaking its occupants around like a tossed salad. The driver frantically pulled at TJ's hands trying to remove them from his face without much luck. The bike began spinning around as the driver attempted to stop the vehicle.
"Let go of my face!"
"TJ let him go your going to get us killed!" Todd screamed as he reached out and took hold of the side of the car.
TJ was reluctant to listen to his companions. The driver was slowing the bike and soon he would be able to get off . . . well, the plan would have worked if it wasn't for the lights of oncoming traffic appearing in front of them.
"Uh oh." TJ released the driver's eyes to reveal to the man the danger. "Turn The Bike!"
The occupants of the oncoming vehicle had been engrossed in a rather deep conversation just minutes before they came upon the out of control motorcycle. This vehicle belonged to Dr. Two-Brains, and he and Claire had just doubled back after a failed attempt to find Tobey.
"I'm sorry Claire," Steven spoke gently only imagining the pain the woman must have been feeling. "I'm certain Captain HuggyFace is taking care of him."
Claire heaved a sigh at the thought of a monkey being the only protection for her son. Steven frowned as he looked at Claire. He knew what she was thinking, and no it wasn't much comfort. But Steven knew Huggy could be trusted. He had watched Huggy help WordGirl since she was seven years old. That monkey was the best and most loyal companion Steven could think of. Thinking of it now, Steven was kind of upset that he had been the source of such agony for the monkey due to his mental mousy break down.
"Believe me, I know him. He's a friend of mine. . . or at least he use to be. I know that WordGirl trusts him and I'm positive he's able to take care of you son."
Claire had been looking out the passenger side window for most of the trip. She didn't want to be seen crying by the villain, but his words had caused her to turn to him. And as she did, she caught a glimpse of the deranged motorbike swerving on the road.
"Look Out!" Claire pointed out the front window.
Steven slammed on the brakes as he too saw the impending collision. The vehicles came within inches of each other, the side car lightly scraping across the van, when the motorbike driver corrected the vehicle and steered it away from the van. The bike crashed down in a ditch while the van screeched to a halt long ways across the road.
Steven and Claire both quickly exited the van and made their way over to the ditch. The bike had never flipped but simply had smashed its front tire deep into the mud, flinging both the driver and TJ into the dark liquid.
"Are you okay?" Claire called to the group as Steven made his way down into the ditch.
"I think we're fine," The driver tried to steady his dizzy head. "Minor brain injuries; nothing much."
"What were you thinking?" Steven helped TJ to his feet and then went to the driver. Steven made sure both could stand safely on their own before heading to the sidecar. "You shouldn't be driving like that with children, or alone for that matter."
"Trust me," the driver glared at TJ. "I wasn't."
Violet and Todd were both assisted out of the car, dazed but no worse for wear. Steven immediately recognized the reporter. Steven gave the two a once over before confronting the man again.
"So you're helping kidnap the children!" After all the accusations and failed rescue attempts, Steven was ready to unleash his anger. "Is this what that mad man told you to do? Drive them into a ditch?"
"What? No! I'm not kidnaping anyone!"
"I'm not letting you get away this time," Steven stepped toward the driver, putting himself between the stranger and the three children. "This time you're going down."
"Well that's a little out of character for you Dr. Two-Brians, but I guess no one is acting like themselves tonight." The driver didn't take a threatening stance, he just continued to stand there as if hoping Steven would back down on his own. And to some extent, it worked.
"Do I," Steven was a bit puzzled by the man's response. "Know you from somewhere."
"More likely from nowhere," the driver smiled innocently. "But I think it's safe to say that I should be going. I think the kids will be safe with you." The driver quit his cheerful disposition. "I can't believe I just said that."
"You're . . . you sound like . . ."
"Sh," the driver warned looking past the mousy villain to see Claire now speaking with the kids. "I really have to go." The man turned to the bike and began trying to shake the front tire loss of the mud.
"Wait," Steven came to the stranger. "You have to explain to me where the children came from; were they really kidnaped?"
The man hardened his expression, then he looked to Steven.
"I can't tell you everything. Scoops was kidnaped by, a man from . . . Scoops was kidnaped but TJ and Violet helped him escape. I don't think that man will be bold enough to go after them again, but I still think it would be best if all of you got off the street and got back home."
Steven watched the man return to operating on his bike. Steven was suddenly angry again. Here was the man who had all of the answers and he wasn't saying a thing.
"You've got to tell me more." Steven gritted his teeth.
"There is no more to tell," he coldly stated.
"Yes there is!" Steven's outburst caught everyone's attention. "Why are you hiding this from us!"
"Because it's not my place to tell you!"
All three children took refuge behind Claire. They had never seen an argument get this out of hand; never by their parents or their teachers; WordGirl never even got this mad at villains before. The two men looked poised to attack. Claire looked from one man to the other before speaking up.
"What about Tobey? Why isn't he here."
"He was never with us," Todd answered quietly, silencing the two men. "Adler only took me so he could get to WordGirl."
"Then what about my sister?" TJ interjected; the driver sighed.
"I didn't see your sister either." Todd shook his head.
"But WordGirl can find them!" Violet pushed out from behind the huddled group and came up beside Steven. "WordGirl can find them and stop that evil man, right. She'll swoop in and . . ."
"No she won't." The driver breathed raising from the bike tire. "WordGirl isn't going to find Becky or Tobey."
"What?" Claire stomped up to the stranger knocking Steven to the side so she could get as close to the driver's face as her body would permit. "If you know where Tobey is you're telling me." Her breathing had become heavy with the anger and fear that had become rather comfortable in her company. Her eyes were blazing enough to brake even the strongest of souls, but amazingly this stranger looked undaunted by her stance.
"If you want to get your son back I suggest you take Scoops her back to the police station and have him rat Adler out, because there is nothing more I can do for you."
"That's Not Good Enough!"
"It's going to have to be Ms. MacCalli . . ." How could he have missed it? "Mrs. MacCallister."
o
Nona had come between the two children in hopes of quenching their argument. The two were overly worked up and looked like they were ready to attack the next thing that upset them. Nona knew their anger was rightly placed. At this moment, whether they realized it or not, their whole lives were about to change. And probably not in a way they'd like.
"You two need to take a breather, come on do it with me," Nona took a deep breath to which neither child joined in. "Come on, let's let all the negative energy leave our bodies as we seek a more peaceful solution to our . . ."
"I want to leave and start looking for Becky again," Tobey interrupted. "I'd rather take my chances with the crazy instead of wasting my time here." Tobey began walking back toward the door which he had entered in.
"I'm sorry Tobey," Nona spoke after him making no effort to follow the boy. "I'm afraid that's not an option at this time."
Tobey stopped at the hall entrance, looking back to see the assiduous look upon Nona's face. Without demanding an explanation, Tobey could already see that Nona was being serious and there was no changing her mind. The young man glared at the woman, uncertain of what should be his next move; fortunately he wouldn't have to respond first as WordGirl did.
"I don't know how you found my hideout, Nona, but Tobey's right, we need to get back out there and start searching again." WordGirl hovered just inches off the ground to prepare to go groaning as she did so. It was bad enough Tobey had found her hideout, but this was getting to be too much.
"That's. Not. An option anymore." None repeated never moving her stare from Tobey's. "Adler's too big of a threat to you both now."
"I'm not afraid of one man," WordGirl scoffed. "I'm a, hero. I can handle this." WordGirl sounded bitter, but resolved on her decision. "I can't fail anymore. It's my fault he's here anyway, so it doesn't really matter if he gets me."
The words caught Tobey off guard as he quickly angled himself to see WordGirl.
"I thought you were to 'tired' to do anymore good."
Malice. WordGirl tried to shoot Tobey a venomous glare, but only managed to show how much Tobey's comment had hurt.
"You two aren't getting it are you," Nona frowned as WordGirl flew from the computer room. Nona only let out a sigh as she looked back at Tobey. "Hmm, she'll be back once she realizes I've locked the doors."
"You did what!"
Just as predicted, WordGirl came back to the room.
"What did you do to my ship?" WordGirl came down to eye level with Nona as she spoke.
"Well I had to keep you in here," Nona diverted her eyes as she looked over to Tobey. Huggy was making his way back into the room by squeezing thru Tobey's legs. "I wouldn't be doing my job very well if I let you evade me."
"What do you mean?" Puzzlement covered WordGirl's face.
"Well, 'evade' means to escape or avoid . . ."
"I Know What Evade Means!" WordGirl gritted her teeth. "You said you're doing a job. What job? Are you spying on me or something. First you ask me stupid questions at the super market, then you obviously brought Tobey to my hideout, and now you're trapping us here. I'm beginning to think you're the one kidnaping kids, not this Adler person."
"Sweetheart, that's not true. . ."
Before Nona could piece together a proper rebuttal, WordGirl took off across the room. The plucky superhero snatched Tobey and Huggy up as she made a break for the ship's library. Once safely inside the room, WordGirl shut and locked the door.
"It'll take her forever to catch up with us in here." WordGirl walked over to the bookshelf and began browsing the books. Tobey sighed.
"This isn't the time to be looking for a book to read, WordGirl."
"I'm not," she answered as she kept searching. "Huggy has a secret escape tunnel that is activated by one of these books. We'll get out that way."
Tobey couldn't help but smile at WordGirl's genius. Made him wonder if maybe he should add an escape tunnel to his robot lab. It would make it harder for his mother to catch him. Tobey then looked down at the monkey sidekick who was sending frantic glances at the door.
"Well monkey," Tobey crossed his arms in discontent. "Why don't you help her locate the book."
Huggy quit his frenzied on looking and sighed. The monkey saw WordGirl's hand pass over the book in the center of the shelf, but she neglected to try it. Huggy let out another sigh.
"Try, the book on the last, row," Huggy frowned as WordGirl knelt down to reach for the volume. "That one should help us out."
"I don't remember it being this low," WordGirl pulled the book off the shelf, but nothing happened. "Are you sure this is it?" WordGirl read over the book's cover, 'Just In Case.' That was an odd title. WordGirl opened this larger volume.
Immediately the super hero fell back onto her bottom. She was overcome by a sudden bout of dizziness. Tobey became quickly alarmed as he watched the girl's sickness increase.
"WordGirl, what's wrong?" Tobey came over to the hero and tried to help her to her feet, only to find she was too heavy to hold and too sick to stand up. So instead, Tobey looked down at the book she had now dropped. The pages had been cut out in the center to allow a small storage place to be created. In that there sat a star shape rock that emitted a rather potent red glow. Tobey picked up the star and gave it a peculiar look. "What is this?"
Click. Tobey took his gaze off the rock to see that Huggy had gone to unlock the door. Nona stepped in wearing a thin smile and down turned eyebrows.
"If I didn't know better," Nona spoke. "I'd say that looked like a prime piece of Lexinite in your hand Tobey."
It was at these words that Tobey knew exactly what had happened.
"You tricked us," Tobey glared at the monkey whose downcast eyes refused to make contact with the boy. "How could you do that; you were WordGirl's sidekick!" Tobey quickly tried to reach out and grab hold of the book. He was hoping that he could place the rock back inside and it would contain whatever it was that was making WordGirl sick. But just as his hand touched the corner of the book, Nona was bearing on top of him.
"Now Tobey," The woman snatched the outstretched arm and pulled Tobey to his feet. "I'd hate for us all to be acting this way, but if this is the only way to get you two to listen, then I'm going to have to insist that the Lexinite be handed over to me. I promise I won't make WordGirl endure it for long."
This had to be the most enraged Tobey had felt all night. He should have guessed 'Roget' would have sided with Nona. But this wasn't the time to give up. No treacherous monkey and half-witted old witch were going to get the better of Theodore Tobey MacCallister III.
"Fat Chance!" Without thinking twice about it, Tobey struck Nona's arm with the star. She cried in pain as she released Tobey to grip the affected area. Tobey took off in a full run out of the library and down the ships hall. All he needed to do was get this poisonous rock away from WordGirl . . . hopefully, then she could take care of Nona and the day could be saved. Tobey turned a corner in the ship's narrow hallway only to run unto something, or rather someone.
"Ouch!" Tobey fell back onto the floor as the star shaped Lexinite slipped from his hand and across the hall.
"Oh I'm sorry young man,"
Tobey didn't stop to speak with this new stranger and he rolled over to make a crawl for the rock. He didn't need another nut job in his life, he needed to get the Lexinite before . . . Nona did.
"Thank you Mr. Dohickey," Nona said bending over to pluck victory right from under the tips of Tobey's fingers and placed it in her pocket. "I would have hated to have to grab Tobey by any other means." The woman glared harshly down at the boy, blood staining her sleeve.
"My goodness," James hopped over to Nona. "What happened to your arm?"
Nona didn't answer James, she instead grabbed one of Tobey's arms and pulled him up. Before the boy had a chance to launch another attack, Nona seized his other arm and pulled both back so that Tobey's arms were crossed over his chest and his wrist were clenched tightly by her around his back. Tobey squirmed a bit only to find it brought his shoulders great pain.
"Ow, let go of me!" Tobey couldn't struggle due to the pain.
"What are you doing to this boy?" James asked rigorously taking note of Tobey's discomfort.
"I'll explain everything, but first I need to place this boy where he can't do anymore damage." Nona pushed Tobey forward.
"Isn't that Tobey?" James followed close behind. "He's one of the city's villains, a genius if I'm not mistaken."
"A Villain?" Nona almost lost her hold on the boy, but quickly regained her composure. "Mr. MacCalister is this true?" Disbelief coated her every word.
"I'm not telling you anything." Tobey knew she couldn't see his face, but he stuck his tongue out anyway.
"Hmm, well a boy genius is going to need special attention," Nona coyly added. "Perhaps I should get Huggy to supervise you until lift off."
"Lift Off!" Before Tobey could get his answers, Nona opened a door in the hallway and trusted the boy in. Tobey tried to turn to leave, but the door closed behind him. There wasn't even a door handle to shake.
Tobey leaned against the door and slid to the floor. A sigh escaped his lips as the truth of being trapped sank in. Thanks to that stranger, Nona was going to send Huggy to watch him; that meant Tobey only had about two minutes to think of a way out of this room. The roboticist surveyed the room from his position. Bed, dresser, bookshelf with assorted unicorns (that might be useful), desk with star decorated lamp, ceiling light, toy chest (if he were lucky there might be animatronics in there), a few wall posters . . . this looked like a little girl's room.
Tobey smiled at the thought that he might be in WordGirl's bedroom. He could collect a whole host of items in here . . . not that the had a silly crush on her; he was mad at her at the moment and simultaneously in a lot of trouble in this moment if he didn't think of something before Huggy arrived.
Outside the room Nona was heading back to alert the monkey to Tobey's whereabouts and get WordGirl detained before her powers came back. James followed close behind her, still demanding an explanation.
"Look Mr. Doohickey," Nona heaved a sigh, "I can't just tell you everything."
"I fixed the ship like you asked," the man pleaded. "Can't I at least know why your taking Tobey . . . You didn't really explain WordGirl's departure either."
"I'm sorry, but those are things I can't confide in anyone right now. And maybe," Nona stopped just outside the library door. "Maybe it would be best if you didn't accompany us."
"Wait you can't," Before James could protest Nona spoke out to the ship's defense system.
"Have this man safely removed from the ship."
Robotic arms lowered from the ceiling and took hold of the scientist's arms.
"You were lying to me. You just used me to fix the ship! Why would you lie to me like that?" The ship removed him from her sight and range of hearing.
"Great Nona," the woman scolded herself. "Not only are you a kidnapper, you're a pathological liar too." Sigh. "I'm so proud."
Nona reentered the library causing WordGirl to once again shiver in pain. Nona didn't like seeing the young girl in such a state, but at this moment it was all she could do to keep the two children under control.
"Roget, the ship is fixed, but I need you to watch over Tobey until I can get us out of here." Nona knelt beside WordGirl and struggled to pick her up without further injuring her wounded hand. The Lexinite glowing noticeably in her pocket. "Tobey's in the first bedroom."
Huggy nodded, to his great displeasure. He hated working against WordGirl, even if it was for her own good. Becky belonged on Thesauria where she would be safe, not on Earth where people like Adler could find her.
"If only I would have done my job right the first time." Huggy never meant to crash on Earth; no one ever means to 'crash' anywhere. So much was going on at once it just . . . seemed to happen. Back then it looked like Earth would be a perfect place to hide out. Nona was presumably dead, as was the royal family and WordGirl's mom and dad. Huggy had just managed to survive with WordGirl based on the sadistic release granted by Adler. Huggy had lived on Lexicon all his life, how was he suppose to know where Thesauria was; Nona was suppose to give him directions. Crashing into a planet protected by High Law seemed more like a Godsend than an accident at the time; so he never tried to fix the ship. So much for being Lexicon's prized piolet.
Huggy shook the thoughts from his head as he came upon the door. There wasn't time for all that now. He was now taking Becky to the neutral planet she was supposed to be on, problem solved. Huggy opened the door and stepped into the room.
It Was Empty! But how? Only he, WordGirl, and obviously Nona knew the passwords for the doors. There were no vents, no holes in the wall!
"Why'd we leave a boy genius for this long?" Huggy scolded under his breath. He needed to quickly go back and warn Nona. Huggy took off running back down the hall.
A cough came from under the bed as Tobey rolled out from underneath it. He was covered in dust and even had to clear his glasses before he could see again.
"Stupid monkey," coughed Tobey as he made his way out of the bedroom. "Never to young to learn old tricks."
Tobey wasn't certain how to get off the ship undetected, and he was even more unsure on how to save WordGirl. Clearly Nona had the upper hand, not to mention the ship's technology on her side. Maybe if he could sabotage the main computer he could prevent Nona from taking them . . . wherever it was she wanted to take them . . . Or at least that was the theory. Tobey couldn't help but wonder why Nona was doing all of this. She had promised to take him to WordGirl, which she did, and now she was hurting his city's superhero and locking him up. The only reason she would be trying to keep them on the ship was if she was planning to take them somewhere.
It was then Tobey thought back on Adler. Nona was trying to keep them away from him; she was only trying to keep them safe. But why? It was easy to guess why someone would want to capture WordGirl, but why him?
. . . before that man tried to hurt him with that weapon, he had said something. . . 'your highness.' Adler had called Tobey, "Your highness." Was he royalty? No, that couldn't be it . . .
"Regardless, I need to find the computer room and stop this lift off."
Too Late! The ground began to shake under Tobey's feet making it hard to remain standing. The boy held onto the wall to remain upright as he tried to make his way to the main computer. Upon his arrival he found that Nona and Huggy had beaten him there. How could that monkey have beaten him?
"We got to take off," Nona typed away at the computer as Huggy strapped himself into one of the chairs. "Then it won't matter if Tobey's free or not. I can only hope Doohickey knew what he was doing."
The platform that the two aliens were standing on began to rise. The whole computer system was lifting up to the front cab and 'windshield' of the ship. Once they reached the cab there would be no way for Tobey to stop them. . . But what could he do? The platform was already too high for him to jump onto, and he didn't know the ship well enough to find another way up to the cab. Maybe, maybe there was an escape pod or something on the ship. If he could find WordGirl then . . .
The ship jolted lose from the ground, faster than a shooting star, it was off.