"Inside the grocery store, Chuck The Evil Sandwich making Guy was starting to have problems of his own...", the Narrator introduced.
Chuck stood tall on a display, his condiment gun in hand. He aimed it down on the grocery store manager.
"Alright, listen up!", Chuck commanded. "I, Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy, demand that you hand over all of the-", he paused and looked confused as suddenly his mind drew a blank. "Wait.. Oh... Wait, what's the word?"
"...Rye?', the store manager offered. "Cause we've got plenty of it!"
"No... Although a loaf would be good.", Chuck smiled. He then frowned and shook his head. "I mean, no! I'm.. Oh darn it! I can't think of the right word! And I had a whole...sssomething.. I.. Oh, forget it, this is just..."
"Embarumiliating?", a third voice guessed.
Chuck looked over to see The Butcher walk over, seeming curious of his confusion, which seemed to only grow with his expression as Chuck shook his head.
"What? No! What..? What kinda word is that?", Chuck wanted to know.
"Embarumiliating.", The Butcher shrugged. "Y'know, when you start to feel really awgwardgery. And you start to fumple a lot with whatcha sayin'?"
"...Wow, you're really not making any sense to me...", Chuck only shook his head again, not catching a single word of what the other was saying. Whammer made only a bit better sense than this.
The Butcher sighed and put a hand to his forehead.
"Ya know what? Forget it.", The Butcher waved it off dismissively before lamenting. "Without Wordgirl flyin' around here, hardly anyone understandiflies me."
"Yeah. I.. Well I kinda know whatcha mean.", Chuck gave an understanding nod. "Without Wordgirl, I can never think of the right word to say. Normally she'd come swooping in here and defining something to help us all out a bit."
"Yeah!", The Butcher agreed. "And now that Two-Brains and his henchmen have her evilified, what're we supposed to do? We can't really hold a decent rodgery without a proper vocabulation."
"...Hard to have even a conversation without good grammar.", Chuck had to agree. "Do you.. Do you really think she meant all that stuff she said earlier? About how mad she gets when we can't say the right word?"
"To be honest, I find it hard to say.", The Butcher scratched the back of his head. "I mean, I know sometimes I get a little under her skin. But on the wholification, I thought we got along just fine. Who knows? Maybe it's something Two-Brains did when he turned her evil."
"Yeah, I guess..", Chuck sighed.
"...Hey, wanna rob a deli?", Butcher offered, hoping to lift a fellow villain's mood. "Y'know, a little crime together like before?"
"..Sure.", Chuck shrugged, though he still sounded disappointed. "I guess. I mean, meat and sandwiches. We might as well."
"Yeah, of course.", Butcher smiled as they started to walk on. "Just, no cat costumes, alright?"
"Uh, heh. No.", Chuck shook his head, remembering last time.
They walked out of the store and five blocks down the road when Chuck smacked a hand to his head.
"LOOT! THAT was the word I was looking for!", he groaned. "Aw man, if I had said that back in the grocery store! Great..."
"Meanwhile, Wordgirl has been zipping from one end of town to the other, collecting all the cheese for Dr. Two-Brains.", The narrator said, following her to the lab where she laid down all the cheese.
"Excellent work, Wordgirl!", Two-Brains applauded before giving a pleased cackle. "Ha ha ha ha ha! With you at my side, not one person in this entire city will stand up against us!"
"Well, you know, I do what I can.", Wordgirl shrugged with a casual smirk on her face.
Huggy chattered, straightening his posture a bit in pride of their work.
"Wow Boss, seems like you really have it made..", the one henchmen pointed out. "It's almost like you don't need us..."
He and Charlie exchanged glances, knowing that soon the inevitable would happen and they would be fired.
"Guess.. Guess we're done here, aren't we?", he asked glumly.
"Oh heaven's sake no!", Two-Brains scoffed as he picked up a large wheel of Stilton. "Are you mad?"
Within a couple of bites, the Stilton was gone and Charlie shrugged.
"Well... I thought y'know, you'd start to think that you wouldn't need us, and then fire us again like you often do.", the henchman explained.
"Yeah, trust me, I really want to. But you see, I've actually thought this through this time.", Two-Brains rolled his eyes and took another wheel of cheese. "Every time I got rid of you, I had a lack of back up security and therefore was easily defeated. Why do that again? Boys, I may be crazy, but I'm in no way, insane."
"Isn't that...the same thing?", he asked.
"Well yes, in a sense. But insanity has another definition that I was referring to. Wordgirl, if you please?", Two-Brains asked, leaning back on his pile of stolen cheese as though it was a throne.
"To be crazy is to typically be mentally unwell.", Wordgirl explained. "Like seeing hallucinations or talking with yourself, or acting in a wild or aggressive manner, is generally labeled as being crazy. People say Dr. Two-Brains is crazy because he loves cheese, talks to himself, and mutated himself with a mouse. To be insane, in the context Two-Brains was using, falls under the definition that you repeat the exact same thing, over and over, expecting different results. And by the way, Two-Brains, you have done that before. You've fired the henchmen several times, expecting different results."
He shoved the last of another wheel down his throat before answering, "Yes, but I'm not THAT insane that on an evil scheme such as this, I should fire my henchmen. If at the very least, you two have to look after Wordgirl and her sidekick to make sure the REAL muscle to our schemes isn't about to be attacked by the authority or whoever is dumb enough to try, then so be it! Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a voracious appetite to satisfy!"
And with his teeth gnawing like a buzz-saw, Two-Brains began to devour as much cheese as he could. However, the henchman merely scratched his head and glanced at Wordgirl.
"Um... So.. Voracious means..?", he asked slowly.
"Ugh, you're such an idiot.", Wordgirl scoffed, making the man flinch in hurt feelings. "A voracious appetite means he's super hungry. He wants to eat a lot of food, namely cheese."
"...Sorry. Just wanted to know..", he said, feeling embarrassed.
"Well that's the thing, I would GLADLY define words to you if I was a goody-two-shoes super hero.", she hovered away. "But I'm not. Honestly, you two are full grown adults, and you don't even know what voracious means? An ordinary twelve year-old could tell you that."
"...Well you know, it is sort of your job to define words...", The henchman said, not sure if he was wanting to be angry or disappointed with the attitude.
"Henchmen, stop- Mm.. Now that's cheddar. Stop fighting with each other.", Two-Brains said, cheese smeared over his face as he continued to indulge. "Wordgirl, I think I'm satisfied here. You can go on and do your own thing."
"Hm, do the OTHER henchmen often get to do their own thing?", she smirked, as she floated out of the room and then chuckled. "Heh heh, course not. Come on, Huggy. Time we took a stand for ourselves. Worrd up!"
She zipped out of the warehouse and soon arrived back home as Becky.
"There. Now we act as though nothing has happened.", she said to Bob. "Let's go in and finally take some of our own recreation time."
Bob chattered in excited agreement and the two walked in. Bob ran to the kitchen, Becky greeted her family, and walked to her room. When she opened the door, every means of keeping cool and orderly was lost.
"TJ BOTSFORD!", she screamed out, surprising her brother who was playing with her unicorn figurines.
"ACK! Becky!", he gasped and quickly tried to hide them. "I-I wasn't-!"
"OH YOU WON'T EVER AGAIN!", she pushed up her sleeve and kicked the door shut with her foot.
"B-Becky wait, wait, wait! WAIT!", TJ panicked.
The screams filled the house and Tim turned away from his cooking.
"Honey, could you please tell the kids to play more quietly?", he asked. "I'm trying hard to not mess up this ancient Botsford Family recipe with a new, surprising twist!"
"Kiiids! Play nice!", Sally called out as she continued to watch her favorite game show on TV. "I'm trying to watch my shows!"
By the time Bob came to the door, TJ was shoved out, sobbing into his hands with his underwear shoved over his head.
"AND STAY OUT!", Becky threatened. "Or next time I won't hold back my REAL strength!"
Bob slipped inside and Becky slammed the door so hard, it almost shook the entire house. After a moment's pause, she quickly put up a sign on the door that said "KEEP OUT" and then kept the door shut.
'FINALLY.', she thought to herself. 'MY recreation time.'
Across the street, in the MacCallister residence, there was a great lacking in regular behavior as well.
"Tobey..", Tobey's mother began at the dinner table. "Straighten up. You'll grow up with bad posture."
Tobey was slouching over the table, his fork limpy in his hand while he smeared his macaroni and cheese around and around and around. He barely even heard his mother and typically, he would be sitting up and fearing if she had something to say to him. But all day he's acting as moping as this. He couldn't help it. While he could imagine a hundred other ways of destroying the city. But all in the hopes to see Wordgirl. And now with her gone, his day was long and empty. Without meaning to, he ended up smearing a star-shape in his cheese. He stared down at this, his hand so robotically moving, back and forth. To and fro. The five-points made again and again and again.
"THEODORE.", his mother's clear sharp voice cut through his thoughts, and he snapped up right.
"Y-Yes Mum!", he quickly obeyed, already knowing he was in some sort of trouble for not hearing her the first time. "Sorry. Won't happen again."
"Theodore...", his mother said sternly. "If you are NOT to sit right at this table, you can go to your room. You ARE still grounded from last time you tried to attack the city."
"..Yes Mum...", Tobey cowered into his chair.
Claire turned back to her own dinner and Tobey sighed again, sitting back into his chair. He took a bite of macaroni and continued with the rest of the dinner. The star-shaped cheese, soon disappearing in a single wipe.
"Theodore..", his mother began to make sure he was listening.
At this, Tobey immediately looked up, more aware of his surroundings now.
"Is there something you wish to tell me?", she asked.
All day since he came home, Tobey had been quietly minding himself about the house. No scheming, no robots, no holograms, no blueprints or welding. And typically Claire would know when he would be. But not today. Today he had seemed more absent minded while roaming the house, with no particular interest in anything. Even now at the supper table, it was rare that Claire should say something without his immediate attention. After all, it was just the two of them. It's not like there was a lot of noise that made it hard for him to hear her.
"Tell you something? Um...No. No, Mother.", Tobey shook his head, keeping his eyes glued to the plate.
"Are you sure?", Claire asked.
"No.", Tobey shook his head. "Really, I've nothing to say, Mother."
"Very well then. Now, as you remember, I have a lot of very important work I need to get done.", Claire was continuing to say at the end of supper. "And I'll have to go back to the office to finish up some of it. You are to be a guest at the Botsfords and NO ROBOTS."
"No fear of that, Mother.", Tobey said quietly.
"Good. Now, go put your dishes away in the kitchen, and be ready to leave soon.", Claire ordered.
Tobey did as told though little could ready him to spend another night in a battle of wits with Becky while her mother insisted they worked on homework together.
When the MacCallisters arrived, the Botsfords had finished their dinner as well. Tobey was welcomed in and yes, it looked to be yet another long night of nothing to do while his mother worked. Brilliant.
Tobey sat back on the couch, and looked around at the family portraits.
"Tobey...", a stiff voice addressed him.
Tobey looked up and saw Becky stand there near him. Surprisingly, no homework.
"Becky...", he said simply.
Far from typical ideas from the parents, Tobey and Becky rarely did agree except the disdain for these little visits. Becky simply sat on the couch near him. He proceeded to try to pry the dirt and oil from his nails while Becky flipped through a book of hers. On cue, Sally came up to the gloomy duo.
"Hey kids! Tomorrow's another school day, so why don't you two work together on your home-"
"Did it.", they both replied at the same time.
"Oh.. But are you sure you don't want to-"
"I've double checked all my work.", Tobey replied.
"Every 'i' is dotted, every 't' is crossed.", Becky said, neither one glancing up.
"Well... what about-?" She began
"I already packed tomorrow's lunch" Becky replied angrily. "I am all ready, get off my back!"
Mrs. Botsford flinched, not used to such anger coming from the usually good-nature girl.
"W... Well... alright. Sorry for interrupting you two... I'll just..." With that said she walked off, seemingly close to tears.
"Why, Becky! I have never seen that side of you before." Tobey said with surprise.
"What's the matter? Big bad robot-making Tobey afraid of a young girl?" She taunted.
"Wh-Why of course not! Why would I be. It's just... you have never acted that way before... it is kind of... unusual."
"So?"
"So? Since when did you ever snap out at anyone like that?"
"Maybe it's time I started to."
"Or maybe you shouldn't because this is very unlike you.", Tobey retorted. "I mean, don't start to think that I actually care about you or anything, but for you to lash out at authority, it..it's just not you. Me, maybe, because that's how things already are, but certainly not you."
"Well why not me? Why can't I lash out at authority, and YOU be the goody-two-shoes, always putting their time aside to do the right thing?"
"Because it's simply not in our natures! I'm not supposed to be good, you are! It's how it always was and how it always should be! It makes about as much sense as Wordgirl turning evil!"
"Getting flustered are we?", Becky smirked.
"Getting FRUSTRATED, really.", Tobey glared. "And since when did an ordinary 10 year-old like you know the word 'flustered'?"
"You're not the only ten year-old in the city to use big words."
"No. But the only other I would know was..."
"Don't. Even.", Becky cut off, glaring at him. "You have no way to prove I'm Wordgirl. I could be just as equally dedicated to learning words as you are."
"I suppose...", Tobey began before returning to the original topic. "Still, it's not like you nor she to be so evil."
"As if you would really have an idea of what real evil is..", she said with a smirk.
"And what do you mean by that?", Tobey said, surprised and indignant that she would indicate he was less. "I'm one of the top five most wanted in the city!"
"Tobey, please. You don't have the guts to actually break anything. Wordgirl always stopped you first and besides, practically everyone knows that you just have a silly school boy crush on Wordgirl.", Becky snickered.
She stood up and walked away, but the words gave Tobey a sudden flashback.
'We both know you're just stalling because you have a silly schoolboy crush on her!', Two-Brains' voice rung out.
Tobey almost dared to believe it could be possible, yet...he wasn't sure. Late into the night, tossing and turning in his bed, Tobey couldn't let the phrase slip. He stood up in the darkness and began to pace the room. It simply had to be resolved in his mind.
That phrase. "Silly school boy crush"... Only Dr. Two-Brains had such a way to word things. Coupled with Becky's behavior and Wordgirl's, it was still hard to believe. After all, in school, Becky acted like a complete imbecile and skipped events constantly. Very different than the authoritative and quick acting Wordgirl who was always there on time. Still... It was awfully coincidental that Wordgirl AND Becky had both been given a sudden change of heart on the same day. And if it's actually true, if the love of his life was the hated lab partner, then Tobey had only a glimpse at the new attitude Wordgirl should always bare unless someone stood up to stop her.
Tobey stopped in the middle of his pacing and sighed. He wished he could do something, but it's been a well known fact that Wordgirl could defeat him in less than 11 minutes. No. Alone he could do nothing to stop her. No one can.
"It's another day in the city, and villainy is still running amok with no Wordgirl to stop them!", the Narrator introduced, as Wordgirl zips across the streets, stopping here and there, and zipping back out again. "Meanwhile, Wordgirl is still collecting cheese for Dr. Two-Brains!"
"Here we go Doc. Another day's shipment.", she said, setting down the pile of cheese in his lair.
Two-Brains laughed and applauded once more.
"Oh-ho! BRILLIANT! With you at my side, soon every last morsel of cheese will be scraped from this city!", Two-Brains congratulated.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, a new thought settled.
"Wait.. if every morsel of cheese is taken from the city.. What would I have left to eat?", he asked aloud.
"Nothing, I guess, until the next shipment of cheese into town.", the henchman shrugged.
"But people would become terrified of bringing their cheese to me, if I steal them all before they could reach the shelves.", Two-Brains rolls his eyes in annoyance. "That's why I'm worried."
"Maybe it's time that we took a step outside of the fair city.", Wordgirl suggested.
"Oh, no. I couldn't possibly do that.", Two-Brains shirked. "I mean, even with you at my side, Wordgirl, I-I'm more comfortable being in the city..."
"Then step up! Take charge! You're Dr. Two-Brains!", Wordgirl encouraged with a smile. "With your brains and my super powers, we can take over the whole city! And then people would HAVE to bring in their cheese as tribute!"
Two-Brains' eyes sparkled with the new thought and he smiled at Wordgirl.
"Wordgirl, have I ever told you, how much I love my invention?", his smile turned wicked and he cackled. "Ha ha ha ha! You're absolutely right! With you evil, and at my side, there really is nothing that can stand in our way! And if some other villain has tried taking over the city by now, who cares? I've got you!"
He and Wordgirl cackled in delight. It was such a pleasure to laugh so loud, so cruel. It was a shame to be interrupted then and there.
"Dr. Two-Brains, I'm not gonna let you take all the cheese!", Glen Furlblam suddenly said, kicking open the door. "Cause then I have no one to outdo!"
"What?! Pfft! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ah! Oh! oh, boy that's a good one!", Two-Brains laughed some more and wiped a tear from his eye. "Honestly, Glen, when will you ever learn? Wordgirl, Captain Huggy Face, take this joker DOWN."
"Gladly!", she said, her smile widening as she cracked her knuckles.
Huggy chattered and gave a salute at the same time and they both got ready to pounce.
Before Glen could even blink, Wordgirl was already behind him and with a mighty punch, he was sent flying back into some crates. Glen felt the sharp edges of the boxes scrape his skin and felt the blood seep down his face. He looked up in time to blurrily see Huggy Face lunging towards him. His shrieks and pleads echoed throughout the warehouse while the henchmen stared, eyes wide in fear. After a small moment, even Two-Brain's smile began to disappear and his own eyes widened.
"Wow.. A little.. um..vicious, aren't they?", he said uncomfortably as the thrashing continued.
"Please, Doc. Make it stop!", his henchman pleaded, backing away. "It's even scarier than yesterday!"
"O-Okay, Wordgirl! I think you've made our point!", Two-Brains called out.
Wordgirl finally stopped, metal bars wrapped around Glen securely. A black eye, a few knots, and bruises already showing, to indicate her rough beat-down.
"Eeesh... Okay, when I wanted you to make it clear he couldn't stop us, I didn't mean you have to take it..SO far...", Two-Brains explained rubbing his arm, feeling slightly bad for Glen and squeamish to the bit of blood from some of the punches and monkey bites.
"It's hard to make an idiot understand.", Wordgirl scoffed.
"WOW... Okay, well, why don't you send Glen home..", Two-Brains ordered. "Or.. You know, maybe the hospital would be better. Ahem, anyway, you go do that, and then we'll plan our take over!"
"Whatever you say, Dr. Two-Brains!", Wordgirl nodded. "Come on, Huggy! Worrd up!"
She flew off and Two-Brains scratched the back of his head.
"You know, it occurs to me, I never did set an amount to the evil ray.", he said to himself.
"What does that mean?", the henchman asked.
"Hm... I'm not sure...", Two-Brains pondered but then shrugged it off. "Oh, but who cares? I kinda always wanted her to do that to Glen anyway! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Wordgirl rushed Glen to the hospital just as Chuck was driving by. He stopped the car, watching her run in and when she came back, he called out, "Hey! Wordgirl!"
"Ugh.. What?", she asked, flying over.
"Umm.. Wh-what are you doing at the hospital?", Chuck asked.
"I'm putting Glen into intensive care.", she smirked, rubbing her knuckles on her outfit.
"You mean that kid that ran around pretending he had three brains?", Chuck asked again, a little scared to think of Wordgirl sending someone to the hospital.
"Yeah. Duh.", Wordgirl scoffed. "And if you don't mind, I've got places to be, cities to conquer. See ya around Chuck!"
She flew off and Chuck sighed. Things were definitely getting out of hand. But what could he do?
"...I gotta get some help.", he said to himself, driving away again.
"Well how do you figure that out?", the narrator asked.
"Well I don't really think it's possible that only one person can stop Wordgirl.", Chuck explained. "I mean, she already defeats us...um... What is it? more than once, but not a specific number..."
"Several?", The Narrator asked.
"Yeah! That's it! She already defeats us several times alone. But you know how the other day, The Butcher and I both wished she wasn't evil? Maybe by teaming up with a few other villains, we can do something to stop her!", Chuck smiled at his plan. "I could hold a secret meeting, and we could all plan together to stop her!"
"You can try it but...", The Narrator began.
"What?", Chuck seemed hesitant.
"Weeelll... Not a lot of people are gonna listen to you."
"They'll listen! I'm sure of it!", Chuck said confidently.
Laura: Oh my gosh, I'm not exaggerating. Glen Furlblam was a nightmare to write... Please review!