Chapter 7: Discoveries
Becky and Fern stepped off the bus and made the short walk to Becky's house on that sunny Friday afternoon in early October, grateful they had managed to catch it this time and not get left behind again. Becky's parents greeted Fern cheerfully when they arrived and offered them snacks before the girls retired to Becky's room. They both had quickly come to like Fern judging by all the positive things Becky had told them about her, as well as from the couple times they'd seen her. Similarly to Violet, she was polite and quiet and didn't cause trouble.
Both girls enjoyed their time together that afternoon, snacking and chatting. Today Fern got the chance to meet Becky's pet monkey. She'd told her his name was Bob, and he had behaved well towards Fern, and wasn't bad company. Becky had also convinced her to let her look at her writing notebook again, which Fern reluctantly agreed to. She once again encouraged her to try entering some of her writings and poems into contests again. Fern appreciated how much Becky said she enjoyed it all, but she remained rather unconvinced at first. Becky continued to persuade her, practically begging by the end of it. Fern hadn't expected Becky's elongated "please's" to sound so cute, but her heart melted upon hearing them, and this finally persuaded her to agree to at least think about it, which Becky reacted quite giddily to.
Time passed by in a flash for them, and the sun was rather low in the sky when Fern finally decided it was about time for her to be heading home. As disappointed as Becky was, she knew it was probably best that Fern not get home too late.
"So hey, did you maybe want to go to the library to study again tomorrow?" Becky proposed, standing up off of her bed.
Fern smiled. She had quite enjoyed their last time doing this, and being with Becky had certainly made studying a much less draining experience. She nodded and replied as they left the room and walked down the stairs, "Sure! We can do that."
"Awesome! I'll see you tomorrow, then!" Becky said gladly as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "Same time as last time?"
"Works for me," Fern confirmed, putting on her jacket and shoes before turning the knob and opening the door.
"You're sure you won't want my parents to drive you home?" Becky asked.
"It's fine, I don't mind walking. It's a nice day, and I've been getting used to doing it," Fern assured, smiling as she went on. "Thanks for having me over again, Becky. It's been fun hanging out with you."
"Well, you're always welcome here, Fern," Becky said sweetly. "Anytime you want to come over, just ask. I've really enjoyed having you over, too."
"Thank you, Becky. And you can always come over to my house too."
It was then that Becky stepped forward and wrapped Fern in a hug, which Fern gladly returned. "Stay warm, okay? I think it's gonna get chilly tonight."
"I will, and you too," Fern said in return. It had truly begun to make her feel warm and fuzzy inside hearing Becky say such things, knowing she held concern for her well-being. "Goodnight, Becky," she added, turning to begin her walk home.
"Goodnight, Fern!" Becky called back, waving and standing at the door until Fern turned a corner and was out of sight. She then slumped back against the open door and placed her hand to her forehead as her mind raced. One of her main goals for that afternoon had been to use her time with Fern to try and judge how she truly felt about the girl, and she now felt more strongly than ever that she cared about her in a different way than platonic friends did. She felt she needed a bit more help to draw a better conclusion though. "I need to call Violet…" she decided aloud, straightening up and shutting the door behind her. "She'll know what to do."
…
Hacker unfortunately wasn't able to see into the house very well with his camera setup. Knowing this would be a hindrance to finding out more information, he had once again sent Buzz and Delete into the city once saw what house she and another girl were entering, who Hacker assumed was likely a friend of WordGirl's. He then had his henchmen dress in their disguises once more and dispatched them to the location after finding out the house's address, and they had been forced to hurry. They didn't know for sure whether WordGirl or the other girl lived there, and they needed to be there in time to see which one would actually be the one to leave.
After making the long, hurried trip, Buzz and Delete collapsed on the ground against the house after each climbing behind one of the small bushes on either side of the front door. Several minutes after resting and listening, they heard a pair of voices approaching the door and immediately went quiet. Peeking out, they could see the door open, revealing both WordGirl and her friend.
"You're sure you won't want my parents to drive you home?"
"It's fine, I don't mind walking. It's a nice day, and I've been getting used to doing it. Thanks for having me over again, Becky. It's been fun hanging out with you."
"Well, you're always welcome here, Fern. Anytime you want to come over, just ask. I've really enjoyed having you over, too."
"Thank you, Becky. And you can always come over to my house too."
The two girls then proceeded to share an embrace before bidding each other goodbye. Buzz and Delete were relieved to see that it was the other girl who walked outside and began heading away down the street, realizing that they were at the right house. They also made a mental note of their names, that WordGirl was Becky and that her friend was Fern.
They then noticed Becky hadn't closed the door right away, but was leaning back against it, her hand against her forehead. She appeared to be in deep, frantic thought about something. "I need to call Violet…" she eventually huffed to herself before straightening up and shutting the door.
The two robots met each other's gazes, panicking a bit. They hadn't found out very much information, and they weren't sure what to do next. Buzz pulled out a walkie-talkie they had brought with them, clicked the talk button, and spoke into it in a low tone so as not to be heard by any potential passers-by. "Boss! Boss! Come in, boss!"
"I'm here, I'm here," Hacker replied through the veil of static. "What did you two find out?"
"Well, it turns out this IS WordGirl's house, and her name is Becky. The other girl's name is Fern, and she said she was going to talk on the phone with someone named Violet."
Hacker could be heard chuckling fiendishly on the other end. "Perfect! I'm going to look for a satellite signal and see if I can't listen in on their conversation myself. You two can come back while I do that."
"Ugh… Yes, boss…" Buzz replied warily, while Delete groaned in frustration from the opposite bush. They hadn't even been resting for ten minutes, and now they had to make the trip back once more. They didn't protest, though, as they began walking back in the direction they had come from.
It was already getting dark by the time Buzz and Delete made their way back to the Grim Wreaker and climbed aboard. Both trudged through the hall and opened the door to the cockpit where Hacker was seated before collapsing in a heap on the floor. "We're… we're back, boss…" Delete huffed between heavy breaths.
Hacker turned around and said in an impatient huff, "Well there you are. I was beginning to wonder if you two nincompoops were ever going to show up."
"Well… it was a long walk, boss…" Buzz pointed out in their own defense.
"Hey, were you able to find the right signal?" Delete asked, slowly standing up and stretching his back.
"You bet your boots I found it," Hacker answered with a satisfied grin, swivelling his chair around to face the two exhausted cyborgs. "And I believe I have just about all I need. Take a listen," he ordered, turning around and pressing a button on his control panel, causing a clip of a conversation to begin playing. Buzz and Delete recognized one of the voices as WordGirl's, and they assumed the other was this Violet girl they had heard her mention.
The conversation was somewhat interesting for them to listen to. Apparently Becky had a crush on that Fern girl they had seen her with. Violet had been surprised to hear this, but she was still excited for Becky and had encouraged her to ask Fern out. Becky had been concerned about whether doing this would possibly ruin her friendship, but Violet wasn't discouraged, and maintained that Becky should take a chance through some rather poetic speech. Becky then thanked Violet for her help and understanding, and the call ended.
Hacker looked back and forth between his henchmen as he began speaking once more. "So tell me boys - What did you learn from hearing that call?"
It was a few moments before Buzz finally spoke up, albeit hesitantly. "Um… that WordGirl has a crush on that girl we saw earlier?"
Hacker nodded. "Precisely."
"But what does that have to do with anything, boss?" Delete asked with confusion.
"Isn't it obvious?" Hacker asked indignantly. "It means we finally have what we need to defeat WordGirl!"
"Come again?" Buzz asked, tilting his head.
Hacker's face formed into a blank, flat, unimpressed stare. "I mean, we finally have an exploitable weakness to use against her!" He swivelled his chair back around so it was facing away from his minions. "I'm quite glad I decided to follow the other girl to her own home with one of the cameras. Buzz, Delete - Tomorrow I'm going to be sending you on one more errand for me… Oh! And also, before I forget - you're going to need a box."
…
The next day at Control Central in Cyberspace, Digit was venting concerns he had to Motherboard over the situation regarding Hacker. Almost another whole week had passed since they had called the Cybersquad to see the statue, and there had still been no sign of Hacker anywhere.
"I'm gettin' real worried, Motherboard," Digit fretted, pacing around on the floor in front of the large screen as Motherboard looked down at him. "We shoulda seen something by now, right? Hacker's never gone this long without starting up some new scheme of his! When Jackie first got here the other day, she said to me she'd been worried Hacker might be up to something big. What if she's right? I don't like this, Motherboard, not one bit."
"Why don't you try making another trip to the Northern Frontier?" Motherboard suggested. "Perhaps there was something there that you missed before that could help out."
Digit sighed. "I guess it's worth a shot. I don't want to just sit here and do nothing while Hacker's up to god-knows-what." He made his way towards the exit and said, "I'll be back in a little while, Motherboard. I'll call you if I find something," he promised, though his hopes of finding anything weren't high.
"Very well. Good luck, Digit," Motherboard bid him.
"Thanks… I'll probably need it."
Digit made his way to his ship and blasted off, making the trip to the Northern Frontier and landing behind Hacker's base. The statue was still there as it had been before, and the inside of the shelter remained vacant. The bird cautiously made his way inside, taking care to make as little sound as possible on the off-chance someone might hear him, though he highly doubted anyone would.
After several minutes of fruitless searching, Digit was about ready to throw in the towel, when he suddenly heard unexpected noise from outside. In a startled panic, he dove behind a pair of large trash cans next to a small pile of boxes, desperately hoping he wouldn't be spotted. As he listened to a pair of voices approaching, he quickly recognized them as being Buzz and Delete.
"See, Deedee? I told you there were plenty of boxes here."
"But will any of them be a good size, Buzzy?"
"I'm sure out of all of them, there has to be at least one that'll work. Now come on, help me look."
Digit held his breath as he peeked between the small space between the two trash cans, and could see the two robots rooting through the pile of boxes close by. He held his breath, wondering what they could possibly need a box for.
"Hey, Buzzy - Does this one look okay?" Delete asked, holding up a box that appeared to be just big enough to hold an average sized Christmas tree.
Buzz stepped over and took a look. "Hmm… Looks okay to me. C'mon, let's get goin'. The boss won't want us to take too long getting back," he said, beckoning for Delete to follow.
"Right behind ya," Delete said with a nod, carrying the box with him as he followed Buzz outside.
Once they were out of view, Digit carefully came back out from behind the garbage cans and poked his head out slightly from inside the shelter to see where Hacker's henchmen had gone. To his dismay, they were headed for the statue, which now had a large portal in front of it, towering quite high. He followed silently behind the two robots as they both entered the portal. Within moments, he had reached it as well. Although he was nervous, the bird knew there was only one way to find out where the portal led, so he took a deep breath and jumped through the portal.
When he came out the other side, Digit could see the two robots walking away from him, still unaware of his presence. He looked towards where they were walking to, and he could see what appeared to be the skyline of a large city. Looking around at his surroundings, Digit concluded that this was certainly no Cybersite he had ever seen before.
It was then that a piercing, awful realization hit Digit and caused him to seize up. What if this wasn't actually a Cybersite at all? Oh no, he thought with alarm, I really hope this isn't what I think it is…
Without another word, Digit hopped back through the portal before it had the chance to close, and popped out the other side, returning to the Northern Frontier. He began rushing back towards his ship and pulled out his skwak pad, dialing Control Central and waiting for Motherboard to appear on screen.
"Digit? What's happened?"
"Motherboard! Call Matt, Jackie and Inez! I think we have a problem!"
…
While Digit scrambled to return to Control Central as quickly as possible and explain what he'd seen to Motherboard, back in the real world Fern remained ignorant to all that was going on, and was instead absorbed by her own thoughts on this Saturday afternoon. She had recently finished her lunch and was seated on her bed reading one of her books. Her parents had left to run a few weekend errands, leaving her alone to hold down the fort.
As she read, she couldn't keep her thoughts from perpetually circling back to Becky, as well as the advice George had given her earlier that week. Having had almost a whole day to reflect on her most recent visit with Becky, along with an extended rest on the previous night, Fern had only been able to draw one conclusion: Not a single doubt remained in her mind that she indeed had romantic feelings for Becky.
However, now she was presented with a new dilemma. She knew she wanted to tell Becky how she felt, and common sense told her that George was right in what he'd said - If she didn't open up to her about it, there was little to no chance they could ever be together. And some chance was better than no chance, right?
But would she be able to handle rejection? Fern questioned how well she'd be able to hold it together if Becky were to say she wasn't interested in a relationship with her. She didn't want her first crush to also become her first heartbreak.
All this was on her mind when out of nowhere she heard a loud noise from downstairs, which she thought sounded like a door being slammed open. This was followed by multiple pairs of steps clamoring up the stairs. She wondered if her parents had possibly forgotten something and had returned to pick it up. However, they weren't usually so loud in doing such things.
What Fern most certainly had not expected to see at that moment were two strange-looking robots bursting open her bedroom door and stepping inside, quickly spotting her. One of them was much taller and was carrying a large wooden box, while the other was shorter and rounder.
Fern was scared speechless. It wasn't as though she hadn't ever seen a robot before. No one in Elwood City could say that and have it be true. But these ones were certainly different, and none of them had ever been near her house, let alone inside her bedroom.
"There she is, Deedee!" the shorter one shouted, pointing at her as she sat petrified on the bed. "Grab her!"
It was then that Fern finally regained control of her body and began backing away, letting out a blood-curdling scream. She fell off the bed and quickly scrambled to her feet, running up to her window and attempting to get it open. Her hands were shaking so badly, though, that she fumbled in getting it open. In pure desperation, she began pounding hard on the glass and cried out, "HELP! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Before she could do anything else, she suddenly felt something wrapping around her middle, pressing her arms to her sides while dragging her back from the window. She darted her head around and realized they were the taller robot's arms, which could apparently extend to great lengths. "NO! NO! PLEASE, LET ME GO!" she wailed, frantically trying to break free of the robot's grasp. Before she could do anything else, though, she saw the smaller robot climb up on top of the larger one out of her peripheral vision. She then felt a blunt object being whacked against the back of her head, causing her to swiftly lose consciousness and fall to the floor, landing with a sharp crack.
…
"Ha-ha! I win again, Huggy!" Becky declared victoriously, slamming her paddle back on the ping pong table and pumping her fists in the air.
Huggy squeaked defeatedly, climbing down from the table and walking away.
"Oh come on, you don't have to be a sore loser about it," Becky scolded, following after her monkey sidekick. She had been spending the past couple hours with him at her spaceship hideout and had finished working out before challenging Huggy to a game of ping pong. They were dressed in their superhero outfits as they normally where while at the hideout. "How about best twenty-four out of forty-seven?"
Huggy shook his head, plopping down on the nearby couch to rest.
Becky shrugged. "Oh well. I should probably think about getting ready to go anyway. I'm planning on meeting Fern at the library at 3:00, and I don't want to keep her waiting."
Huggy squeaked flatly and rolled his eyes as he grabbed a nearby bag of chips.
Becky huffed and placed her hands on her hips. "What?! Well, w-what makes you think I like her that way?"
Huggy smirked knowingly, biting into a chip.
"...Was it really that obvious?" Becky asked self-consciously, dropping her frown.
Huggy nodded as he chewed.
Becky sighed. If anyone was good at reading her, it was Huggy. "Say… You wouldn't possibly have any idea if she maybe likes me back… would you?"
Huggy shrugged, pouring a bunch of chips straight into his mouth.
"Hmph. Well thanks for all the help," Becky said sarcastically. "I'm glad I at least had Violet to talk to about-" She suddenly stopped short and went totally silent. She glanced around, her attention to everything around her being heightened. "...Did you hear something, Huggy?" she asked quietly.
Huggy shook his head, growing slightly concerned.
Becky hesitated a few moments before speaking again. "I'm going to go outside. Stay here. I'll be right back," she said, zooming towards the exit in a flash. From the entrance to her spaceship, she glanced around at the treeline in front of her, searching for any sign of movement that could pinpoint where the noise she'd heard was coming from. She darted her head to the right upon hearing the sharp snapping of twigs a ways off from where she was. She flew up to the closest three in that direction and hid behind it, finally beginning to hear noise once more. She soon realized it was a pair of voices and she listened intently to decipher what they were saying.
"I don't know, Buzzy… I just didn't enjoy doing that. It looked like it really hurt, you know?"
"Come on, Deedee, you're always so soft. Quit worrying about it. It's all just part of the plan, like the boss said."
Becky glanced around from behind the tree, attempting to find the source of the talking, which she quickly realized was a pair of robots. One was short and round while the other was tall and skinny. The latter was also carrying a large box. Is Tobey behind this?, she wondered to herself. Why on earth would two of his robots be out in the middle of the woods? She continued listening, hoping to piece together what could possibly be going on.
"Rrgh… Can't you give me a hand with this, Buzzy? I-it's so heavy…"
"Oh come on, we're almost there. You can rest when we get to the ship."
Ship?, Becky wondered to herself in confusion. Tobey doesn't have a ship… And can these really be his robots? They've never looked like this before, and none of his have ever acted as independent as these ones seem to… She continued silently following them, growing nervous about how suspicious all this was.
The robots' destination was revealed to Becky upon reaching a small clearing in the woods, where a small cave sat in the middle of a wall of rocks. Parked inside this cave was a large black spaceship with green tinted windows, poking out slightly. Becky grew quite concerned upon seeing it. This was definitely not a ship she recognized, and a large part of her doubted that the "boss" one of the robots had mentioned would be someone she'd recognize either. She remained in the tree line, not wanting to be potentially spotted.
She watched the two robots board the ship with their box before finally deciding to fly away again. She returned to her own spaceship and informed Huggy of what she had seen. Both of them had reason to be unsettled and concerned, but they decided to let it go for now and worry about it later. Becky didn't want to keep her friend waiting after all, so she quickly took Huggy home before changing back into her normal clothes and beginning the walk to the library. She was going to do her best to enjoy her time with Fern, but she absolutely wasn't dropping the matter at hand. She fully intended to investigate further as soon as she got the chance.
…
Matt sprinted down the sidewalk away from the garage where he had been getting his truck's oil changed. He was in a hurry to meet up with Jackie and Inez, who were thankfully nearby closer to downtown where they had been out shopping together. He would have been willing to bet Inez had been dragged down there by Jackie, who was likely more enthusiastic about it. Normally Matt found it amusing to picture Jackie leading poor Inez around town all day to store after store, trying on garment after garment until the sun went down, but there were no laughing matters today. They had all just received an urgent call from Motherboard, and all three had agreed to meet up at the library nearby, since it was about halfway between where they each were.
It was several blocks away from the garage, but Matt barely even noticed being as athletic and physically fit as he was, while also fueled with adrenaline. Thankfully as he approached the library, he saw his two friends running as fast as they could towards him. Inez was trailing several yards behind Jackie, as she wasn't used to running such distances in such a short time.
"Hi, guys," Matt greeted as he caught his breath. "I'm so glad we were close by each other."
"Same here," Jackie said as Inez finally caught up with her. "Let's go inside. There has to be a quiet place to talk in the library."
"No objections here, let's go," Matt agreed, leading the way as the three of them quickly made their way to the door and weaved their way around inside before spotting an open doorway leading into a dimly lit hall. "Let's try in there," Matt suggested, motioning for the girls to follow. "You think anyone would hear us back here?"
"I doubt it," Inez replied as they entered. "I think these rooms are just used for storage."
"Good enough for me," Jackie said with a shrug. They entered a random room and stood in a little circle.
"So I guess Motherboard told you guys what was up?" Matt asked.
"Yeah…" Jackie replied, allowing herself to think deeply about what she had heard for the first time since she and Inez had begun making their way to meet up with Matt. "I… I don't even know what to say… Do you think it's true?"
"When she told me what Digit described to her, it sounded pretty accurate… Oh wow… So this is where the statue led all along!" Matt said with frustration, cupping his forehead with his hand.
"Ugh! I can't believe we didn't figure that out!" Jackie cried shrilly.
"Ooooooh, this is not good! This is not good at all!" Inez fretted, wringing her hands nervously.
"Well what are we waiting for?!" Jackie asked. "We need to get back to Cyberspace and figure this out, NOW!"
"Alright, alright, let's not press the panic button yet," Matt interjected, trying to calm his friends down, holding up his hands. "We can figure this out once we get there. If there's a time where it won't be good to panic, it's now."
Jackie breathed deeply and nodded. "Yeah, okay, you're right…"
"I'll call Motherboard again," Inez spoke up, pulling out her skwak pad and dialing her up. "Motherboard? Come in, Motherboard! We need a portal!" she cried urgently. Within moments, a portal opened up for them and they all hopped in without a moment's hesitation, quickly arriving back at Control Central.
"Okay, so let's see if we can figure this out," Jackie said once they were all accounted for. "I think that-" Before she could go any further, however, she was interrupted by the sound of a sharp cry, followed by something hitting the ground nearby. The three teens all turned and yelped in surprise. What they all saw at that moment was something they never would have expected.