Chapter 14: Hero of the Day
Fern made her way back through the dark hallways aboard the Grim Wreaker and up the stairs. She unfortunately hadn't been paying very close attention on the way down towards the boiler room earlier that morning, and she hoped she was headed in the right direction and wouldn't hit any dead ends or, god forbid, come across Hacker again.
As she was climbing up what she believed was the last flight of stairs before reaching the top floor, she felt the ship come to a halt all around her. This threw off her balance, and she was forced to grab the rail to keep from falling backwards. After taking a moment to recover, she realized that if the ship wasn't moving anymore, it must have meant Hacker had arrived in the city. As unnerving as it was for her to know it was there, floating above her own city, there was at least the upside of knowing that she'd be able to climb onto the outside of the Wreaker more easily.
The girl was relieved to find that she had indeed managed to find her way to the right spot, recognizing the space under the roof hatch they had first climbed into. She was forced to stand on the tips of her toes and jump to reach it, but at least she was able to at all by herself. It took a few tries, but she got it pushed back and opened up, allowing bright morning light from outside to enter the dim hallway.
After climbing up through the hole and positioning herself on the roof of the ship, she took a look around at the scene before her. The skyscrapers rose up into the sky less than a mile away from her, as familiar as ever. Peering over the edge and observing the street below, she could see a crowd of people and cars forming around the ship, grinding all surrounding traffic to a halt.
The sight that relieved Fern the most was Becky, still in her WordGirl outfit, suspended in the air, level with the Grim Wreaker. Captain Huggyface was hanging onto her back, and she could hear her shouting in her direction, her eyes fixed on the front windows of the ship. She heard Hacker answer over a loudspeaker shortly thereafter and quickly pieced together that they were in the middle of a heated confrontation.
She wanted so badly to say hello to her sort-of-girlfriend and let her know she was okay, but common sense informed her it was best to remain as inconspicuous as possible. Of course, she knew it was inevitable that she would be spotted eventually. Even if no one on the ground saw her, news helicopters would likely arrive soon, and then she'd be spotted on camera. But as long as Hacker wasn't made aware of her presence, she saw little reason to worry too much. Besides, she had more pressing matters to be concerned about and deal with.
Fern remained on her hands and knees as she made her way carefully across the roof of the ship. Upon reaching the edge where it began to curve downward, she thankfully spotted what appeared to be a set of rungs, such as the kind that could be found on a ladder. She turned herself around and rested one of her feet on one while using her opposite hand to grab another, all while trying her best not to look down and stay focused and calm.
Unfortunately she could only hold on with one hand, as her other one was occupied by the skwak pad and screwdriver. This was made even more difficult by a breeze she had begun to notice, which only seemed to be increasing in strength. Her ears blew around as she glanced around in front of her. This was as good of a place to start looking for that panel as any, she supposed. But she made note of just how large the ship was and how much surface area there was to cover. Oh geez, she thought to herself nervously. This is going to take awhile.
Becky watched in silence as the Wreaker came to a complete stop several yards in front of where she now flew, suspended in the air. Huggy, despite being a bit nervous, remained at the ready, positioned on her back. Becky glanced down at the ground and noticed a crowd of people beginning to form down below, which made her slightly worrisome. She hoped none of these people would get hurt, or anyone else for that matter.
The large glass dome on the bottom side opened up, revealing a large megaphone which Hacker's voice soon began booming loudly from. "Well hello, WordGirl… So nice to finally see you in person."
Becky grunted, pointing at where she assumed the cockpit was as she replied angrily, "Zip it, Hacker! I don't want to hear it! I know why you're here, and you're insane if you think I'm going to let you waltz in here and take over!"
Hacker chuckled defiantly. "Oh WordGirl, it's rather sweet how deluded you are. Don't you know I'm already one step ahead of you, as always?"
Becky nodded. "Sure, Hacker. Just like how last night I'm sure you were well aware that one of your henchman would switch sides."
"Fair enough, that was certainly unfortunate," Hacker replied. "Nobody's perfect, but I'm as close as you're ever going to get."
Becky huffed, blowing back a bit of stray hair from her forehead. "So what do you think I'm going to do? Just give up?"
"If you know what's good for you and your friends, you will," Hacker replied coldly. "They were discovered aboard my ship this morning, and I have them locked in the boiler room."
Becky's stomach dropped upon hearing this, but she wasn't about let Hacker pressure her to reveal anything, just in case he was bluffing and trying to get her to reveal where they were. "As if, Hacker," she retorted. "They've all gone somewhere you'll never find them."
"Come now, WordGirl. We both know you're lying. You know perfectly well they're here. Now I'll admit, I could also be bluffing about having them locked up, but is that a chance you really want to take? Because if you fail to surrender in time, I'll be more than happy to finish them off."
"I'll be honest, Hacker. No, I don't..." Becky replied, trying not to get too upset. The thought of her friends and almost-girlfriend's fate being in his hands was a very unpleasant one for her to stomach. But she wanted to maintain her confidence in them. "...but it would be irresponsible of me to back down now, when the fate of the Earth and everyone on it is at stake," she went on.
"Suit yourself then," Hacker snapped. "No saying I didn't warn you, WordGirl. I hope you're ready for a war." With that, the Wreaker quickly took off towards the heart of downtown, and Becky and Huggy quickly took off, following close behind. Of course, seeing as Hacker and Becky's attentions were heavily focused on each other at that moment, neither of their ears picked up on the sound of a single person screaming from the side of the ship.
"Come on, Jacks! Keep going!" Matt encouraged, looking up at her as best as he could.
"I'm going! I'm going!" Jackie replied. "It's not easy, alright?"
Jackie was sitting on Matt's shoulders, trying to make the hole in the ceiling bigger by pounding the sides of it with a hammer that Matt had had in his backpack, while Inez, Digit and Delete watched hopefully. They'd begun on it soon after Fern had taken off towards the roof, and it was slow going, but they appeared to be making progress.
The oldest girl beat the now misshaped sides of the hole a few more times before looking down at Matt. "There…" she huffed between breaths. "Let's try getting you through here now, Inez." She hopped off of Matt's shoulders before Inez stepped into his hands and was lifted up to the hole. It would have been an extremely tight fit before, but now she went up through it rather easily.
"Yes! I made it, guys!" she called back down, getting her footing on the floor above. After her came Delete and Jackie, who also slipped through alright, though it had been close for Jackie. But now they were in a sticky situation. Only Matt and Digit now remained in the boiler room. No one would be able to lift Matt up to the hole, and everyone wanted to avoid any situation that could potentially cause Digit to agitate his injury, such as trying to squeeze him through a relatively small hole in the ceiling.
"What do we do now?" Matt called up.
Everyone thought for a moment before Inez spoke up. "The door! Maybe we can just go open it now!"
"Let's check it out!" Jackie concurred. She, Inez and Delete raced toward the stairs to the floor below and found the boiler room door once more.
"Yes! It's a lock you don't need a key for, just like I thought!" Delete exclaimed after examining the knob, turning the dial on the front to unlock it. Matt and Digit quickly approached the doorway when they saw it open and stepped out, thankful to be out of there and away from the heat of the boiler.
"Now let's get back to Fern!" Matt declared, and they all began running as fast as they could up the stairs.
"I hope she's okay up there," Inez remarked concernedly. "I still feel bad that we had to send her out there all by herself."
"I'm sure she's fine," Jackie replied. "We gave her everything she needs. I'm sure she can-" She was interrupted in the middle of her sentence as the five of them felt the ship began to move again, causing them all to grab onto the railing. "Oh no, it's moving again!" she exclaimed.
"You think Fern was able to hold on?" Delete asked with significant worry.
"No point worrying about that until we get outside. Come on, we have to hurry!" Matt said, beginning to go back up the stairs, with everyone else soon in tow.
It took them all a couple minutes, but they soon reached the top floor once again. The hatch was thankfully still open, and they decided to repeat what they had just done in the boiler room and lift each other up through it one by one.
"I'll go first," Inez spoke up, positioning herself below the open hatch.
Matt stepped up to her, but didn't bring his hands down for her to step into just yet. "Hold on, Inez. There's something I need to do before we get up there. I don't know for sure if we'll make it out of this in one piece or not, and I want to do this in case things don't go right."
"What is it, Matt?" Inez asked curiously. Before she could say anything else, though, Matt lifted her face towards his own and pressed his lips against hers for a brief moment.
"I've been wanting to do that for a long time," he explained after pulling away. His heart had been telling him it was now or never, and that he finally needed to step up and get his feelings out, especially considering the circumstances they were now faced with. How's that for spontaneous, Fern?, he thought to himself with amusement.
Behind them, Digit and Delete stared at them in shock, while Jackie pumped her fist and cried quietly, "Yes! Finally!"
"Now come on, let's get you up there!" Matt declared. Inez, who was now blushing a deep shade of red and was completely speechless, took a few moments to respond, but soon forced herself to step forward into Matt's hands. She was then lifted up through the hole, followed by Jackie, Delete and Digit. Matt was able to get up through it this time thanks to a large wooden box he had found further down the hallway.
Once they were all on the roof, they were forced to lay low on it to avoid being blown off of it. They took in the scene surrounding them and did not enjoy what they saw in the least. Hacker was flying in large circles around the downtown area, shooting off lasers at random intervals. They spotted Becky flying not too far away, assumedly trying to find a way to deal with the dangerous situation in the safest way possible. Helicopters from local news channels were hovering overhead, filming the events that were taking place. Peering over one side, they could see hundreds of pedestrians in a panicked scramble to get as far away as they could and avoid the lasers, while traffic had come to a complete standstill, though several police vehicles were still attempting to weave their way through the streets and alleys. It was likely the most dire situation they had ever seen.
"Holy crap!" Matt shouted over the noise, almost at a loss for words. "I've never seen anything like this!"
"Me neither! What are we gonna do?" Jackie cried, finding the sight almost painful to watch.
"Forget about us! Where's Fern?" Inez asked. This question brought everyone's minds back to what they had originally gone up there to accomplish. Not seeing her over the side they were currently on, they carefully made their way to the other side and looked over it as well.
Mere minutes prior to the Cybersquad's arrival outside, Fern had been carefully making her way down the side of the Wreaker, analyzing the metal surface for any irregularities. About halfway down near the middle, she spotted a hatch with a small handle within arm's reach of her. Hoping it was what she thought it was, she carefully reached one arm over to it while keeping her other one hooked through one of the rungs of the ladder. Pulling it open and examining the inside, her eyes were drawn to a large orange cube in the middle which was screwed in place in a couple spots.
This must be it!, she thought to herself excitedly, grabbing the screwdriver and carefully reaching over to twist the pair of screws loose. It looks exactly like how they described it! She had managed to get one screw undone, letting it drop to the ground below, and was halfway done with the other one when she suddenly felt herself being launched back as the ship unexpectedly began to move forward again. She likely would have been knocked off the side and fallen due to the sudden motion, but managed to hang on thanks to her arm that had been looped through the rung where she stood. However, as she was knocked back and caught herself, she immediately felt an agonizing pain shoot through it.
Upon feeling this sharp pain running up and down her arm, Fern screamed her lungs out, wanting so badly to let go and examine it. She worked through the pain though, and forced herself to return to the battery and continue unscrewing it, all while the ship continued to fly around through the blustery air.
She was almost finished when she heard several voices call down to her from above. She glanced up and was relieved to see everyone she had been forced to leave behind at the boiler room all calling down to her.
"Fern! There you are!" Delete called down.
"Are you okay?! Did you find the battery?!" Inez asked.
"Guys! You made it!" Fern cried with relief. "I did! I almost have it out! But I think I hurt my arm!"
"Do you think you'll be able to climb back up with the battery?" Jackie asked.
"I think so, but I'm going to have to drop the skwak pad to do it!"
"That's fine, it doesn't matter!" Matt assured. "I can get a new one later! Just get the battery out and get back up here!"
"You're so close, Fern! You can do it!" Inez exclaimed encouragingly.
Fern smiled through the pain she was feeling and had the other screw removed within the next few moments. She dropped the screwdriver and skwak pad from each of her hands and got ahold of the battery with her good hand. Once she had a decent enough grip on it, she began climbing back up the ladder as quick as she could, knowing the ship would begin falling at any second, while doing her best to avoid being blown around.
When she finally reached the top, the others grabbed onto her and pulled her away from the edge. "You did it, Fern! You got the battery!" Matt pointed out, grabbing it from her so she wouldn't have to try to carry it anymore. "Alright, let's jump for it!"
"But there's only one parachute! I don't have any others!" Digit objected.
"We'll just have to make due, then! Everyone grab onto Fern!" Jackie ordered. No one hesitated to do so, and they all gathered around and grabbed onto her, trying to avoid her bad arm. Once they were all together, Fern reached up with her free hand and grabbed the cord on her pack.
"Everybody ready?!" Matt called, to which everyone responded with fervent nodding. They could feel the ship beginning to fall now, and they had no time to waste. People on the ground below were scattering once more, trying to get away from where it looked like the ship was going to crash. "Alright! On the count of three, we get a running start and jump! One!" he shouted, in response to which they all began to sprint towards the other edge of the roof. "Two!" he went on as they reached the edge. Finally as Matt called, "Three!" they all planted their feet firmly before launching themselves into the air.
As this happened, Fern pulled the cord of the parachute. "God, I hope this works!" she cried shakily as they began to descend.
While chaos reigned downtown, it remained relatively quiet out in the suburbs. Inside one of the many houses, George had been having a rather peaceful morning thus far. He had recently gotten up and gone out to his family's garage, where he was close to finishing work on his parents' new end tables. He had screwed them together the previous night and had finished sanding them off this morning, and was now beginning preparations to stain them.
He had barely begun to open a can of wood stain when his mother burst in through the door.
"Hi, Mom," George greeted her, grabbing a pair of gloves. "I was just about to start-"
"George, honey, come into the living room!" Mrs. Lundgren interrupted. "You have to see what's happening on the television!"
Puzzled, George set down his supplies and came back into the house, peering over the couch where his father was currently seated as his mother sat down next to him.
What he saw was quite startling indeed. The TV was currently showing a local news channel, and the live footage being shown displayed a large black ship with green windows flying around downtown, shooting off lasers now and again towards the ground and certain buildings. WordGirl could be seen in the frame periodically, assumedly doing what she could do try and fight this strange ship that was wreaking havoc and causing mass hysteria all around.
"The announcers say it must be a new villain in town," Mr. Lundgren explained as they watched. "It's too hard for them to get a good look inside the front windows though."
"Oh dear… I don't think I've seen anything so serious happen here before!" his wife fretted. "It looks like WordGirl is having a lot of trouble fighting them…"
At that moment, the announcer asked them to zoom in on the side of the ship, explaining that there appeared to be a teenage girl hanging on and messing with something inside it. Upon realizing who it was, George stumbled backwards and slapped his hand over his forehead. "Oh my god! That's Fern! What the heck is she DOING up there?! That looks really dangerous!"
George then turned and ran for the door, missing the announcement that more kids had been spotted climbing out of the top of the ship and seemed to be talking to Fern upon spotting her below them. He slipped on his shoes and turned the knob to open the front door.
"Son, where are you going?" his father asked with confusion.
"I have to go downtown and see this! Fern looks like she's in trouble!" George responded before shutting the door. He ran to grab his bike nearby and snapped on his helmet before beginning to pedal towards downtown as fast as he could.
Onboard the Grim Wreaker, Hacker and Buzz were seated inside the cockpit. Having just finished giving WordGirl her warning several minutes prior, he was now flying above the city, weaving in and out between the tall skyscrapers and shooting lasers down into the streets.
"Isn't this marvelous, Buzzy my friend?" Hacker asked with an evil cackle. "Wreaking glorious chaos across a previously unsuspecting city, in the real world no less! It's something I've often only dreamed of doing, and look where we are now!"
"Aren't ya worried about WordGirl, boss?" Buzz asked halfheartedly. He was only mildly interested in what was happening. It would have been much more fun for him if Delete had been there with them. As much as he hated his former comrade for betraying them, he couldn't help but miss him regardless.
Hacker, on the other hand, couldn't have cared much less whether Delete was there, or even Buzz. He was simply eating up every moment of this endeavor. "I'm hardly worried - WordGirl can only do so much to us while we're inside the ship without risking harming her little friends. Soon the world will be ours, and I can finally get rid of those little brats that have caused me so much heartache over the years! I-" Hacker cut himself off, though, and began frantically tugging at the steering mechanism.
Buzz noticed and grew concerned. "W-what is it, boss?"
"The blasted controls aren't working!" Hacker yelled out with increasing alarm. He looked over the control panel and saw that the power levels had dropped down entirely to zero. "We've lost our power source!" he hollered as the lights went out and they felt the ship beginning to plummet towards the street below. Before everything went dark, though, he spotted an image on the camera feed behind them and grew exponentially furious in a matter of seconds. On the roof, he could see the four kids, Delete and Digit all jumping off, a parachute opening up moments afterward. And in one of their grips was none other than a power magnetic booster battery.
Hacker shot his head around towards Buzz, who was now shaking with fright. They had forgotten to keep an eye on the camera, and Hacker was blaming him for it as usual. "YOU… YOU… YOU DIM-WITTED DUNCE BUCKET!" the borg hollered in the robot's face as the ship came closer to the ground.
Becky had been amazed and delighted upon catching sight of the Cybersquad climbing out of the top of the Grim Wreaker. Either Hacker had been bluffing after all to try and get her to give up, or they had been able to escape. In either case, she was glad to see they were alright. Up until that point she had only been able to deliver small blows to the ship for fear of hurting them if they were still inside as she had assumed.
She grew even more excited, if not somewhat concerned, when she saw them glancing down the side of ship and spotted Fern hanging there, reaching into a small door in the side of the ship. Within moments she pulled out an orange object and began climbing up towards the others. "Huggy, look!" she called, pointing subtly towards where Fern was in hopes Hacker wouldn't pick up on it. "She must be getting the battery out! Look at her! I can hardly believe she was brave enough to do that!"
Huggy squeaked happily, relieved to see that the others were making progress in their mission.
"Right! Now we can deal with Hacker a lot easier! Let's go help them! I'm sure we…" It was then that Becky noticed the Wreaker beginning to fall towards the ground. Perhaps she shouldn't have been as surprised as she was. Without its power source, of course it was going to fall. But she could see it was plummeting right towards the street below, where she could see people struggling to get away or climb out of their cars. It looked like a number of buildings were also in danger of being crushed.
Not wanting this to happen, and having mere seconds to act, Becky zoomed down closer to the ground and under the ship as it came towards her, before it had a chance to smash into the buildings or the road. Relieved to see the others had jumped from the roof of the ship and had a parachute with them, she blocked it with her arms and used her super strength to fling it back the other direction. She was compelled to use a lot of strength to get it away so that it wouldn't land somewhere else in the city. Rather it went far enough that it flew right back over town and careened towards the woods and the mountains where they had come from earlier.
Becky turned her head and covered her eyes, and Huggy did likewise, as they didn't want to see what they suspected would happen next. Within seconds, their ears were assaulted by the sound of a large explosion off in the distance. Only a few moments after this did Becky allow herself to see again, and she was met with the sight of a massive black cloud of smoke billowing up from the distant treeline.
She met eyes with Huggy and remained staunchly silent, her mouth hanging open with disbelief. Little doubt was in her mind that they had just beaten Hacker in the most conclusive way possible.