Chapter Text
“It’s a beautiful day in Fair City. Spring is in the air. The grass is green, the sun is shining, and Wordgirl is having a particularly hard time demolishing Tobey’s Wordgirl-proof robots.”
“I’ll get them eventually!” She panted, after landing a kick that did a disappointingly little amount of damage.
“No, you won’t,” Tobey called from a building below her. “You should have just taken my word for it when I said indestructible. We probably could have avoided quite a few casualties.”
Wordgirl scowled down at the boy, shaking her head. “What do you even stand to gain from this?”
“The same thing I always stand to gain, your secret identity.”
Wordgirl narrowly dodged the blow of a robotic limb. Possibly a fist? She wasn’t quite sure, Tobey didn’t devote that much time to making his robots humanoid anymore. “Not happening.”
“Okay.” The genius frowned for a second, clearing his throat. “Well, you know summer break is... imminent. Maybe we could go on a date? There’s this annual book sale that-”
“Tobey, just give it up.” Wordgirl picked up a giant robot and slammed it to the ground. For a split second, she thought it would stay there, but she wasn’t getting off that easy. The machine lurched upright and continued tearing away at buildings mindlessly. Her lips twisted into a frown.
“Devastating.” Tobey mocked, waving the remote in front of his face. “If only there was a way to turn them off that a certain boy genius may consider in the occurrence that a certain superheroine gets ice cream with him.” He continued enthusiastically pressing buttons on his controller, which looked reminiscent of an old t.v remote.
“Pressing those buttons is really pressing my buttons, Tobey!” She tried not to laugh at her own wit.
Tobey did, in fact, laugh at her wit. Unfortunately, he also played off of it. “I wouldn’t complain if you let me loosen up your buttons, Wordgirl.” He leaned against the staircase entrance of the roof, trying and failing to charm her.
She groaned, flying over to swipe the controller from him. Unfortunately, Tobey had his hands unremittingly wrapped around it, and when she pulled the remote closer, the boy came too.
He looked a little shaken but didn’t let go. “Nice try, my dear.”
Wordgirl glanced back at Huggy, who was holding onto a moving robot for dear life. Not in the twenty minutes of fighting, did she even lay a substantial dent in the machines that were leaving a substantial dent in the city's life expectancy. She glared back at Tobey, trying to pry the remote out of his hands. “Give. Me. That.”
He tilted his head to get a better view of her face, half-covered by windblown hair. “My goodness, you are so beautiful. I can’t wait for the day I do enough to win your love.”
Wordgirl frowned at him. “Tobey. It's not going to happen."
“That’s what you think.” He winced as she gripped the controller in his hands harder. “But just wait. You’ll realize I am your only true intellectual equal soon enough.”
“Delusions of erotomania.” Wordgirl quipped in an agitated singsong voice.
That seemed to bother Tobey, who adjusted his grasp on the remote. “It’s not a delusion.” He mumbled, for a second sounding more like he was trying to convince himself than Wordgirl. “I promise. It… it must be chemistry, and I know I'm just a human and I don't have powers, but look at me. I did it. I beat you. I'm not like the rest of the imbeciles in this city. I could keep up with your brilliance if you gave me the chance. Just... give me the chance.”
She narrowed her eyes trying to look as annoyed as possible as he professed his love for her, for the nonillionth time.
“Will Wordgirl get the controller before Tobey’s awkward flirting and indestructible robots do too much damage?” The narrator interjected.
“Yes! Yes, I Will!” She clamped her fists down with as much pressure as this city was putting on her to protect them, crushing the object in her grasp. The half-broken controller slipped onto the ground and Wordgirl smashed it underfoot, looking back at the robots. Their metallic buzzing screeched to a halt as they powered off. Huggy waved to her thankfully from the distance.
Now it was Tobey’s turn. Wordgirl turned back to him, preparing a threatening joke. But to her surprise, he wasn’t wearing his usual annoyed expression. In fact, he wasn’t looking at her at all. He clutched his left hand against his shirt, covered by the other. Even despite that, Wordgirl could see blood dripping from the gaps between his fingers.
She stared at him in shock, mouth hanging open, waiting for words to form.
She wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what to say. Tobey’s eyes darted back and forth, looking for the staircase door. It was rather awkward watching him pressed against the exit, trying to open it with his elbow without turning around. But she was glad he didn’t uncover his left hand, it was nauseating already. And there was blood on her palms and on the broken controller and on the ground and how did she not notice as soon as it happened?
Wordgirl was so caught up in her thoughts, that she didn’t even acknowledge it when the boy slipped away and ran down the stairs.
She covered her mouth, feeling sick. Beyond sick. Horrified. But she still had to go and help the rest of the city. So she did.
The fight was covered on television later that evening. The building’s security cameras caught the moment Wordgirl had broken Tobey’s hand. And of course, the rotten footage was replayed over and over, dissected by reporters who debated over Wordgirl's change of heart.
Becky covered her eyes.“Would you turn that off? It’s making me nauseous.”
T.J ignored her comment. “Can you believe she did it?”
“Hardly.”
“Comminuted. That’s the word they used. Do you know what it means?”
“Yeah.” For once, she wished she didn’t. “It means producing multiple bone splinters.”
“Wrong.” T.J drawled, shaking his head. “It means reduced to minute particles or fragments.”
Becky grimaced, feeling an almost overwhelming urge to throw up. She trudged to her room, Captain Huggy Face behind her.
“Don’t worry Wordgirl. You only did what you had to.” The narrator reassured as she closed the bedroom door, leaning her forehead against it.
“I could have found another way.” Becky objected, biting back tears.
“Hey, try and see the glass half full. Tobey was one of the worst villains in the city. It’ll be a pretty big relief now that he can’t build robots until his hand is healed.”
Becky ran her fingers through her hair, falling back onto her mattress. “I didn’t even think about that!”
“See? Not so bad after-”
"Tobey will be miserable! I mean, what will he do with himself if he's not building robots?"
"Oh, brother.”
“Why do humans have to be so fragile?” She groaned, resting her head on Huggy who was trying to comfort her. "Especially him. I mean, you breathe on that evil genius, and he bruises. I just... I should have known better."
“If it would make you feel better, you could offer to sign his cast in school.”
“That won’t be enough, I’ll do nice things all day." Becky considered this, starting to feel a little bit better about herself. "Even better, I’ll do nice things for him until his hand is healed. Yeah, it'll be easy. It'll be right. That's what Wordgirl is supposed to do.”
She drifted off to sleep thinking about all the ways one may help people. There was still a rattling in her head and a vicious feeling in her stomach and throat like she had swallowed liquid cement. But that would fade. Becky was sure of it.
All she had to do was be nice.
Peace of cake.