Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Psst! Hey kids, look for the words; illicit and elicit.

Ahh, it’s another beautiful day in the city. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and Wordgirl is fighting Ms. Question and Dr. Two Brains in the park.

“Give it up, You two! Your illicit days are over!” She says.

“But I’m Ms. Question! I talk with questions. Are you being judgemental with how I talk?” Ms. Question asks.

“No, you’re thinking elicit. She said we’re being illicit.” Dr. Two Brains points out.

“What’s the difference? You just said the same word?”

“Actually, while they both sound the same, they’re completely different. What you’re thinking is Elicit, which is to draw out a reaction while I called you Illicit, which means actions that forbidden by the law.” Wordgirl says.

“Oh, well would you call this illicit?!” Ms. Question fires her marks at the child and she dodges, but it ended up hitting Mrs. Botsford, who was watching the fight nearby.

Wordgirl panicked and flew towards her mother.

“Are you okay, Mo- Mrs. Botsford?” She asks.

“I think so?”

“What’s this? Were you just about to call her mom? Did we discover your secret identity?” Ms. Question asks.

“No! You must have misheard me.” Wordgirl says quickly.

“Oh really? What, you didn’t tell your mommy about what you’re doing?” Dr. Two brains teased and both villains laughed.

But, Wordgirl had calmly come up with a plan to-

“J-Jokes on you! I don’t have any parents!”

…

Wow, right in front of the woman’s face. Was that really all you can come up with? You’re making people feel horrified.

“I panicked! You of all people should know that I don’t think things through!” She shouted at me.

I’m just saying-

Mrs. Botsford quickly interrupted me and gives Wordgirl a hug. “You poor thing! I’m taking you home, right away! You’ll love your new siblings, I promise.”

“Oh no, that’s okay. Mrs. Botsford, really, it’s not that big of a deal- a little help?” Wordgirl turns to me.

Nah, you brought this upon yourself. Plus, I wanna see where this goes.

“You’re the worst.”

I aim to please, and I’ll see you next chapter.

Chapter Text

Becky Botsford finally escaped her mother’s grasp and tries to hide.

Not knowing it will only make the situation worse.

“Oh come on! Cut me some slack!” She shouted.

Hey, I’m just trying to make the story interesting. I am the Narrator after all.

She groaned quite dramatically despite being the world’s worst liar.

“I heard that.”

Fine, I’ll just start the chapter.

In the Villain’s Emergency Meeting Room, everything is chaos.

But Dr. Two Brains didn’t pay attention to what anyone is saying.

All he could think about is Wordgirl.

He…god, where does he even begin? All the crimes he ever done doesn’t even sound as bad as what he’s done to the child.

Child. That’s what Wordgirl, she’s just a child. A child that’s been protecting the city for who the fuck knows how long.

And that wouldn’t happen if he hadn’t done that stupid experiment with Squeaky.

He always wondered why at his early days of being a villain, Wordgirl would try to talk to him and convince him be good until finally giving up.

Now he knows. Wordgirl and Steven weren’t just friends, they were family.

That was his daughter. A daughter who’s been risking her life every day and try to bring him home and gave up.

He abandoned her. He made her think he doesn’t care about her anymore. He made her think that Steven is dead.

And instead of raising and caring her properly, he’s out here committing crimes while she lives in her spaceship all alone with her sidekick.

“What have I done?”

Chapter Text

Psst! Hey kids, look for the words; vacuous.

When Becky got home, she was greeted with a chaotic sight.

Sally and Claire are fighting.

“What did I just walked into?” She asks.

“Haven’t you watched the news? Wordgirl’s an orphan!” Tj shouted and Becky winced.

You didn’t have to be so vacuous about it.

“I can say whatever I want, and besides, what does vacuous mean?” Tj asks.

“Vacuous means that you were doing or saying something without a thought or being crass. Like how it was vacuous of you to just say that Wordgirl is an orphan out loud.” Becky answers.

“Oh.”

“Well he does lack intelligence, so vacuous is the right word.”

Both siblings groaned at Tobey’s voice.

“Of course, you’ll be here.” Becky says.

“Why wouldn’t I be? Why do you miss me, Wordgirl?” Tobey asks.

“First of all, Ew, second of all, I’m not Wordgirl.” She says.

“Yeah, Becky isn’t…you know…an orphan.” Tj whispered the last part.

“Yes, but it’s easier to be in denial that one of your best friends isn’t homeless and all alone with just a monkey than accepting it as a fact.” Tobey says.

…Wow she feels shitty about it. And I’m not saying this just to be dramatic, this is literally how she feels right now.

Does Tobey really see her that way? A friend? She knew that they have a weird relationship, in both sides of identity, but Becky didn’t think that Tobey sees Wordgirl as one of his best friends.

And she feels really bad about the orphan lie, she knew it was a bad idea the moment she said it but she didn’t think people will care this much.

“Um, soooo, what’s going on here?” Becky asks as she points to the mothers.

“They’re both arguing on who should adopt Wordgirl.” Tobey answers.

…

“What?”

Before she could ask more, the women’s arguing got louder.

“Wordgirl has me on speed dial. I’m in her contacts, and you don’t.” Claire says.

“Well, she keeps calling me mom every time we talk. So obviously she sees me as a mother figure!” Sally smiled viciously.

Wow, you are terrible at hiding your identity.

“Shut it.” She whispered.

“That’s it, Theodore, give me your remote.” Claire demanded.

All three children looked surprised. Tobey backed away for a bit.

“Yeah, no I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Tobey says.

“Theodore.”

“And that’s my cue to leave, I’m gonna go find Bob.” Becky says as she already went outside.

…Wow, this was supposed to be funny. Uh, boss, what happened to the script?

*sounds of paper shuffling can be heard and someone hands the narrator a note.*

The new writer got way too excited for their job and went overboard? Well, nothing we could do about it.

Well if you liked this, then join us soon on the next chapter!

Chapter Text

Becky has decided that all of her friends are extremely unhelpful.

Everyone is laughing at what happened.

“Guys, take this seriously!” She shouted.

“Becky, how the fuck did you managed to keep your identity a secret this long?” Rose laughed.

The heroine just groaned.

“Just help me fix this, before it gets out of control!” Becky pleaded.

Sounds of metal stomping to the ground can be heard in a distance.

“Dang it, Tobey.” She groaned and grabbed Huggy.

“Word up!”

“Stop right there, To-bey?”

Wordgirl is baffled at the scene before her. Instead of Tobey on top of his robot, it was Mrs. McCallister.

“I swear I have nothing to do with this!” Tobey shouted.

“Okay, they really went through with this.” Wordgirl says.

“Wordgirl!”

She turned to the two women, motherly worry in their faces.

“Uh, hi. This situation turned out worse than I thought.” Wordgirl says.

“Oh, Wordgirl. Don’t blame yourself for this, we’re just having a civilized discussion on who you should live with.” Sally says.

“You call this civilized?” Tj asks.

Yeah, I’m with the kid here. This is a little too much.

“Oh shush.”

Wordgirl feels really awkward right now, and Captain HuggyFace isn’t sure what to do in this situation.

“Is this about the orphan thing, it’s not really that big of a deal.” Wordgirl says.

Oh my god, you’re just making it worse.

“Shut up.”

“Wordgirl, there is nothing to be ashamed for. It’s fine, we can let you live with one of us.” Claire says.

“Even if I wanted to, I’m not choosing you two.” Wordgirl says.

Both women looked heartbroken.

“But why not?”

“Because of this!” Wordgirl pointed to the chaos around them.

“This is too weird, even for me. You two are the calmest people, why are you two fighting over this?” Wordgirl asks.

“Wordgirl, out of anyone in this city, we’re the ones who talk to you the most.” Sally says.

“We’ve been helping you out the most with the criminals, and we couldn’t even help you with this?” Claire continued.

She, she could see what they are talking about. But what the heck is she supposed to say here?

Captain HuggyFace started chirping.

“He says that I should be the one choosing on who my family is, and also how it would be weird for Becky and Tobey if either of you adopted me.” Wordgirl says.

“Oh, I haven’t thought about that.” Tobey mumbled.

Captain HuggyFace continued to chirp.

“You can’t help someone and expect that everything will be okay. Trying too hard will make it worse, all that you can do is just be there for her.” Wordgirl continued to translate.

Huh, who knew Bob can be so wise?

“Captain HuggyFace is right, hun.”

They all turn to Tim.

“Fighting about it will only make things worse. It’s weird to take care of a superhero, sure, but all we could do is support her.” Tim says.

While the news are filming them, the man watching solemnly agrees with everything that is being said.

One simple action and thousands of apologies aren’t going to be enough to fix this.

Chapter Text

It’s been a weird and awkward week for Becky Botsford.

Almost every villain she meets keeps trying to be nice to her. Chuck would give her sandwiches and Granny May would try to give her advice and tell her old lady stories.

She hasn’t seen Dr. Two Brains for a while and it’s bugging her.

But what’s really weird is that Mr. Big’s and the Butcher’s attitude towards her didn’t change.

Well, Mr. Big makes sense. Rich people don’t care about orphans.

“I know, but the Butcher? He’s one of the most caring villains I know. Real or not, he wouldn’t just ignore a homeless orphan.” Becky says.

Would you like me to make a scene?

Bob started chirping and looks at Becky.

“It’ll be fine Bob. Everyone’s been acting silly with the, you know. I think we’ll be safe visiting the Butcher.” Becky says.

Alright. Let’s go see the Butcher.

Wordgirl has never been to the Butcher’s home before, it kind of feels weird.

She sighed and knock on the door. The Butcher checked to see who’s outside and smiled at her.

“Oh, hey, Wordgirl. What’s up?” He greeted.

“Hey, Butcher. Can we talk?” She asks.

“Oh sure. Come on in.”

She shouldn’t really be surprised by the pile of meat in the corner of the living room but here she is.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” He asks.

Shi- Shoot, she did not think this through.

“Um, you probably know what’s been happening these past few days.” She trailed off.

“Oh you mean about how you lied about being an orphan?” He asks.

…

You knew?

“Wordgirl telks about her dad all the time, of course I knew. I just assemed that she only has one dad and just sees that nice lady as a mother.” He answers.

…Wow, just, wow.

“You knew this whole time, and didn’t say anything?” Wordgirl asks.

“…yes.” Wordgirl just groaned.

I’m just going to see what the others are doing. Sounds like you need an emotional talk and I am the last person that should be involved with this.

“Yeah, sure. Go ahead. I don’t care anymore.”

Wow, rude.

In Dr. Two Brains Lair, he’s, uh…what are you doing?

“Oh this? I’m trying to build something that will show Wordgirl how sorry I am.” He answers.

…*I can’t believe I’m doing this.* I’m sure Wordgirl isn’t bothered by what you did.

“How can you be so sure of that?”

You’ve known her the longest. You’ve seen what she does when she gets really upset.

“Abandonment isn’t something you just scream about in the middle of the city.”

For the love of- instead of building something. You should tell her how you really feel.

If you think she’s upset with you then she’s going to stay upset with you if you two don’t talk.

“You really think that would work?”

I’m the Narrator, I know everything. Now go before someone takes advantage of her.

“I’ll think about it.”

Chapter Text

Something’s wrong.

“What is it?” Wordgirl asks.

The script says that you’re supposed to be talking to your parents but Mrs. Botsford is nowhere to be seen.

“Oh no, don’t tell me mom’s fighting Mrs. McCallister again.” She groaned.

“Wordgirl!”

She looks down to see Tj and Tobey. She quickly flies down to them.

“Please don’t tell me they’re fighting again.” She pleaded.

“Worse, they’re missing.” Tj says.

Oh no. That’s even worse.

“What happened?” She asks.

“I don’t know, Mother was signing papers when her eyes started glowing and walked out.” Tobey says.

…

Dang it, I jinxed it.

“Something you want to share with the class?” Wordgirl sarcastically asks.

Nope. You’re the protagonist, this is your problem.

“Gee, thanks.”

“Any sign of them?”

“Nope.”

Wordgirl, Captain Huggy Face, Tj, and Tobey are flying around the strangely quite city.

“I know it’s been a quite week and all, but this is too quite.” Tobey says. Captain Huggy Face chirps in agreement.

“I have a feeling that this is a villain’s doing.” Wordgirl says.

“With all the chaos that’s been happening?” Tj asks.

“Not everyone cares about orphans, Tj.” Wordgirl says.

“What? Why not?!”

“I know a couple of villains who would eyeroll at this.” Tobey commented.

“Hmm, so the rich ones?” Wordgirl asks.

“Victoria is a little bothered but yes.”

Everyone started thinking.

“Mr. Big.” They all say with an unimpressed tone.

“Hold on, let me go get my robits. He has my mom.”

Chapter Text

In Mr. Big’s tower, Mr. Big is laughing maniacally.

“Oh this is perfect, using Wordgirl’s orphan status to mind control worried parents is my most brilliant plan yet!” He says.

“Sir, don’t you think this is going too far?” Leslie asks.

“What do you mean?” He asks.

“Well sir, you’re going to make all the villains mad at you for doing this. They all care about Wordgirl and you’re just taking advantage of her situation.” She answers.

“Hmm, you might be right. But it’s not really my fault that Wordgirl is an orphan so…”

“Stop right there, Mr. Big!”

Wordgirl had barged in with Captain HuggyFace, Tj, and Tobey with her.

“Why, Tobey. Are you teaming up with Wordgirl? You know that’s against the code.” Mr. Big says.

“So is kidnapping my mother!” Tobey shouted.

He pressed his remote and an army of robots surrounds the building.

“If you think the robots are bad, then you haven’t seen the Homerun King in action.” Tj says.

“Well, Mr. Big. You’ve lost.” Wordgirl says.

Meanwhile, with Dr. Two Brains…

What are you doing?

“I know you said I should talk to her, but nothing wrong with a little gift right?” Dr. Two Brains says.

He holds out a little pony toy. Aww, you remembered her favorite show.

“Heh, yeah. I thought she’d appreciate it.” He says.

She will. Really.

“Do you know where she is right now?”

Oh. She’s fighting Mr. Big right now.

…

“She’s what?”

Leslie had decided to sit back and watch everything go down.

Wordgirl had to make sure all the civilians are safe while trying not to get captured.

Which was hard to do when the boys are causing such a mess in the room.

Tj was about to swing his bat hard when the door opened, revealing Dr. Two Brains looking pi- mad at Mr. Big.

Everyone froze. They didn’t know what to do when Dr. Two Brains walked towards to Mr. Big.

And punched him in the face.

Chapter Text

“DR. TWO BRAINS?!”

Wordgirl and Tobey looked shocked while Captain HuggyFace and Tj are smiling.

“Fuck, that hurts! What the hell was that for?!” Mr. Big shouted.

Dr. Two Brains’ glare at him sent all of us shivering down our spines.

“Mind controlling the rest of us villains were bad enough, but this? This is low, even for you.” Dr. Two Brains says.

“Oh god, this is getting out of hand.” Wordgirl whispered.

She was about to fly over but Dr. Two Brains pulled out a goop ray and shoot it at the mind control device.

The kids don’t know what to do.

“If I ever see you pull something like this again, I’ll make sure you suffer a fate worse than death.” Dr. Two Brains says.

He slowly walks towards to Wordgirl and she got tense, he noticed it and it hurts him.

He stops for a moment, and now everyone is confused. What is he doing?

Hugging Wordgirl was not what they expected.

“I’m so sorry for everything I put you through, and I know I can’t take it back. But I want you to know that none of this is your fault, and I’m willing to start over again if you let me.” Dr. Two Brains says.

Becky knows why he’s saying this. She understands what’s going on in his mind right now.

But…

She can’t help but cry and hug him too.

Chapter Text

Things finally got back to normal in Fair City.

“Amen to that, I couldn’t handle the villains being nice to me.” Becky says.

…

Kid, why are you in Dr. Two Brains’ lair?

“What are you- oh, right. I was watching movies with him and Huggy.” She answers.

It’s only been two days since the last chapter was written, what the heck happened?

“He wanted to fix things, I can’t just say no to that.” Becky says.

Mhm, yeah, I guess not.

“Wordgirl? Who are you talking to?” Dr. Two Brains asked.

“Just the Narrator.” She says.

“Huh.” He still can’t see me and the others, glad to know that some things stayed the same.

“Becky! Time for Dinner!” Sally’s voice ringed in Wordgirl’s ears.

“Um. I had to go.”

Dr. Two Brains got sad at that. “But don’t you want to stay for dinner?”

Oh boy.

“It’ll just be a few minutes, I promise!” Wordgirl says.

This is not going to end well.

Chapter Text

Becky is pretty excited.

She’s finally on good terms with Dr. Two Brains.

No more fighting and worries of being stabbed in the back, now she can go back on the days where she and Steven have an intellectual chat and make recipes in the most complicated way as possible.

It’s like she’s finally getting to know him again.

Sally has been worried for the past few days.

While Wordgirl has found comfort from Dr. Two Brains, her own daughter, Becky, seems to be drifting away from them day by day.

She doesn’t know how it happened.

Has she done something wrong? Had she made her daughter feel out of place? In her efforts to help a child, had she hurt her own?

How much does she not know?

Chapter Text

Becky noticed that something is wrong during dinner.

While her brother has been in a good mood, their parents seem off and a little sad about something.

“Mom? Dad? Is something wrong? You’re acting a little depressed.” Becky says.

“Hmm?”

“What’s depressed?” Sally asks.

“Oh, depressed is when you’re really, really, sad. Like the way you’re acting right now.” Becky says.

They both frowned at that.

“Are you…still upset about the Wordgirl situation?” Becky asks.

“No, it’s something else. You don’t need to worry, it’s just some grown up stuff.” Tim answers.

“Oh.”

“Are you trying to impress Wordgirl with that…word skills?” Tj teased.

“You’re thinking vocabulary, and no, I’m not.” Becky says.

“You kids don’t have to act like Wordgirl, you know?” Tim says.

“Uh, sure, dad.” Becky says.

…

“Did anything interesting happen today?”

Becky had to wait for a while after dinner to make sure no one noticed, and quickly goes back to Dr. Two Brains’ lair.

“Sorry, I’m late!”

The man smiled. At least she came back.

“Welcome Home, Wordgirl.”

Chapter Text

Becky was getting worried.

Her parents are getting restless by the minute and they won’t tell her why.

“Wait, you would know what’s happening right? You’re the Narrator, you gotta tell me what’s going on.” Becky asks.

Sorry, kid. Contract says no to spoilers.

“Dang it, why can’t just tell me what’s going on?!” She shouted.

“Oh, Wordgirl. I’m about to destroy the town with robots!”

“Tobey? He hasn’t done any crimes like that since the incident.” Becky says as she walks over the front door.

“Mom! Dad! I’m going to hang out with Scoops and Violet!” She shouted.

“Just be home in time for dinner!” Tim says.

“Sure thing, dad! Come on Bob, it’s time for work. Word Up!”

“You two are collaborating again?”

Wordgirl wasn’t expecting to see Tobey and Dr. Two Brains together again.

“Nope, just making sure. You get some more rest.” Dr. Two Brains says.

“You are way too overprotective.” Tobey says.

“Yeah, Huggy and I can take it from here, Dr. Two Brains.” Wordgirl says.

“Fine.” Dr. Two Brains grumbled.

…

“So, should we wrap this up?”

“Yeah.”

After some time of fighting, one of the robots knocked off Wordgirl’s helmet. How is that even possible? Those things are bigger than the buildings in this city.

Becky quickly grabbed the helmet and put it on but Tobey already saw what she looks like.

Tobey was just standing there for a whole minute of silence and said-

“You are the dumbest person I have ever met.”

Chapter Text

“EXCUSE ME?!”

“That whole stunt was the stupidest thing you’ve ever done, how on earth have you managed to keep your identity secret this long?” Tobey asks.

…

“Okay, you have a point.” Wordgirl says.

“So…how come you haven’t told anyone the truth?” Tobey asks.

“Are you kidding? I was already mortified when I said it out loud, telling the truth will only make things worse.” Becky answers.

“You rather have Dr. Two Brains being overprotective?” He asks.

“You wouldn’t understand. Just because his protectiveness is annoying me, I still miss our hangouts when he was Steven.” She says.

“What about your parents?”

“What do you mean?”

Kid, excluding the hero stuff, how often do you leave family moments just to spend time as Wordgirl?

“…Not a lot, why?” Becky asks.

Bob chirps.

“What? Why would they think that? I love them!” Becky says.

Then, Becky got quite.

“Tim, what are we going to do?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t know. Becky has been growing more distant. I don’t know why.”

“Had we done something wrong? Is she mad at us?”

“This is Becky we’re talking about. I’m sure that if she was mad at us, she would have forgiven us quickly.

“How can we be sure of that? How many times had we compared her to Wordgirl? Or never let her explain why she’s absent to most of our bonding time? How can we be sure that she doesn’t hate us?”

Becky froze at that.

Is that what they really think? That she hates them?

She quickly flies back home, leaving Bob and Tobey behind.

Tim and Sally were surprised when Becky suddenly burst into their room.

“Becky? What-“

“Why would you think I hate you?” Becky asks.

They both look shock at that.

“Becky-“

“I know I’ve been problematic lately, but I swear it’s not your fault. I’m the problem, not you.” Becky cries.

They quickly hug her.

“Becky, no. Whatever is going on, it’s not your fault. We’re just worried about you. You’ve been so distant.” Sally says.

“I want to tell you, but I don’t when is the right time. Especially with the fiasco that’s been happening for a while.” Becky says.

“Whatever it is, we’ll make through it together. We’re sorry you felt you couldn’t trust us.” Tim says.

…

“Mom, Dad…”

Becky steps back and transforms in front of them.

“I’m glad you adopted me.”