Chapter Text
“Ha hah! Now the school is under my control! I really am the best!”
“Victoria, get down from there! Someone might get hurt!”
Victoria was on the roof of the school. Alongside her were a few other students she convinced to join her crusade to prove once more that she was indeed the best. What she was trying to prove she was the best at, Becky wasn’t exactly sure.
The classroom had all moved outside along with their teacher to see what all the commotion was about. Becky and Bob were in the crowd of students as they witnessed Victoria gloat above all of them.
The teacher shouted at Victoria, “Victoria, what do you think you’re going to accomplish up there? Get down please!”
Victoria looked down at the teacher. “No! My plan has almost come to fruition! The school is nearly mine and I will prove myself once again to be,” Victoria gave herself a little pause before finishing, “the best.”
“Victoria, get down from there so we can all go home!” The voice that said that surprised Becky and Bob. They didn’t think Tobey would be one to care whenever Victoria was up to her shenanigans.
Victoria pointed at Tobey as she heard that. “Silence fool! Don’t you know that you’re now speaking to the ruler of this school!”
Becky and Bob groaned upon hearing that. Victoria continued, “Not just any ruler, but the best ruler of them all!” Becky’s eyes nearly rolled out hearing that.
“Victoria, what are you saying?” the teacher shouted.
Victoria responded, “What am I saying? I’m saying that I’m in charge now! Me! Do you want to know why?”
“Please don’t say it’s because you’re the best,” Becky mumbled to herself.
“IT IS BECAUSE…”
“Oh I’ve had enough of this. We were supposed to be dismissed ten minutes ago. I’m going home.” Tobey turned around and started to leave, completely ignoring Victoria’s proclamation. You don’t need to be told what it was.
“Wait Tobey, you’re just leaving?” Becky asked.
“Of course! I don’t care about any of this nonsense. Besides, I have a new volume of Mecha Origins waiting for me at home.” Tobey started walking off, but not before turning his head and giving Becky a final goodbye. “Farewell Becky. Let me know if Victoria falls off the roof or something to that nature.”
Victoria gave another laugh. She was really hamming up the evil laugh but she did seem like she was genuinely enjoying herself. She saw the blond boy start to leave, deciding that that was her cue to announce the next step of your evil plan.
“Oh Tobey!” She said his name in a cutesy voice. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Tobey stopped and instantly turned around. “Forget something?” He seemed confused. “Victoria! What did you do?”
She slyly pulled out a familiar remote. She held it by her fingertips, as if she were dangling it right in front of him. “Oh, where did this come from?” she feigned.
“What the? Ho-HOW DID YOU GET THAT?”
She let out a little laugh. “A magician never reveals her secrets.” Tobey grumbled before she continued, “Just kidding, it fell out of your locker and I found it on the ground. Pretty convenient, huh?”
Tobey fumed, “Give that back right now!”
“Well, since you asked so nicely,” Victoria paused. She continued, “No.”
Becky decided that now she should intrude into this spat. “Victoria, what are you going to do with that?” Becky yelled.
Victoria triumphantly responded, “Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to use Tobey’s robots to make myself the new ruler of this school. If anyone challenges me,” Victoria pressed a button on the remote and in an instant, the school was surrounded with what seemed like an army of giant robots. The crowd gasped at the sight of all the robots that had suddenly appeared from nowhere.
Victoria continued, “then they will face my wrath.” Victoria had a malicious grin on her face and if you looked close enough, you would see her irises turn red.
Becky saw this and figured now would be the time to act. She leaned down to Bob and whispered, “Bob, I think that’s our cue.” He squeaked in agreement.
The pair started to slowly back away and nearly managed to slip out and away from the crowd but not until they were interrupted by a certain blonde girl.
“Hey Beckface! Where do you think you’re running off to?”
Becky and Bob stopped dead in their tracks and turned to face Victoria on the roof. The pair also received the eyes of the whole crowd as attention was turned to the both of them. “Uh, you see…” Becky stumbled over her words as she tried to lie to Victoria and the crowd.
“Well,” Becky paused awkwardly before forcing herself to continue. “Um, oh!” She finally came up with an idea. “Well, Bob here,” she grabbed the shoulders of her sidekick and gave a forced smile before continuing, “He told me that he has to go to the library to pick up the new volume of Mecha Wing. Isn’t that right Bob?” She nudged the monkey as she gave her excuse to everyone. Bob wasn’t too amused but this lie wasn’t nearly as bad as some of the other ones she came up with in the past.
Before Bob could answer, Tobey interjected, “Now wait a second Becky!” Tobey approached the pair as he continued, hands behind his back in a haughty pose. “There is no new volume of Mecha Wing. As everyone in the robotics community would know, Mecha Wing was canceled four months ago. They scrapped it and rebooted the series with Mecha Origin!” The crowd let out a small gasp at this revelation Tobey dropped on the pair.
“Um, uh…” Becky muttered. She happened to overhear Tobey talk about Mech Wing to Johnson a few weeks ago and that’s why she said what she said. If she were listening to what Tobey was saying to Johnson in that conversation, she would know that Tobey was complaining about Wing’s cancellation.
Tobey got uncomfortably close to the pair and leaned in close to Becky. “Where were you two really going off to?” he accused.
Becky was starting to sweat. Tobey had cornered her a few times before but this attempt was the most public Tobey had ever tried.
“Uh…” Becky was struggling. This was going to be a hard one to squeeze out of.
Fortunately the answer was right in front of her in the form of two blondies with massive egos. Becky was about to send an unstoppable force against an immovable object.
Becky let out a sly smile before responding to Tobey’s accusation. “Okay fine, I was going to leave like you. I’m also tired of seeing Victoria gloat her victory over all of us,” she paused before finishing, “including you.”
Hearing that, Tobey’s face turned deep red. He immediately proclaimed, “I’m not going to let some blonde egomaniac beat Theodore McCallister III!”
Tobey started yelling back at Victoria. “Hey! Give me that back right this instant!”
Victoria laughed. “Hah! No way, this is all mine now!”
Tobey wasn’t going to have any of this. “I am serious Victoria! Give me back my remote at this moment!”
Victoria gave a smug smile, “Or what?”
Tobey’s face was turning redder by the second. “If you don’t give me back my remote, I will send my entire army to your house and I will toss it into the lake!”
The crowd gasped at Tobey’s threat. Victoria wasn’t impressed however.
“Yawn, that’s boring. Don’t you have a more creative threat?”
All Tobey could muster in response was loud grumbling as he continued to fume at Victoria.
The crowd had finally taken their attention off Becky and Bob as they diverted their attention to the battle of the egos. Victoria was pleased as she saw Tobey seethe at his current situation. Tobey still wasn’t having any of this however.
“I mean it, I will destroy your home and everything else in your life!” Tobey exclaimed.
Victoria feigned a yawn. “How are you supposed to do all that? Don’t you all remember what I have?” she shouted as she pointed to Tobey’s remote.
Upon being reminded of this, Tobey started yelling back at Victoria. “If you give me that back right this instant, I promise to leave you alone!”
Victoria laughed. “Hah! No way, this is all mine now!”
Tobey grumbled to himself at this response. “I said give it back! Or else I wil-”
“Will what, Tobey? You can’t do anything without your precious robots.” Victoria let out a grin at her victory over her fellow blond. “Face it Tobes, you got beat by the one, the only,” she paused before finishing. “Victoria Best.”
Tobey was getting redder by the second. While this quarrel was going on, Becky decided to put the final spark on this explosive battle.
Becky went up to Tobey and said to him, “Tobey, are you seriously going to let Victoria Best get, well, the best of you?”
Upon hearing that, Tobey knew that the answer was a definite NO. He marched forward and yelled at Victoria. “Hey Victoria!”
With a smug smile still on her face, Victoria responded, “What is it Tobes? Are you going to cry some more over your remote?”
Tobey ignored her remark but he stopped for a moment to think. He needed to come up with a way to get his remote back. As much as he’d hate to admit it, Victoria did have a point. Tobey was much weaker without his robot army at his command. However, he still had his genius intellect on his side. He mulled it over for a few seconds before composing a plan. He looked back up to Victoria and responded, “No no, I concede. You took my remote from me fair and square.”
Victoria laughed. “Hah! So you admit that I, Victoria Best, have bested you!”
Tobey let out a sly smile. “Well, not exactly. See, Victoria,” he paused before continuing. “If you really were the best at controlling my robits, you would know which button activates the turbo on all my robits.”
Victoria’s grin disappeared and she raised an eyebrow hearing this. “Turbo? What are you on about?”
Tobey continued, “Oh that. That’s something I’ve been testing out the last couple of weeks. I got inspired reading Mecha Origin and decided to add a few improvements from the robits in that book and apply them to real life.” Tobey turned away as he finished his thought. “However, since you didn’t know about that feature, I guess you really aren’t the best in that regard.”
Tobey hadn’t noticed since he was currently busy trying to one up Victoria but Becky and Bob were no longer among the crowd. Becky’s idea had worked perfectly and she was trying to explain this to Bob as she carried him under her right arm, running past the giant robots that had surrounded the school.
He squeaked at Becky as she carried him
“I know that one was really bad. But I don’t read Mecha anything, okay? I don’t know any of this stuff. Look, let’s just go stop Victoria before someone gets hurt.”
Bob nodded in agreement as Becky ran into a nearby alley before shouting, “Word up!” and flying up and away.
Back in front of the school, Victoria gave her response to Tobey egging her on. “Wrong! I know what button it is! I’ll push it right now!” Victoria looked down at the remote and she tried to see which button would turn on the turbo like Tobey had said. The remote was incredibly complicated with dozens of buttons, big and small, and in many different colors.
Truthfully, Victoria was a bit scared to press a button at random. She had no idea what this remote was capable of. She just got lucky at the beginning because the big pink button at the bottom was the ‘Summon Robits’ button.
The audience on the ground was waiting with bated breath. Victoria inched her index finger closer and closer to one of the buttons on the remote. Tobey let out a sinister grin and rubbed his hands together, confident in what was going to happen next.
Victoria’s finger was right on top of one of the buttons. It looked like she was about to press it.
Closer. Closer. Even closer…
“Augh! I can’t!”
Tobey smiled. “Can’t what?” he asked.
“Tobey, tell me what button it is.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” He finally turned around and faced Victoria. “I thought you were the best at managing all my robits.”
Victoria didn’t want to hear any of this. “Tobey just shut up and tell me what button it is.”
Tobey conceded. “Alright, fine. Top row, fourth right. It’s the small, green button.”
Victoria looked back at the remote and searched for the button. Top row, fourth right. Ah, there it was. A small, green button like he said. Victoria pressed it with no hesitation.
A small whirring started but it wasn’t from the robots. It was coming from Tobey’s feet. Victoria had pressed the button to activate his hoverboots.
Victoria had heard a small whirring sound but more importantly, she heard a gasp from the crowd. She looked up at one of the robots, giddy to see what upgrade was about to unfold. However, she didn’t see anything change. She looked at the robot next to it. Same thing, no change. She started to look all around her, seeing if any of the robots had a response to the button she had just pressed. Once again, no changes.
She turned around and walked over to the other side of the roof, past her crowd of classmates that she had gathered with her on her quest to rule the school. And again, she didn’t see any of the robots on that side change as well.
“Huh? What gives?” she asked herself. She decided the appropriate response to the lack of turbo upgrades on the robots was to pull up the remote and start spamming the green button. After several presses, she still didn’t see anything change.
“May I see that please?” a voice behind her asked. “And press the green button one more time, if you would.”
Victoria complied and pressed the green button one last time before turning around to address the boy speaking to her. “Sure but I don’t see how-”
She got cut off by Tobey snatching the remote from her hand. “What the?” she exclaimed. “Hey! How did you get up here?”
“Very simple dear Victoria,” Tobey responded, now with the remote in his right hand. “The button I told you to press activates my hoverboots. Good thing I got up here before you started button mashing.” Tobey held up the remote and pointed to a row of medium sized buttons on it, specifically the third one in that row. “And for the record,” he said as he pushed the button. “This button is the turbo.”
The pair turned to look at one of the robots in the distance. Its eyes started glowing red and an electrical whirring started to get louder and louder. This was it. This was the turbo mode Tobey had spoken about. A mode that would give his robots a boost in their speed, strength and power. By redirecting energy into specific appendages in the robot’s body, Tobey had figured out how to give his robots a short but strong buff that would certainly give even Wordgirl a run for her money.
Until the robot’s head was consumed with an electrical explosion and then promptly collapsed.
“Okay it’s still a work in progress,” Tobey conceded.
“Hold it right there Victoria!”
Our plucky hero and her sidekick had finally burst into the scene. Huggy was riding on Wordgirl’s back and watched as she continued, “Wait Tobey? How did you get up here?”
“Wordgirl!” Tobey gasped before composing himself. “Um I mean, hello Wordgirl,” he said in a much more intellectual tone. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“A bunch of robots surrounded the school. Of course I would be here.”
“Right,” he responded. “Well, using my genius tactical skills, I tricked Victoria into turning on my hoverboots and here I am, taking back what is rightfully mine!” He exclaimed in his haughty tone.
“Hey! You did not trick me!” Victoria yelled.
“I did, fair and square.” Tobey said, crossing his arms and turning away.
“No you didn’t!” she yelled. “And give me that back!” She lunged for the remote and the two of them started fighting for it. As they pulled and heaved, trying to keep their grasps on the remote, Victoria pulled back a bit too hard and the two of them threw themselves into some of the students that were on the roof with them. One of the larger girls, Katie, got knocked back down the roof and was about to fall off.
Seeing this and hearing Katie’s yells as she was about to fall off, Wordgirl swooped in to catch her. With both arms underneath where her arms and torso connected, Wordgirl was able to save her.
“Oh thank you Wordgirl,” Katie said.
“Okay that’s it,” Wordgirl exclaimed. She had enough. “Victoria, you need to stop this right now!”
Tobey had gotten up and he stood triumphant, remote still in hand. Victoria had lost the scuffle and now, her hand was forced. It was time to pull out her secret weapon.
“Ha! Not before I use this!” From seemingly nowhere, she pulled out her recorder. She brought it to her lips and her captivating tune started to play. Anyone who heard the sounds of her recorder was immediately mesmerized under its spell.
“Not again,” Tobey said right before the tune reached him and instantly, he was mesmerized. The tune didn’t take long to reach Wordgirl, Huggy and Katie and the trio were also mesmerized.
Victoria was quite pleased with herself at that moment. Her recorder was always her ace in the hole. However, she would soon learn that her plan was about to backfire massively.
Wordgirl was mesmerized. Nothing could break her out of that spell. She was completely out of it and unaware of her surroundings. She didn’t notice that her hold on Katie was starting to slip and eventually…
Victoria’s playing stopped when she heard a loud, sharp yell coming from the ground. Concerned, she moved from her position to see over the edge of the roof. What she saw was Katie lying on her side, crying and yelling at the excruciating pain she was currently experiencing.
With the melody no longer playing, everyone snapped out of the daze and looked over the edge to see Katie. Wordgirl looked down and saw the poor girl on the ground. “Oh my gosh!” She flew down to tend to her.
As Victoria looked over the edge, horrified, there was only one thing she could mutter.
“Uh oh.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Best, thank you for coming.”
“Of course,” Victoria’s father answered. Victoria and her parents were sitting across from the principal’s desk facing her, with Victoria stuck in the middle chair in between her parents. With her arms crossed and a frown, she awaited her fate at the principal’s mercy.
Her father continued, “What seems to be the issue this time? There was quite a commotion when we got here.”
The principal answered, “I’m afraid your daughter here pulled quite the stunt today.”
Victoria’s mom gave a small laugh. “Ha ha, what could our dear Victoria possibly have done to warrant this much attention? My word, I think I even saw a news van pulling up as we walked in. And all the commotion too, goodness.”
The principal gave a small cough before answering, “Well, you see Mrs. Best, Victoria here,” she eyed Victoria as she said this, “convinced some of her classmates to climb onto the school roof in her attempt to, what was it?” She grabbed a piece of paper in front of her and squinted as she read it. “‘Overthrow and rule the school’?”
“My plan would have worked had it not been for that British idiot!” Victoria spat upon hearing the principal’s words.
Immediately, Victoria felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to her right and it was her father. “Victoria, quiet!” he commanded, his pupils turning red for a split second. But that’s all he needed to control his daughter.
“Yes Father,” Victoria said feebishly before looking back at the principal.
“I’m sorry about that,” Mr. Best said. “Please continue.”
“Right,” the principal looked through a few more papers quickly before continuing. “As I was saying, she convinced some of her classmates to join her on top of the roof. As she mentioned in her little outburst earlier, she got into a fight up there with a boy named Tobey. She stole his remote or something to that effect. Anyways, during the fight, Tobey and Victoria bumped into a girl named Katie and she almost fell off the roof.”
“Oh my! Is she okay?” Victoria’s mom gasped.
“I’m getting to that.” The principal continued, “Katie almost fell off but fortunately, Wordgirl came just in time to save her. Tobey got his remote back and that’s when Victoria decided to use her recorder.”
Victoria braced herself as the memory of the incident came flooding back, preparing herself to remember what was about to happen next.
“She played her recorder and paralyzed everyone around her, including Wordgirl.” The principal took a short breath, also preparing herself, as she finished, “This caused Wordgirl to lose her grip on Katie and… she fell.”
Victoria’s father was stunned; Victoria’s mother however wasn’t as silent. “Oh my god! Is she okay?!”
“Not really, no,” the principal replied. “Poor Katie broke both her legs. But Wordgirl was able to take her to the hospital immediately, thank god for that.”
“That poor thing, she must be in so much pain right now,” Victoria’s mom said. “Have her parents been contacted yet?” she asked.
“Actually that brings me to why I called you in today.” The principal continued, “Katie’s parents have been contacted and they know everything that’s happened.” She gave a brief pause before continuing. “They are furious and they are on the warpath right now. They are looking to sue everyone involved with this incident.”
“Does that include us?” Victoria’s father finally broke his silence and asked.
The principal sighed. “Possibly, yes. However, I’m more concerned about the school.” Another sigh before she continued. “I’ve talked to the superintendent and some of our counsel and they all tell me that the best course of action right now would be expulsion.”
“You want to expel my daughter?!” Victoria’s father yelled. “Over some silly school roughhousing?”
“Mr. Best, did you not hear what I just said? A student broke both of her legs!” The principal exclaimed. “And I saw Katie’s condition, it was not pretty. Isn’t that right Victoria?”
Victoria’s eyes were wide as she remembered how mangled Katie’s bottom half had become. “No, it wasn’t,” she replied softly.
“Victoria, I said quiet!” Victoria’s father was not in the mood to play games. His pupils were red once more, but they were a much stronger hue this time. As Victoria turned to her father and looked into his eyes, his command became absolute.
“Yes Father. I’m sorry Father.”
Victoria would not speak for the rest of the meeting.
Victoria struggled to carry her luggage downstairs. She had two large rolling luggage cases and one medium sized one on top of the pair of the large ones. The luggage was all tied together with bungee cords, resulting in a block of luggage Victoria had to get down all on her own.
She was a few steps down the staircase, facing the luggage and slowly walking backwards and pulling it down with her, but she had quite a ways to go. On top of that, it was also a spiral staircase, which didn’t take too kindly to the shape of her luggage block.
“Victoria, how much longer?” she heard her mother yell from outside.
“I’m almost out!” Victoria yelled in reply.
“Well hurry up! We don’t have all morning if we want to make it on time!”
“Yeah yeah, you just don’t want to miss your mani-pedi,” Victoria said to herself.
Victoria continued her slow descent. One wrong step and she would not only tumble down the stairs but possibly get crushed by the block she was trying to bring down. One step down, followed by another, and then another.
Victoria looked back and found she wasn’t even a third of the way down. She really didn’t want to rush this but she didn’t have a lot of time.
“Victoria!” Another yell from her mother from outside.
“Mom, I said I’m coming!” She yelled once more. “Jeez,” she said to herself once again.
Victoria was able to get a whole two steps in before she heard another voice call out to her. This time, it wasn’t the yell of her mother from outside the house. It was her brother.
“Victoria, what’s going on?” he groggily. He was rubbing his eyes as he tried to wake himself up.
“Victor, you know what’s today,” she replied tacitly.
Victor gave out a yawn. He had finally woken up a bit and upon hearing that, he said, “Oh yeah, that’s today huh.” Victor gave a small smirk as he continued, “I’ll finally be the Best child in this house.”
Victoria sighed. “Victor, could you please help me out here?”
Victor gave a confused look. “Why should I? I’m not the one getting shipped out to boarding school.”
“Victor please,” she pleaded.
Victor saw the defeat in his sister’s eyes. He saw that she still had a way to go and the block she was trying to carry wasn’t doing her any favors. Still, he recognized that she was at his mercy and decided to capitalize on it.
“Okay I’ll help you. But first, you have to admit that I’m the best brother ever.”
Victoria gave a small groan. “Victor, come on.”
“Only if you say those words. Come on Victoria, daylight’s burning.”
Victoria closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This morning was definitely one of the lowest points in her life so far.
“Fine,” she grumbled. She softly mumbled, “you’re the best brother ever.”
“I’m sorry, what was that? I couldn’t hear you.” Victor was clearly enjoying the torment he was bringing onto his sister.
Victoria groaned to herself before sucking it up and repeating herself more clearly, “I said, you’re the best brother ever. There, you happy?”
Victor let out a smug smirk, appreciating his victory over his older sister. “Ha, you admitted it. I am the best brother ever. My sister, the great Victoria, concedes that I am the best sibling, better than her!”
“Hey! I never said that!” she contested.
“Whatever, hold that steady,” he said, as he took a few steps in front of the luggage block. He took a few seconds undoing the bungee cords that held the block together before taking the medium sized luggage off. “Here, take this one. I’ll help take one of the big ones down with you.”
Victoria was annoyed. Admittedly, Victor was helping him by taking one of the big luggages, but she still had to carry the medium one and pull down the large one. At the very least, she wasn’t at risk of getting crushed anymore. She still had to watch her step though.
She grabbed the handle of the medium sized luggage case and took it in her right hand. She continued down the stairs, walking sideways this time. Though, it was much faster with the luggage block now disassembled and her brother taking the other large luggage case with him.
The pair finally made it downstairs. Victor took the large luggage and gave it to Victoria. “Well, my job is done. I’m going back to bed. Good luck, I’ll see you over the summer I guess.” With that, Victor turned and returned back towards the staircase.
Victor was halfway back upstairs when he heard Victoria down below. “Thanks Victor,” she said warmly.
“Yeah yeah,” he muttered as he continued all the way back up and out of sight from Victoria.
Victoria let out another sigh. Although her brother had helped her get her stuff downstairs, he had also undone all the bungee cords tying everything together. She didn’t have much time left so she bundled her luggage once more into the giant block she was trying to move earlier.
She had just finished tying everything back together when she heard the door open, followed by more yelling. “Victoria, I swear. We don’t have all day!” Her mother had popped the door open and peeked inside to command her daughter to get moving.
“Mom! I’m almost there! See!” Victoria had pointed her arms at her luggage block, trying to communicate to her mother. Her mother let out a groan before returning back outside.
Victoria propped the luggage onto its wheels and started moving. She finally got outside where she saw the family car out in front of the house. Her father was in the driver’s seat while his mom was standing by the car, waiting.
“It’s about time,” her mother exclaimed. “Get your stuff in the back and we’ll get going.” Her mother finished and immediately opened the front passenger door and let herself into the car. Victoria was going to have to load everything on her own.
After a few more minutes of struggling, Victoria finally got all her stuff loaded into the back. It wasn’t easy since the family Hummer had pretty high suspension but she managed. She closed the back, walked to the side and let herself into one of the back passenger doors. She closed the door once inside and fastened her seatbelt.
Once inside, she was quickly reminded of her situation by her parents. Her father started, “Okay Victoria, it’s about a four hour drive. Once we get there, we’re just going to drop you off and head out right away so if you’ve got anything you want to say, now’s your chance.”
Victoria looked down and sheepishly let out a few words, “I’m sorry.”
Victoria’s mom turned her head to look at Victoria. “Sorry isn’t good enough!” She turned back facing out the windshield. “Because of you, Katie’s parents are suing us for negligence and a bunch of other baloney! Because of you, we are up to our eyeballs in lawyers’ fees.” Victoria’s mom turned back around and pointed at her daughter. Victoria looked up at her mother, facing her wrath. “Because of you-”
“Gloria please, I think she gets it.” Victoria’s father had interrupted his wife’s rant. He held his right hand up, motioning for his wife to relax. However, he wasn’t on Victoria’s side. “Your mother is right however. Sorry isn’t good enough. Let’s get going.”
Victoria’s father started up the car and began to drive off. Victoria’s mom had returned to her normal position, her arms crossed as she looked out the window.
Victoria looked back at the Best home, a modern looking house on the coast. As she saw it get smaller and smaller, she knew that her old life was also getting further and further away.
It's difficult to fly with tears in your eyes, blurring everything in your path. Despite this, Wordgirl was doing just that. She was zooming through the city, trying to retrace her steps and figure out where and when Huggy had fallen off.
It wasn't too difficult to figure out the route she took. After all, the wrath and destruction on all the buildings around her drew a very clear path. Unlike her, Miss Power wasn't too keen on the idea of minimizing collateral damage. That said, Wordgirl also let some of her emotions get the better of her and allowed herself to not worry as Miss Power slammed across some of the walls of the buildings downtown.
That was the past, that battle is done for good now. Right now, Wordgirl's priority was trying to find her sidekick.
No, her best friend.
Wordgirl kept on flying at great speed. She passed several buildings with massive scars on the sides on account of a super woman being punched through downtown. She passed those quickly as she knew that at that point of the battle, Huggy was long gone. She made a hard right, passed by another two damaged buildings and then a left. Up ahead, she saw the building the two of them made a giant hole right in the center of.
She flew into the hole, right into the building. It was a bit of a miracle that the building was still standing, due to the fact that there was a giant gaping hole right in the middle of the floor. As the two supers fought in the building, at one point, Miss Power launched Wordgirl into the floor, causing the floor to nearly completely collapse. However, their fight brought them back up to the original floor and Wordgirl simply punched Miss Power out of the building and their fight continued.
Wordgirl hovered above the giant pit on the floor, quickly looking around. She didn't see anyone so she continued out the broken glass on the other side.
She continued her flight, using the trail of destruction as markers showing her the way back to where Huggy hopefully was. She finally wiped some of the tears out of her eyes, as she knew she needed to be able to see as much as she could if she wanted to find her partner. Hopefully aliv-
No. She couldn't let herself think that. She had to hope. She had to hope that she'll find himself safely. Probably lounging about, enjoying a nice rest from all the commotion going on. Sitting on a chair with his legs up, enjoying a nice, cold lemonade or something. Hell, maybe even a sandwich. The kind of sandwich wasn't important, but even if you made it something crazy like peanut butter, marshmallow and oregano, he would eat it. That monkey could eat anything and everything. It came in very handy in many of her battles with villains throughout the years.
Wordgirl realized her thoughts had segued into reminiscing about Huggy. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as it helped her calm down a bit. With her mind no longer scrambled and her vision cleared up, she continued her search.
As she passed more and more damaged buildings, streets and even a hole through the bank, she finally found where it was that her sidekick had been separated from her. It was a construction yard. At least it used to be. Now it's a pile of debris and rubble.
"Huggy! I'm here, I'll find you!" Wordgirl yelled. She realized that this was where her fight with Power had started. They didn't stay in the yard for too long as one punch from Miss Power had launched Wordgirl a long distance away. But they sure did a number on the place.
Now certain this is where her sidekick was, Wordgirl wasted no time picking up the rubble. She was praying that Huggy wasn't too hurt. It wasn't that far-fetched of an idea. People miraculously survive under collapsed buildings for several hours before being rescued. Plus, she knew he was smart. He would be able to make the best of his predicament.
He made a small squeak. Wordgirl heard it right away and pulled away more blocks of cement and rebar. The little crater in the rubble Wordgirl was digging out slowly got bigger and deeper until finally, she heard another soft squeak.
"Huggy, hold on!"she yelled, digging even further into the rubble. A few more pieces of rubble later, she finally saw the familiar face of her sidekick, Captain Huggyface.
"Huggy!" she cried out in glee. Wordgirl grabbed a few more pieces of rubble and tossed them behind her. The body of her sidekick was soon no longer buried under a bunch of debris.
Huggy looked a bit out of it, struggling to open his eyes. He put a hand to his face, rubbing them for a bit until he moved his hand away and properly opened his eyes. What greeted him was a poor teenage superhero on the verge of tears. But she did have a big smile on her face.
She wasted no time embracing her companion. "Huggy, you're alive! I'm so happy you're alright!"
Huggy let out a small, pained squeak upon the embrace. In her joy, Wordgirl forgot she had super strength and she held onto Huggy a little tighter than he would have liked.
"Oh sorry!" she said, loosening her hold on him but still enjoying her embrace.
Huggy squeaked again, asking her if she won.
"Yes, I won." She paused before correcting herself, "No, we won."
Huggy gave a small squeak in reply, saying that he didn't do anything.
"That's not true!" Wordgirl stopped and thought for a second before continuing, "Okay, you didn't do much during this battle. But you helped me beat Miss Power in a lot of other ways even before now!" She pointed her index finger up close to her face in an intellectual pose, "Weren't you the one who always told me 'a battle plan is better than no plan at all'?" She wagged her finger towards Huggy as she said this, another never directly at him.
Huggy let out another small squeak, telling her that her battle plan consisted of punching Miss Power into the city.
"Hey! She punched me first, that was not my fault."
Huggy chuckled softly, before telling Wordgirl that it's fine. He then asked her where Miss Power was.
Wordgirl started looking away from Huggy upon being asked this. A frown appeared on Huggy's face as he asked again where Miss Power was.
Wordgirl dejectedly replied, "She's... not here anymore."
Huggy let out an angry squeak. Wordgirl looked back at Huggy as she tried to defend herself. "No no! What I mean is she's not on Earth anymore, she's on the Moon!"
Huggy gave a stern stare at Wordgirl as she awkwardly was coaxed into letting more details out. "Where her corpse is because I had to choke her to death."
Another upset squeak. Huggy was understandably angry at the fact that Wordgirl had ignored what he said about crossing that line.
"Huggy please! She said she was going to destroy the planet! What else was I supposed to d-"
Huggy interrupted her. He told her that killing isn't what he taught her. There's always another way. If she had made a proper plan, she wouldn't have to resort to such gruesome methods to resolve her problems.
Wordgirl looked away once more, dejected. Huggy realized he may have let it on a bit too rough onto her and apologized. What was done was done. But please, don't try to resort to that again. It's not something you can come back from.
"Okay," Wordgirl said softly.
Huggy let out another small squeak, reminding Wordgirl that she isn't a bad person. She just made a bad decision in the heat of the moment. He admits that it isn't easy to uphold that kind of code. But that's why it's so important to hold back.
"Yeah, I got it. I'm sorry"
There was a small silence before Huggy let out another squeak. He asked Wordgirl to put him down real quick.
"Alright," Wordgirl complied. She let him go and put him back down where he was laying.
Upon returning him to his original spot where she found him, Huggy let out a sharp squeak. Immediately, Wordgirl picked him back up away from where he was laying. What she saw made her face turn pale.
There was a long piece of rebar with a thin layer of red on it.
Seeing that, Wordgirl quickly checked on Huggy's back and sure enough, found a red spot on his back left side.
"Oh my God, Huggy, we have to get you to a hospital right now!" She gently but firmly tightened her hold on him, ready to take off. But a squeak from Huggy stopped her.
"What do you mean don't?! Huggy, you've been stabbed! You need medical help right now!"
Huggy let out another small squeak, asking her to set him down.
"But-" Wordgirl hesitated but eventually conceded to her partner's request. She walked over to a fence nearby and set him against it, his back on the fence. Huggy let out another small, pained squeak as she set him down.
Catching his breath, Huggy looked up to Wordgirl. He told her that this was probably it.
"Huggy don't! You need medical attention!"
He let out a louder squeak, telling her to stop and listen. Dejected, Wordgirl stopped and let him continue.
He continued, telling her that it's not all that bad. He's had a long, fulfilling life. Hell, he was captain of the Lexicon Space Force for a decade. He's seen his fair share of action, both in battle and otherwise. He let a little chuckle to himself as he said that and Wordgirl couldn't help but let one out as well. Wordgirl knew that he was a sly dog back on Lexicon.
His face turned stern after he finished his little aside. He told Wordgirl that she was an adult now and if she wanted to continue being a hero, she would need to take things seriously from now on. Miss Power was probably just the start of the challenges she was going to face and the road ahead would be difficult.
But he believed in her. And she needed to believe in herself as well. He wasn't going to be around to do that for her anymore.
"Huggy don't say that! Enough of this, I'm taking you right now!" Wordgirl was about to grab onto Huggy before he let out another shout, telling her to stop and listen!
He asked her what she thought the best day of his life was. He had a few contenders but the clear winner was the day she snuck onto his ship and they both crash landed onto Earth. Seeing her grow up and enjoy the life she had on Earth, with her friends, with her family, and with him as her faithful sidekick. He was proud to see her grow into the young woman she is today.
He knew she was destined for great things. It's just a shame he won't be able to see them all.
"Huggy..."
He let out a small smile. He asked his partner for one more request. He asked her to tell Sally, Tim and TJ that he had to go back home. He didn't want them to worry.
He took a small breath before closing his eyes. He takes his leave: from this city, from this planet, and from his trusty companion.
From a distance, you could see a girl fall to her knees in front of her still companion. A small wind blows, her cape flying in the breeze.
It also carries the tears of a girl who lost her best friend.