Chapter Text
By the time WordGirl and Captain HuggyFace arrived downtown Fair City, the once-peaceful streets had already erupted into chaos. Citizens ran in every direction, screaming as a giant three-legged robot stomped through the streets.
Bright yellow blasts fired from the cannons on its arms, instantly turning everything they hit into cheeses of every sort. The robot's polished glass dome cockpit gleamed under the rising sun, and through it, WordGirl could just make out a familiar patch of wild, white tufts of hair.
Huggy squeaked while pointing below.
"I see! Dr. Two-Brains is at it again. Come on!" WordGirl said, swooping low between the skyscrapers. Huggy clung tightly to her shoulder as they closed in.
"Ah, WordGirl!" Dr. Two-Brains's voice boomed from the robot's speakers. "Just the person I hoped would show up! You're just in time to witness my latest invention-the Cheese-o-Matic 9000!"
WordGirl hovered above the massive machine, her arms crossed, unimpressed. "Let me guess... You're turning the whole city into cheese because you ran out of snacks again?"
"Oh, ho ho! This isn't just about snacks!" Two-Brains chuckled. "I'm creating the world's largest edible monument to cheese! A marvel of modern science, art, and cuisine!"
"Yeah, that sounds nice and all... but I'm afraid I can't let you do that." WordGirl said politely. "So if you don't mind, I'm going to have to stop you."
Dr. Two-Brains smirked. "We'll just see about that..."
Without warning, a massive blast of yellow energy shot toward her. WordGirl darted aside in an instant, the beam passing close enough to warm her cape before slamming into a nearby bus and transforming it into a giant block of cheddar.
WordGirl zipped through the streets, dodging blast after blast while landing powerful punches against the robot's frame. Meanwhile, Huggy leapt from her shoulder, grabbed onto one of the machine's legs, and began ripping out wires with practiced precision. The robot stumbled as sparks flew from its joints.
"Hey! Hands off the lactose launcher!" Two-Brains shouted. "Do you have any idea how much that thing cost me?"
Huggy squeaked indignantly, flipped open a maintenance panel, and yanked out another bundle of wires. The targeting system went haywire, and the cheese blasters fired wildly. One blast turned a hotdog cart into a wheel of Swiss, while another melted a billboard into a gooey river of gouda.
"Stop firing! Stop firing!" Two-Brains yelled, panicking. "Will you nimrods do something?!"
"Uh... boss?" One henchman said nervously. "Which button turns off the cheese blasters again? Is it this one?" He pressed a large red button.
"No! Not that one! It's... WAIT, WHAT DID YOU PRESS?!"
A loud beeping echoed from inside the robot as a red warning light flashed.
"SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED. TEN SECONDS TO DETONATION," announced the robot's computerized female voice.
Two-Brains slapped a hand to his forehead and groaned. "Ugh. Why did I even build that feature?"
WordGirl smirked. "Guess you're not as sharp as you think."
With a quick burst of speed, she flew forward, smashed open the glass dome, and pulled Dr. Two-Brains and his henchmen out of the cockpit. Huggy leapt back onto her shoulder as she carried them to the ground.
Seconds later, the Cheese-o-Matic 9000 exploded in a massive burst of cheesy debris. Parmesan flakes and molten cheddar rained down as the robot collapsed to the ground in a heap.
WordGirl landed gracefully, sat the villains down on the pavement, and quickly secured them with a thick industrial cable.
"You'll pay for this, WordGirl!" Two-Brains growled just as she finished strengthening the knot. "I was this close to dairy domination!"
"Well, you'll have plenty of time to think about that in jail," WordGirl replied proudly.
Within seconds, cheers began to erupt from the forming crowds as a group of police officers rushed in.
"Thanks, WordGirl. We'll take it from here," one officer said, smiling with gratitude, before turning to the villains. "Dr. Two-Brains, you have the right to remain-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know!" Two-Brains interrupted. "Can we speed this up? This is a lot more uncomfortable than it looks."
WordGirl and Huggy exchanged a satisfied nod as the officers led the villains away.
"Well, that's another crisis wrapped up," she said. "Let's see if we can still make it to first period before the bell rings."
Huggy squeaked in agreement.
With a bright flash of red, the two heroes soared into the sky back towards the school, leaving behind the sounds of applause, and the faint smell of melted cheese.
....
Unbeknownst to them, on the top office floor of Varmitech Industries, Zach Varmitech had watched the entire battle unfold. His expression slowly shifted from boredom to irritation as he watched WordGirl and her monkey sidekick soar away.
"There she goes again!" he said in an overly cheerful, mocking tone. "How lucky we all are to have WordGirl swoop in and save the day!" His fake smile vanished instantly, replaced by a sour scowl. "Ugh. She is so annoying. Even more so than those Wild Rats!"
Suddenly, a spark of an idea flashed in his eyes. A slow, wicked grin spread across his face as he clapped his hands together.
"OH, ZACHBOTS!"
Within seconds, a large swarm of gray Zachbots zipped into the room, lining up before him and snapping into perfectly synchronized salutes.
"Zachbots! I want you to go down there, grab Dr. Two-Brains and his henchmen, and bring them to me," Zach commanded, jabbing a finger toward the window. "AND STEP ON IT!"
The Zachbots saluted in unison once more, before blasting through the open window, engines wirling as they zipped toward the retreating squad car with incredible speed.
Meanwhile, in the back seat of that very squad car, Dr. Two-Brains sat slumped in defeat. His henchmen sat on either side of him, both smelling of melted cheese and looking just as miserable.
"Gee, boss... we're really sorry," one henchman said hesitantly. "How were we supposed to know that pressing that button would-"
Two-Brains raised a hand sharply. "I told you two, REPEATEDLY, not to press that button!" he snapped, his voice cracking with frustration. "It was simple! Very simple! How could you mess that up so badly?!"
The two police officers in the front exchanged exhausted looks. They had already warned the villains to quiet down several times, but nothing seemed to work.
Just as Two-Brains was about to continue yelling, two Zachbots dropped out of the sky and landed directly in front of the squad car. The officers slammed on the brakes, and the car screeched to a sudden halt.
"Hey! What's the big idea?!" Two-Brains yelled.
The Zachbots didn't respond. With cold precision, they peeled the roof off the squad car like a tin can, grabbed Dr. Two-Brains and his henchmen, and lifted them into the air. Meanwhile, two other Zachbots quickly stomped on the vehicle, flattening it completely before flying off.
The stunned officers were left sitting on the pavement, staring after them in silent disbelief.
Moments later, Dr. Two-Brains was unceremoniously dropped onto the floor of a sleek gray office. He groaned, rubbing the back of his head.
"What's the meaning of this? Where am I?" he grumbled.
His eyes narrowed as he spotted Zach sitting calmly at the end of a long table, casually typing on his computer while surrounded by an army of Zachbots.
Before Two-Brains could say anything, a large TV screen on the wall flickered to life, and several familiar faces appeared on a split-screen call.
On the upper-left panel, Donita Donata leaned forward, clearly annoyed. Dabio stood behind her, wearing his usual look of confusion.
On the screen beside her, Gourmand stood glaring at the camera. "What is it, Zach? Can't you see I'm in the middle of preparing a masterpiece of a dish?" he spoke, brushing flour off his hands.
Below them, Paisley Paver tapped her arm impatiently. "Whatever this is about, make it quick. I have a schedule to maintain."
Zach flashed a wide, confident grin-far too confident for his own good. "Sorry to interrupt," he said, dripping with fake sincerity, "but Dr. Two-Brains and I have the perfect plan to finally get rid of WordGirl and those Wild Rats once and for all!"
Dr. Two-Brains blinked. "We do?"
"Of course we do!" Zach waved him off. "All we have to do is gather every villain in the city and convince them to team up with us. With all our skills combined, we'll easily outnumber them. And the city will be ours!"
The villains were silent.
After a few moments, Donita spoke, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "And what makes you think any of them would actually agree to that?"
Gourmand scoffed. "Or listen to you, for that matter?"
Zach didn't flinch. "It's simple! We'll appeal to their egos and their desires for revenge. Once they see what they have to gain, they'll jump at the chance."
Two-Brains sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Look, Zach... I want WordGirl gone as much as you do. And while I appreciate your enthusiasm, what makes you think this time will be any different? We've tried everything. And yet we always end up in jail."
Zach leaned forward, smirking. "That's because there were only a few of us before. This time, I'm talking about including every single villain in the city. Each of us has come close on our own... but together?" His grin widened. "We'll be unstoppable."
The villains were still skeptical, but Zach's confidence, as annoying as it was, was beginning to spread.
"We'll just see about that..." Dr. Two-Brains muttered, crossing his arms. "I just hope you know what you're doing, Zach." He let out a long, weary sigh.
....
"AT LAST! I'VE GOT IT!!" Hacker shouted, his eyes widening as he leapt out of his chair.
Buzz and Delete burst into the room, startled by the sudden outburst. They skidded to a halt, staring as their boss bounced around the room like he'd just won the lottery. Before either of them could ask what was happening, Hacker rushed over to them and wrapped them both in a tight hug.
"Whoa, boss! What's going on? Is everything okay?" Buzz gasped, barely able to breathe.
"Yeah, I've never seen you this happy before," Delete added.
"I'm doing fantastic, boys!" Hacker declared cheerfully, releasing them with a dramatic flourish. "I've finally figured out the perfect plan to get rid of those meddling Earth brats for good!"
"You have?" Buzz asked, raising an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"Yeah! Tell us! Tell us!" Delete begged, bouncing on his heels.
Hacker clasped his hands together. "It's quite simple, my clueless comrades. You know how those Earth kids come here from the real world through portals from Motherboard, right?"
"Uh... yeah?" Buzz and Delete replied in awkward unison, exchanging confused looks.
"Wait, boss," Delete said slowly. "Is this gonna be like that time in R-Fair City, when you trapped the Earth kids in Cyberspace by crashing Motherboard's portal system with that portal-freezing ray thingy?"
"Not quite," Hacker said calmly. "You see, even if I destroyed Motherboard's portal system and trapped them here forever, they'd still find some annoying way to fix it." He scoffed. "They always do."
He leaned forward, lowering his voice dramatically. "So here's what we're going to do. We're going to break into the real world, capture those Earth brats when they least expect it, and..." He paused, grinning. "Maybe cause a little chaos there while we're at it."
Buzz and Delete gasped.
"THE REAL WORLD?!" they shouted together. "WE'RE GOING TO THE REAL WORLD?!"
"That's right, my terrific trouble troopers! The real world!" Hacker exclaimed. "Once we're there, we can finally get rid of those meddling Earth brats, then no one will be able to stop us!"
"Uh... boss," Delete said nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "This all sounds really complicated. Are you sure you've thought this through?"
"Yeah," Buzz added. "What if something goes wrong? Or what if those Earth kids figure out what we're doing?"
Hacker waved them off. "Please. I know exactly what I'm doing! And even if they do figure it out, by then it'll be far too late for them to do anything about it!"
"Okay..." Delete said. "But how are we gonna get to the real world?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Hacker sighed, rolling his eyes. "All we have to do is build a portal to Earth. I just need some portal dust. Which luckily, I still have some left over from when I used to work for Motherboard."
"Oh... right, portal dust," Delete said slowly. "Uh... hey, boss? That big jar of sparkly stuff in the storage closet... that was portal dust, right?"
Hacker's smile dipped slightly. "Yeah?" he said carefully. "Why do you ask?"
Delete fidgeted. "Well... I sorta... kinda... accidentally threw it out last week while we were cleaning."
The room went completely silent, and Hacker's expression hardened.
"YOU... WHAT?!" Hacker roared, his voice rattling throughout the room. His face turned a frightening shade of red. "YOU THREW IT OUT?!"
"I thought it was glitter!" Delete yelped. "I was gonna use it to make a sparkly bunny picture for George, but I accidentally spilled it, and swept it up-I didn't know it was important!"
Hacker closed his eyes shut, his fists trembling as he took a long, strained breath. "Of course you didn't know it was important," he muttered. "Why would either of you ever know anything?"
He began pacing, grumbling to himself. "Fine. We'll just have to get more portal dust from somewhere else. But how? Hmmm... Maybe we could steal some from Motherboard? No, no... too risky."
He stopped suddenly. His eyes widening as an idea came to mind. Though, he seemed reluctant about it.
"Ledge," he muttered.
Buzz blinked. "Ledge? Didn't he use to be your number-one fan, but now hates your circuits?"
"I don't know if he'll wanna help," Delete said. "Last time we saw him, he was really mad."
"Details, details!" Hacker waved dismissively. "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse. And if that doesn't work..." He grinned darkly. "I'll just take it from him."
He turned sharply toward his henchbots. "Now go get the Grim Wreaker ready. We're paying him a surprise visit."
Buzz and Delete exchanged nervous looks, then nodded.
Hacker leaned back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head. A slow, satisfied smirk crept across his face as he imagined the chaos ahead, and how soon, he wouldn't have to deal with the Cybersquad any longer.
....
Deep within the dim, cluttered confines of his lair, Ledge lounged across an old, worn couch, boredom etched plainly across his face. He mindlessly flipped through channels on an old television set, its flickering glow casting uneven shadows along the near-empty walls.
The lair itself was a mess. Empty snack wrappers and takeout boxes littered the floor, while half-built gadgets and abandoned scraps cluttered a nearby workbench. The air felt stale, heavy with neglect.
Ledge let out a long sigh and tossed the remote onto the coffee table. Stretching his arms behind his head, he settled in, ready for another dull, unproductive evening-only for the doorbell to shatter the silence.
Ledge groaned. "Ugh, now what?" He dragged himself off the couch and trudged toward the entrance. "This better not be another salesbot..." he muttered.
His boots clanked against the metal floor as he moved through the dim corridor, his irritation growing with every step. When he reached the door, he yanked it open, and came face-to-face with Hacker; with Buzz and Delete standing close behind.
Ledge blinked, then broke into a smug grin. "Well, well, well," he drawled. "If it isn't The Hacker. To what do I owe the displeasure?" He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed.
Hacker took a deep breath, his scowl deepening. "Look, Ledge, I'm not here to chit-chat," he said. "I was wondering if... ahem... I could borrow something from you."
Ledge snorted. "Not surprised. I always knew you'd come crawling back." He tilted his head, feigning interest. "What is it, if I may ask?"
Hacker clenched his jaw, forcing himself to stay calm. "I need Portal Dust," he said flatly. "And I was wondering if you happened to have some."
Ledge's grin widened. "Portal Dust, huh? Sounds like a big plan." His eyes gleamed. "What are you? Building a portal or something?"
Before Hacker could answer, Buzz popped up eagerly.
"Yeah! We're going to the real world to capture them!"
"And once the boss does that, he can finally take over Cyberspace!" Delete added, bouncing with excitement. "And no one will be able to stop us!"
"YOU BLABBERMOUTHING BUCKETS OF BOLTS!" Hacker shrieked, smacking his forehead. "That was supposed to be a secret!" he quickly lowered his voice, but it was already too late.
Ledge chuckled darkly. "Ohhh, now this is interesting." He rubbed his chin. "Taking your little feud to the real world, ey? Ambitious. Reckless-but ambitious." He smirked. "And you really think I'm just going to hand over the Portal Dust because you asked nicely?"
Hacker's fists clenched. "Enough, Ledge! Just give it to me, or I'll delete you where you stand."
Ledge gasped theatrically, clutching his chest. "Oh no! I'm so scared!" He grinned again. "Sorry, Hacker, but that's not how this works. You need me. I don't need you. So if you want the dust, you're gonna have to pay."
Hacker let out a long, exhausted sigh. "Fine. How much do you want?"
"I'm not talking about cash, Hacker. I want in." Ledge said smoothly. "When you take over Cyberspace, I get a cut of everything! Power, control, you name it!"
Hacker's eye twitched. Sharing power made his circuits crawl-but he had no choice. "Fine," he spat. "But don't think for a second this makes us partners."
Ledge's grin sharpened. "Oh, don't worry. I'd never dream of that."
With that, he turned and vanished into the shadows of his lair.
Buzz and Delete shifted awkwardly as they waited. After a moment, Delete leaned in and whispered, "Boss... are you sure this is a good idea?"
Hacker muttered through clenched teeth, "Not even remotely. But we don't have another option. Just keep an eye on him."
Moments later, Ledge returned, holding a sleek jar filled with a pinkish shimmering, luminous dust. The particles inside swirled as he lifted it into the light.
"Here you go, Hacker-one fresh jar of Portal Dust," he said smugly. "Use it wisely."
Hacker tried reaching for it, but Ledge yanked it back.
"Ah-ah-ah." He smirked. "You'll get this once we reach the Northern Frontier." He casually tossed the jar into the air and caught it. "Gotta make sure you hold up your end of the deal."
Hacker didn't respond. His mind was already racing as he and his henchbots slowly followed behind Ledge as he matched triumphantly towards the ship.