6Chapter 1
Becky stayed focused as she made sure her feet kept moving while she ran part way across a building before she mustered up the strength in her legs and jumped to a pipe running down the building. She couldn't afford to loose momentum, gravity was a bitch. Her arms wrapped around the pipe and her feet carefully steadied themselves on either side of the pipe while she slid down it like she used to slide down a pole when she was a young girl at the park. A flash of familiar faces smiling at her while she was there and she quickly pushed it away, now wasn't the time to be nostalgic, if she wound up getting hurt, she would get an earful from Ex Dr. Stevens. She smiled as she thought of the grouchy old man. She remembered when she came across him when she was just a little girl.
She had been one of those children who had been orphaned due to a protesting event in which the protestors had been deliberately gunned down. The protest was to get back some of their personal freedoms that had been stolen or that's what her parents had told her. Becky didn't understand what had been going on at the time, her parents had told her they were all going to a 'peaceful protesting' to show how outraged they were about certain rights no longer being available to the general populace. The most she had remembered the protestors doing was yelling and shouting but surprisingly despite how upset everyone looked no one dared to cross the line with the 'police' standing there. The police always made Becky and her brother T.J. uncomfortable. At least with some of the few human police they've seen, they could feel somewhat comfortable to ask them questions about things, maybe because they were HUMAN. These 'robot police' showed little emotion if any at all, it also made them more unnerving since you couldn't guess what a man sized robot might be thinking of doing. As a little girl, She didn't know what started it that day, she didn't understand why it had to happen but once everything was said and done, she KNEW she would never get her previous life back.
…After the tragedy had taken place she hid behind an alleyway behind a dumpster to a beloved fondue restraunt. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, hell her mind didn't even think about where she was running too when she took off after hearing the screams and seeing the bodies, their bodies hit the ground. All her body and mind did was SCREAM at her to get out of there as fast as she could. She had sat behind that dumpster shaking and with tears pouring down as she looked at her brothers blood on her hands. That couldn't have happened, its not possible….They had been sitting down eating ceral this morning, all that couldn't have JUST HAPPENED. She had to be dreaming, this had to just be a nightmare! It just wasn't possible! Her knees felt the hard gravel of the road dig into her kneecaps bringing her down from her thoughts and back into reality, HER REALITY SHE DIDN'T WANT TO FACE. She didn't hear a door close to the restraunt nor the footsteps walking towards the alleyway on there route for home after a fine night of gorging himself on bread smothered in cheese fondue. When Becky finally realized she wasn't going to have dinner or go home with her parents or get into another argument with her little brother, she finally gave into her despair and fell apart. She tried to keep in the cries of anguish incase someone found her and forced her to go with the 'police' that MURDERED her family, that may even be looking for HER as she hid behind this smelly dumpster as the summer air tried to comfort her. But she stopped the crying and let out a gasp of fear when she heard a slightly annoyed voice murmur 'What in the name of Swiss cheese?...…' She scooted backwards towards the corner of the dumpster that wasn't moving, thinking quickly she grabbed a broken glass bottle lying partially underneath the dumpster pointing it towards who ever was trying to get at her.
Finding her voice hoarse as it may be, she tried her best to tell off the figure standing before her !"Stay back! Ill- (The word stab just made her feel sick, she didn't WANT to see any more blood and she didn't have the nerve to do it.) "Ill throw this at you!" She didn't have to fake the ferociousness she felt, beneath all the fear and despair anger was coursing through her veins as well as something else completely unfamiliar to her.
The figure stared at her in surprise for a moment before a look of ….understanding? Came across his face, he slowly put his hands up and backed away slightly. "You look like you've been through hell and back kiddo, rough night?"
Becky just stared at the strange man, he had short brown hair and was oddly wearing a lab coat, he must be some kind of scientist. Better a scientist than a police officer. Her mother and father had always told her if they weren't around and she was in danger run to the police. Where did she go if she couldn't run to them? Was this strange man planning to harm her? What if HE turned her into the police?! Fear now froze the anger in her veins but she was determined not to let him see that. She decided not to answer him but raised the glass bottle higher in a threatening manner, daring him to try to make a move against her.
"Alright kiddo easy, easy, I don't bite. I'm just going to reach into my pocket here to get something for you alright?" He slowly pulled out a handkerchief and slowly handed it to her while trying to keep his distance.
Seeing the handkerchief, brought to mind how much of a mess she must look. She kept her grip firm on her weapon and carefully grabbed hold of the offered item. She quickly wiped her face only now realizing it wasn't just tears on her face but also blood, blood that wasn't her own was covering partially over her face and hands. She wiped at her neck too incase the tears that had mixed with the copper smelling liquid had run down her neck. She handed it back to him looking a little worn out from all the stress. At least he hasn't tried to make a grab for her yet. "Thank you…"
He smiled at the polite words as he took his property back. "Your welcome girlie. Now is there someone in your family who might be looking for ya?" He asked hopefully, he sighed at her shaking her head. Despite having already heard about some supposed 'out of control rioting' that had taken place hours ago. He wasn't stupid, hell he used to work for a short while under the man responsible for the company that created the robots that were responsible for the open fire on those people. If his assumptions were right, (and they usually were!) This was one of the few survivors of said tragedy. It was just a few blocks away after all. He was sincerely hoping she would say that she had an aunt or uncle or just SOMEBODY near by he could drop her off at. He wasn't exactly sure how to handle this situation. He could try telling some cops about her and leave them to decide what to do with her, maybe put her in a foster care where they could find someone to look after her. His mind brought up the fact that the government would more than likely just bounce her around from foster home to foster home everyone gets more money that way especially the government. Noble service his cheesy-! Honestly they think of HIM as a criminal?! At least he's honest about how HE makes a living! ….Well except to cops of course….That train of thought brought up another problem, what if he ran into a cop and they recognized him? He was already wanted for interrogating on some ahem….business transactions of his.
…Okay scratch going to the police.
He turned away for a second debating on what else he could do, this little mouse looked down right traumatized. The girl had placed the bottle down now while loosening her grip ever so slightly when he turned away from her. He supposed he could just leave her be, he would be respecting her wishes after all and it wasn't any of HIS business what happens with this little girl. How did he know she wasn't some runaway who simply ran away from some abusive home. He was NOT a hero and he never pretended to be one. Why start now? What if his previous theory was correct and some angry Neanderthal of a parent came looking for her and accused him of kidnapping?! I mean yeah he was breaking the as it was, ridiculous as those laws may be but this felt like it could REALY be something someone could hang over his head if he was caught.
He thought about how he would go home some nights in his little hidey whole with nothing to greet him but dead silence. He WOULD NOT say he was lonely, its just, he was so busy with all his 'projects' and schemes that he didn't have time to keep things clean and it bothered him how none of his 'coworkers' bothered to help clean up before they left! I mean REALLY?! Is it SO hard to stay and be hospitable and clean up after yourselves?! Talking to him while cleaning would just be a common courtesy, I mean do his coworkers have NO IDEA the meaning of the word POLITE?!
Another small part of his mind whispered this girl wasn't his problem and he should just turn heel and leave. He spun around when he heard a strange noise. Apparently the little mouse was hungry. The prevous thought he had and conflicting feeling were suddenly banished as he slowly held out his hand for the girl to take. He was a criminal, not a monster. "Come on kiddo, lets get you something to eat, you ever cheese fondue before?" He asked a little awkwardly. He half expected her to just sit there or straight out refuse him, her parent or guardians HAD taught her about strangers, hadn't they? His thoughts were cut short when he felt a small hand gently take hold of his.
"I've never even heard of fondue until now." She replied, finally letting go of the bottle. From all she could tell this guy didn't seem so bad and she was STARVING. She was surprised he was offering to get her some food and slightly surprised he didn't seem alarmed when she had blood on her face and hands. She was in away grateful he wasn't, she didn't want more drama nor to explain what happened, not yet anyway. She just wanted something to eat, she could figure out what to do afterwards.
"Oh ho! Then kiddo, you HAVENT LIVED!" She couldn't fight the small smile that appeared on her face from his enthusiasm alone. "Ill tell you what we'll go all out just for that! Your not just going to try the cheese fondue, your also going to try the chocolate fondue! You can tell me which like better, obviously it will be the cheese though because lets be honest nothing is better than cheese!"
Becky smiled "I don't know mister, chocolate sounds better than cheese any day of the week! I could live off chocolate!" The strange man gave her an over exaggerated eye roll.
"You'll be eating those words when you eat this cheese I'm telling you, your lucky your broke or Id make you put 100 big ones where your mouth is! Oh and the NAME is Dr. Stevens by the way….well okay technically its EX Dr. Stevens but I EARNED my PHD, thank you very much! So really it's just a matter of opinion!" He couldn't help but boast.
Becky grinned at his boastful attitude and rolled her eyes, it reminded her of ….her brother….She shoved those thoughts away and tried to focus on the present even while her smile slipped a little. She held out her small hand as they looked over the menu. "Becky…Becky Botsford."
Dr. Stevens smiled, "Pleasure to meet you Becky…" So this was the name of his future partner in crime. He glanced at a T.V. suspiciously while it spoke of one Theodore McCallister's death from terminal illness. He forced down a sigh and smiled while asking what she wanted to order. It had been a hard day for everyone it seems.
Okay so I usually DONT do crossovers but this idea had seemed like so fun and it has been stuck in my head for a while now. Its the Wordgirl characters but there in the world of a game called Mirrors Edge. I DO NOT want to copy the whole story of mirrors edge but this story will be inspired by it. I want to have it be somewhat similar but also original. Becky doesn't have powers in this, she's going to eventually become a runner and help Dr. Two Brains here. I promise to explain more of what's going on in the next chapter and for those of you wondering, yes OF COURSE this is going to be a Becky/Tobey story! I mean how can I NOT ship these two nerds together?! And NO Tobey isn't dead. ;) Also anyone else okay with me having Two brains as a uncle/dad character to Wordgirl in this? I'm trying to keep them relatively in character as much as I can. Also YES there are curse words here and there, I don't want to make a habit of cursing in this story in fact I thought it might be funny to have our 'hero' curse a time or two and get scolded for it. XD Becky! This is a PBS Show! In this story she is young adult in this as well because I don't see enough stories with grown up Becky and Tobey. I also thought it would be funny to have Becky as the supposed 'villain/criminal' and Tobey as the supposed 'hero/cop'. Because come on now who doesn't LOVE irony! Anyway, let me know if anything seems out of character and let me know if you think I should continue this or not. It was fun writing it, so I'm looking forward to writing more and seeing more stuff fall into place. This story is also a little test for me to brush up on my writing skills. I might be a little rusty, let me know what you think in the reviews please, and hope your having a good day!