WORDGIRL; Tobey the Third

The Third

The bell rung. It rattled around in Tobey's head.

For some reason, he was incredibly anxious about going to Two Brains' lair. He'd been there quite a few times before, so logically, he shouldn't be as nervous as he was.

Their teacher dismissed them. Tobey stayed seated as his classmates made their way to the door. He stared down at his notebook, messy scribblings blemished the pages. He hadn't really been listening that class. He was too distracted... This was feeling awfully familiar.

His train of thought crashed and burned as a certain someone slammed her hands onto his desk.

"Tobey!"

He jolted upright, looking up at the girl. She snickered as he quickly gave her a sly look.

"Botsford."

"I think I might get a better score than you on the physics test," she turned and sat on the desk, confidently inspecting her nails, "I studied preeeetty hard."

"I wouldn't be too quick to brag. Everybody knows physics is my strong suit."

She giggled. He noticed the sleeve of her green sweater brush against his hand as she placed her arm back.

"We'll see," her cheeky grin made him feel something. He couldn't put his finger on it, though, "I stand a better chance than you think."

"Don't get your hopes too high. Wouldn't want you to feel crushed when we get our results back."

With a laugh, she hopped off his desk, "Whatever you say, McCallister. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Salutations, Becky."

He watched as she walked out the classroom. Heaving a content sigh, he quickly and messily shoved his equipment into his school bag. He stood and left, skipping a locker visit and instead making his way straight out of the building... Where he remembered where he had to be.

Two Brains' lair, if he remembered correctly, was near the outskirts of town. That was pretty far from his house, and quite close to the sketchiest area of the city. Twenty minute walk? No, thirty minutes max.

Oh well. Time to get his steps up.

Spirits were somewhat high at the beginning of the trek, but became significantly lower the further from school he was. It only occurred to him around halfway to his destination that he would most likely have to walk home in the dark. And from the lair back to home was approximately forty minutes. Not preferable.

His schoolbag was starting to feel heavier as he walked. His legs started to tire, and his feet became sore. Why did he agree to this again?

That's right. It was so he could finally have a complete disconnect from his previous life.

With each step, he reminded himself that it was worth it. But along with each step, the more it felt not worth it.

The city was starting to look less clean and presentable, and more dirty and abandoned. That's how he knew he was almost there.

To entertain the last ten minutes of the walk, he hypothesized on what Two Brains could possibly want him to look at. It was probably a ray gun. Or maybe a mutant cheese he accidentally created? No, it was a ray gun. Twenty bucks it was a ray gun.

A large warehouse began to rear it's utterly atrocious head as Tobey turned the final corner. He was surprised he hadn't been mugged yet- but at the same time, he also wasn't. He still had somewhat of a feared reputation.

He approached the large, slightly rusted doors. One gently swung on its hinge, the other was locked into place. As he grabbed onto the handle, he heard Two Brains talking to someone. Probably himself.

Peeking in, he found he was wrong. A woman with dirty blonde hair and a purple outfit sat back in a wheelie chair, her arms crossed. She looked completely uninterested and obviously would have rather been anywhere else. Tobey didn't blame her... but was also annoyed that there wasn't one, but two villains to see him.

After he built up enough courage, he quietly pulled open the door and stepped inside. He forgot how dirty and literally cheesy the lair was.

Immediately, the woman shot her gaze to him. Two Brains noticed and turned around.

"McCallister! You made it!"

The doctor walked over to him. Tobey felt slightly intimidated. The man was large and too quick for his age. However, he did look more familiar with his lab coat and yellow gloves back on.

"Yes. I did. Let's get this over with."

"Okay, you're going to love this. It's one of the most bizarre, most insane things I've ever witnessed in my entire scientific career!"

"That doesn't include your own rat brain, does it?"

"... Nah."

Two Brains lead him over to where the woman sat. Tobey dropped his bag next to the nearby desk, confused. Where was the ray gun?

"You remember Lady R, right?" The scientist asked.

"Lady Redundant Woman?" Tobey made eye-contact with her before turning back to him, "Of course I do. But I'm not here for a reunion. Where's this thing you made me sacrifice my afternoon for?"

"You're looking right at her."

He looked back at Lady Redundant. She glowered. He once again looked back at Two Brains, confused, "... Haha. Very funny."

"No, I'm serious."

For the third time, he looked at Lady Redundant. She continued to stare lasers through him.

"... I don't get... the joke, doctor."

"It's not a joke," the man looked at him like he was stupid before gesturing to the dirty blonde, "Come on, LR. Get onto your seat."

"I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with a sixteen-year-old inspecting, examining or looking over me."

Her voice hadn't changed since he last saw her. It was a weird thing to notice, but he did anyway.

The scientist scoffed, "He's seventeen, LR. Besides, it's not like he's doing anything personal or whatever."

"You said you were going to bring and present someone with experience."

"McCallister is the best in his field! I can't believe you'd insult him like that!"

The woman rolled her eyes at his mock offense. Tobey felt like he was third wheeling, so he interjected.

"I... still don't quite understand why I'm here and what I'm supposed to be looking at-"

"Lady R, go sit on the stool."

"Only once you call, name and identify me by my actual title."

"Yeah, yeah. Lady Redundant Woman. Go sit on your stool."

Tobey watched as she begrudgingly stood from her seat and groveled her way to a small, wooden stool. She sat, resting her elbows on her legs. The teen looked back at Two Brains. The false doctor grinned.

"Get ready to have your mind blown."

Never in his entire life had he been so terrified by such a sentence. He trailed behind Two Brains as he grabbed a phillips head screwdriver from the nearby desk and spun it in his hand. He slowly approached Lady Redundant Woman and smacked his hand on the metal printer backing she had covering the top of her back and shoulders. She removed the high collar she usually wore. Tobey swallowed. Why was he so tense? What the hell did he get himself into??

Not-so-gently, the rat scientist tapped on a rectangular panel with two screws on the bottom, "See this?"

The teen nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving where he was pointing.

"I'm going to unscrew it."

He didn't respond, only flicked his eyes to Two Brains and back. The man lodged the screwdriver into one of the purple screws and twisted. With each twist, Tobey winced. He looked to Lady Redundant, but she didn't react. The first screw clattered on the ground. The second soon followed. Then, Two Brains stepped back. He turned to the teen, a dumb grin smeared across his rat face, and gestured to the panel.

"Open it."