Talk:City Arcade manager/@comment-63.161.170.100-20130414163555

First off, this was one of the first WG one-shots I wrote, so sorry for its extreme un-dramaticness/cheesiness... :P Oh, and if anyone can guess who this is about, they get a free virtual GIANT HAMSTER WHEEL! ^^

She glanced around, breathing heavily.

Where was she? What had happened? Why was she here?

Those questions even she couldn't answer.

Her bare feet hurt, as they weren't used to the gravelly broken-down pieces of asphalt and glass shards that littered the ground, piercing her soles.

The sky was dark. Nearly pitch black. It must've been around midnight, she decided. The only thing illuminating the quiet alleyway was the glow from a distant streetlight.

She twitched as a strange noise reached her ears. Some sort of scuffling, from behind a nearby dumpster.

She cautiously made her way towards it. When she got to the corner, she paused. What was back there? Was it dangerous? She took a chance and looked around the side.

Bad desicion.

A huge dog, the biggest one she'd ever seen, stared back at her, growling, its mangy brown fur bristling in the dim light.

She stopped abruptly. Their eyes met, and she could tell something was very wrong. The dog's eyes were a crazed reddish-brown, as opposed to her own large cerulean ones. It almost looked like he had been eating soap, his mouth was so covered in the awful red-tinted lather.

Her body froze up, and she was sure she couldn't move if she wanted to. Her heart pounded so loud she felt like everyone within ten blocks could hear it pounding.

She knew she had two options. Stay and get attacked by the rabid dog, or flee and most probably not outrun him. If she was even nipped, the chances of her contracting the fatal disease were too great to number.

The vicious canine snarled, snapping her out of her thoughts. It bared it's teeth, slowly advancing forwards.

She blinked and slowly stepped back.

The dog kept coming.

She kept going.

Her eyes widened as she felt something behind her. A quick glance said that she'd backed into the wall.

The dog was still coming, it's pointed, frothy teeth gleaming...

Nowhere to run now. Her eyes darted around frantically. Though she prided herself in being a great climber, there was nothing around but old, chipping brick walls.

And the dumpster.

She looked at it nervously. It was a chance she was going to have to take. She crouched down, shifting her weight ever so slightly and–

A vicious snarl, a flash of teeth, a resounding 'crack!', then black.

...Yeah, not so great. :P Anyways, this other one was ALSO one of the first ones I wrote, so...

-

"Hello?"

Marissa cautiously peered into the darkened laboratory. This was weird.

"Steven?" she called again. No answer.

"Steven? Are you here?"

Where was he? It wasn't like him to leave without telling anyone.

"Bro?" she asked, softer this time.

She looked around the dark room. It had an eerie feeling about it, as though it'd been abandoned long ago.

...But that couldn't be right, he was here just the other day. She'd been here too, helping him with his experiments and inventions, talking with him, and reminding him that he's not supposed to have food in the lab.

She nervously stepped inside, sitting down on a chair by the door, trying to calm herself down. Everything was perfectly fine, she told herself. He probably just went to get some parts for his latest invention, or more likely, a snack. No reason to get all jittery.

Shivering, the 16-year-old looked around the lab, twisting her brown hair nervously. Upon seeing something rather... out of place... across the room, she shot up and went to investigate.

Marissa's eyes widened. Something had happened, she just knew it. First of all, there was a perfectly good pastrami sandwich, just LAYING there, like, on the floor! It didn't even have a bite taken out of it! Broken pieces of the shattered plate lay around. Steven would never drop a snack... unless something terrible had happened...

Second of all, there was the Professor's mind reading device. She was lost in thought for a moment, recalling the many days Steven had spent planning out that invention, carefully designing it so he could read his lab mouse's thoughts all the while not harming it. She had happily helped him, listening to his ideas about sometimes pointless little inventions (e.g. a feather duster attachment for a laser toaster [seriously?], a TV that ran on rocket fuel [wasn't just a little cheaper to use electricity?], a robotic chinchilla that could fly and shoot green-and-purple lasers [...okay...], a ray gun that turned hair gel into cream cheese [...but why?], etc.). Not that she minded. He was her big brother, after all. Also, he needed constant supervision lest his experiments blow up for the sake of a grilled cheese sandwich.

His prized invention was just... laying there. Which wouldn't be such of a problem, except it was sparking and fizzling with electricity and smoking like crazy. Marissa backed up, not quite sure what to do. Then she noticed something else.

Steven's lab mouse, Squeaky, was lying on the controls, motionless and stiff. And still wearing the little helmet she'd made for him.

Oh boy. This couldn't be good. The doctor's own helmet was laying on the ground beside it, it's thick strap somehow torn in two, the colander bent and dented badly. Wires were torn and sparking, the lightbulb was shattered...

Marissa gulped. "Oh please be okay, please be okay..." she whispered to no one in particular, feeling her heart beat faster and faster. She crouched down, tentatively and slowly reaching out to the device, shakingly touching it with her fingertips.

The girl instantly leapt backwards, nearly tripping over herself, at the amount of electricity still live and crackling through it. She gasped a little, staring at the helmet like it was a monster. "No..." she said unbelievingly. The thing wasn't even still on, yet judging by her stinging fingers and staticky hair and clothes, it held enough power to give the Energy Monster a decent snack. She could only think of what it would feel like to be wearing the metal contraption while more electricity was freely flowing into it... The thought made her shudder in fear.

Her frightened gaze slowly went back to the mouse, who seemed to be... dead.

If it were possible, she would of said that Squeaky's color (that he didn't have, being albino) had gotten drained right out of him... His eyes, instead of being their normal, creepy red, were more of a ghastly, pale pink. And his fur... It almost was so colorless it wasn't even white, instead nearly clear... Even his gray whiskers seemed to have lost their pigment. Which they didn't have. But still.

She stood silently, inexplicably feeling a twinge of sorrow for the grouchy little rodent. Never again would he be able to see the brilliant professor at work, never again run in his wheel, never again savor the delicious taste of cheese...*

Boy, was she ever wrong.

•     •    •     •     •     •     •     •     •    •     •

Epilogue:

Marissa fearfully raced out the door, not knowing where she was going.** She had to find someone, anyone! There had to be someone who could help, she didn't know what happened! But who would know anything about this? Who would care if a professor, her big brother, wasn't in his lab in after-work hours?

'I know how absent-minded he is, I tease him for it all the time... I should've seen this coming, I mean, I at least could've been here to keep an eye on him and Squeaky... I never trusted that mouse... Wait a minute.' She tried to think back to what she saw on the control panel. 'Squeaky... a couple random switches... transmit button...' Her eyes widened in realization, and she slapped her forehead, almost annoyedly. '...Who even PUTS a 'HOLY COW!!! Don't Press This Button!' button on ANYTHING, let alone something potentially dangerous like this?!'

She ran a little faster. '...I hope he's okay... he HAS to be okay... how many times has he been electrocuted by now? He should be fine, but... where is he?'

She paused in the deserted hallway and panted for breath, her heart feeling like it was beating a million times a minute. A picture instantly flashed through her mind.

WordGirl.

•     •    •     •     •     •     •     •     •    •     •

The still, seemingly dead mouse lay motionless on the cold, gray, surface of the computer controls. Even in the extreme pain he must have felt, his eyes were narrowed, a gleam of evil still remaining there; and his lips were curled into a vicious snarl. Shadowed by an eerie light from the tiny window in the room, he looked even more sinister than before...

He wasn't dead like these unintelligent, naive people apparently thought. No, far from it. Just because his old self couldn't move doesn't mean his new self wasn't perfectly able to do his bidding.

Finally, he could do as he pleased. No more being trapped behind steel bars, no more listening to irritating conversations about these "ray guns", or whatever they were, and best of all, he could finally get revenge. His revenge.

Indeed, Squeaky was very much alive.

-

...Meh. :P Hope y'all find it at least somewhat mildly interesting! :)

~TLM

P.S. *Yeah, 'taste the delicious taste' sounds better. ^^

P.P.S. ** "It's so much fun not knowin' where you're goin'!" ^^