Wickfield

Meltdown
“Are you working hard, Dexter, or hardly working?”
“Working hard, Mom.  Mrs. Wolfberg likes to give out lots of homework.”
Mom reached to ruffle his hair.  “That’s my smart boy. Dee Dee, hon,” she called, “keep an eye on your brother, I need to run to the store for some milk.”
“‘Kay Mom!” Dee Dee chorused from the living room, cranking up the volume on the TV until the funky beats of a Groove Train rerun filled the entire house.
Dexter waited for Mom to find her keys and shut the back door, then he pushed his fifth grade homework, complete and corrected for mistakes, to the back of the table with a scowl.  “I couldn’t have planned it better myself. Of course I did have to finish that carton of milk, but with Mom out of the way and Dee Dee…” he glanced into the living room where his sister slid moonwalking across the carpet.  “Hm.

Phase Three
When Dexter walked into the living room on Halloween night, Dee Dee was hovering near the door coated in about an inch of glitter glue while Mom struggled to strap a gigantic pair of cardboard wings to her scrawny shoulder blades.  “Hey Dexter!” Dee Dee turned and smacked Mom in the face with her wings. “Where’s your costume?”
I have decided not to participate in this year’s Halloween festivities.”
“Whaaaaat?” Dee Dee wailed at the same time Mom asked, “Why?”
“I am too old for trick-or-treating.  That is all.”
“Aw,” Mom swiped a tear from her eye.  “My little man’s growing up!”
“You mean you don’t even want any candy?”  Dee Dee demanded.
“No.  I only like vegetables.  Preferably green.”
Mom let out a sentimental sigh.  His sister was less impressed. “Dexter, you’re not just weird, you&

Phase Two
“So then I decided to use the leotard from last year’s recital, because it was pretty sparkly, and if you’re gonna be a fairy princess you gotta be sparkly, right?  So I’m gonna wear that, and my special tinsel tiara, and those funny doodle-bobbers to show I’m a mythical creature instead of just a regular creature, and then I – Dexter, I don’t think you’re listening.”
Dee Dee yanked on the little pair of boots peeping from beneath the Dexo-Robo’s severed leg.  With a tremendous growl Dexter slid forth on four wheels, covered in grease and filled with fury.
Dee Dee smiled.  “That’s more like it!”
“Dee Dee, can’t you see I’m busy?”  Dexter groped for a rag to wipe the grease off his face and used his wrench for dramatic gestures.  “I have to finish the repairs on my starboard…leg, it has sustained critical damage and how do you expect

Nemesis
An Ego Trip Fanfiction
by Wickfield




Phase One

“Warning, warning.  Information systems overloaded.  Secondary power supply activated.  Central control base overheating, atmospheric hydrocarbon levels climbing, evacuation protocol initiated.  Translation: You are in trouble, Dexter.”
“Yes, Computer,” said Dexter as he dangled upside-down.  “I can see that.”
Blinking and sputtering in the green-gray smoke, he strained for the thrust levers just barely out of reach, his harness cutting into his shoulder.   He heard a crackle in his headset, and then that obnoxious sound –
“Ha-ha ha!  Ha -ha ha ha ha!”
The windshield of his Dexo-Robo filled with glossy red and the enemy-bot soared up from below.  “So Dexter, what do you think about my new-and-improved laser blasters? No, don’t answer that