It had begun like any other day in cyberspace. It had seemed like any other day in cyberspace. The kids, having received a message from Motherboard alerting them that Hacker was causing chaos in cyberspace once more, had gone into the cyber-world to try and stop him, as they always did. They didn't expect anything at all to be out of the ordinary. They thought that it would just be one of their usual days, stopping Hacker from taking over cyberspace, receiving praise from Motherboard and the cyber-citizens, and going back to earth, continuing on with their normal lives.

However, little did they know that today, that fateful day, would be far from normal. They only expected to stop Hacker and save Motherboard, and nothing else. They didn't expect what was about to come. They didn't expect the accident that was to happen on top of that building.

But perhaps if they had, they would've tried to stop it before it had happened. If they had refused to run on top of that building during the time that Hacker sent Buzz and Delete onto them, Jackie would've never done what she had done. And maybe perhaps if the building hadn't been so tall, they wouldn't be receiving all those signs…those awful signs…

Those signs that told them that their clocks were ticking…that time was running out. The signs that told them that an eye for an eye would surely prove to be one of the deadliest phrases alive…

FROM THE GRAVE

By Grand High Idol

Disclaimer: I do not own Cyberchase, nor any of its characters.

The entire incident that led to this horror took place on top of a building located in the cybersite of Valussa. Hacker had been after their main source of power, and thus the roots of the incident traced from here to the time the event finally took its gruesome place in their minds.

The kids had been standing behind an alley when Hacker came out of the area, a rather sour look on his face and his eyes narrowed in determination, taking long, slow strides. Buzz and Delete were trotting behind him obediently, as always, waiting for him to shout out a command so that they could please their boss. Hacker wasn't currently worked up about summoning them for anything at the moment; he was within the source of power, and the Cybersquad was nowhere in sight.

Still standing at the edge of the alley, the kids were now ready to make their introductory move in this mission. As Hacker approached the end of the alley, Jackie, Matt, Inez, and Digit, determined scowls set on their faces, leapt out from their hiding spot to confront him, standing in a line at the end of the alley, now directly in front of him, their hands on their hips. Hacker jumped backward a little, startled by their sudden entrance; Buzz and Delete did the same.

"Not so fast, Hacker!" Matt said angrily, holding up his hand to halt him.

Hacker had already been halted by their appearance, so this was no trouble. The man now stood in front of them, a dumbfounded look on his face for a few moments, until he finally regained his senses and said, angrily twisting around to face his two robotic henchmen, "Get them at once, you duncebuckets!"

Buzz and Delete, obeying their boss's command, nodded and saluted in response, then started heading toward the kids at a tremendous pace. The kids, knowing that they'd tangled with both Buzz and Delete before in their lives, didn't particularly want to be grabbed and pinned down by the force of their arms at the moment. Turning around quickly, the three of them ran—Digit went by flight—as the two robots continued to pursue them, with Hacker watching all the while, his arms crossed and a great look of bitterness contorted on his facial features.

The kids ran, their shoes thudding on the asphalt, as the two robots continued to pursue them. When their path became blocked by some type of empty store, Matt made a sharp turn left; the other three followed him. Naturally, Buzz and Delete followed the curve as well and continued their chase, their eyes now narrowed in deep determination as they picked up their speed. The kids noticed this, however, and increased their speed as well, panting heavily as they continued to flee.

They continued to run like this until Matt finally halted near a fire escape, stationed at the side of a rather tall building, six stories high, at the least. The other three halted, wondering what this was about, until Matt finally made his point by jumping up and grabbing the first rung of the ladder that led up toward the escape itself. He began to swiftly climb up, moving with the speed of a cat; Jackie and Inez then leapt onto the ladder, while Digit simply flew up toward where Matt was climbing—the very top of the building. Jackie and Inez were about halfway up when they heard a deafening CLANG noise, and looked below them; only to find, to their dismay, that Buzz and Delete had refused to falter for a moment and were still slowly, but steadily, gaining on them.

The kids were now atop the building and, pulling Inez up from the fire escape, Matt ran across the building's surface, heading for the edge in hopes of finding a safe place to jump to. He had no such luck upon coming to the edge, however, and, after casting a frightened gaze down at the street below, turned around just in time to see the two girls and the robotic bird standing next to him, staring at Buzz and Delete, who had reached the top of the escape and were now slowly and steadily advancing toward them, their arms outstretched as if they were zombies of some sort.

Jackie, who normally tended to being a drama queen, cast a frightened gaze down at the street far below her, then swallowed dryly and looked up toward Buzz and Delete again. She had never been that much afraid of them, but with the looks that they held on their faces now…they looked almost dead. She wished that they would stop it; she really did, but it didn't look like they were going to back down anytime soon.

Scanning the ground below her, she search for something—anything—that could possibly fend the robots off in time for them to arrive back at the fire escape, maybe go and catch up with Hacker later on. At first she could see nothing that would back Buzz and Delete down, but after a while she caught a silver glint out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head in that particular direction, she found, miraculously, a piece of broken pipeline, one edge dangerously jagged, lying about a yard or two away from her. She turned her gaze back toward the two robots, then swallowed again and looked back toward the pipe. If she could, maybe she could grab it and fend them off before either of them leapt for her or the others…

She looked back toward Buzz and Delete one final time, then finally decided to take the chance. Drawing in a short breath, she got low and dove for the pipe; Buzz was unfazed but Delete, noticing at once that she was going for it, uttered a low growl in his throat and lunged for her. Jackie, now within range of the pipe, noticed that Delete was coming for her and, uttering a gasp, finally snatched the pipe up from the ground and, sitting on her knees, lashed out and quickly swiped the pipe in a horizontal motion, near his chest.

She only meant to fend him off long enough for her to make a possible escape; she knew not what was about to happen. But if she had known, she would've tried to stop it. She would've tried to help him before he finally met his untimely demise below.

But no such luck was to be found in this precise moment. Not wanting to cut herself, that and the fact that she had not been paying attention to anything but Delete when she had snatched it from the surface, and had, unfortunately, struck at him with the jagged edge of the pipe. To her and everyone's horror, it had turned out to be much more jagged than it appeared. A loud SPLACCK sound shattered the air's silence; she finally summoned the courage to look up shortly afterward, then yelped as a stream of black blood nearly splattered across her face.

Looking at Delete, her breath coming in short gasps, Jackie now saw, much to her horror, that the jagged edges of the pipeline had struck Delete across the chest, where she had aimed, and had left a large, gaping cut that jutted out from his side and ran all the way up and across to his shoulder, considering the position that he had been in when she had struck him. Blood was now beginning to seep from the wound and down his shirt; he looked down at himself, then at her, then finally at the pipe—its jagged tip now stained with robotic blood—and gasped. He drew his hand up to his chest, clutching the wound tightly as more blood began to trickle down. It didn't seem to stop.

Jackie placed her hands to her mouth as she watched Delete start to stumble around like a wounded horse, obviously dazed from both blood loss and the sight of the wound alone, his hand still tightly clutching his shirt. Buzz turned and watched, too, a look of both horror and confusion on his face, but he refused to say anything for fear of breaking the silence or drawing the kids to his attention. He simply stood there, feeling like a complete idiot for not lunging for the kids when he clearly had the chance to do so, but then again he didn't want to be struck with Jackie's pipe, either.

The group of five watched as Delete continued to stumble, until he finally came close to the building's edge—too close, as a matter of fact; he was only a few inches from the metal railing that framed the building's roof. He was too busy stumbling around, surges of dizziness rushing through his head, to even consider this fact, however…he didn't notice until it was too late. And the horror that was to follow finally occurred, right in front of their very eyes.

The five's eyes popped open wide in horror, and their mouths dropped open, as with a loud "YIP!", sounding very much like a frightened puppy, Delete finally lost his balance and fell over the railing edge. All five of them then gasped as Delete let out a horrified scream, the kind that a terrorized woman makes, for a few seconds, until they finally heard an awful CRROOCCK sound, the same sound that breaking eggs make. All was silent then afterward…a very still, eerie silence that Jackie didn't like one bit…

After a while, Inez swallowed once or twice; her voice was caught in her throat, then finally said, her voice quaking ever so slightly, "O-oh m-my G-God…"

"Is he okay?" Matt asked, staring over near the spot where Delete had fallen. Jackie looked toward the rail as well, then bit one of her nails; she had a highly nervous feeling about what had happened to the robot after he had fallen. That sound…that awful sound…she would never be able to get it out of her mind…

"Only one way to find out," Inez said softly; getting to her feet, she slowly walked toward the edge of the railing, as if pulled by some kind of magnetic force, her eyes all the while locked on the railing edge. The others watched as she slowly leaned over the edge of the railing, looking at the street below her; she then immediately clapped her hand over her mouth, stumbled backward, and nearly fell back onto the ground. Matt, Jackie, and Digit could now see that she was visibly trembling.

Jackie suddenly had a very uneasy feeling about what Inez had seen on the street. "What is it?" she asked, sounding somewhat reluctant as she slowly got to her feet and ran over toward the trembling girl.

Inez refused to answer for a few moments, then finally summoned the courage to talk, although her voice was quaking all the while: "Y-you w-won't b-b-believe what h-happened t-to him…o-oh m-my God…it's s-so h-horribly disgusting…" She then turned away, her tanned face paling slightly as her eyes turned away from Jackie's.

Matt cocked his eyebrow with curiosity, then slowly and steadily moved over to the edge of the rail and gazed down at the street below, in the same direction that Inez had earlier. Jackie looked up and saw him scanning the ground for a few moments, then his eyes grew wide, his body froze, and his face turned the same color as Hacker's. Clapping his hand to his mouth, he quickly turned away from the rail, then started to run toward the fire escape that they had used to get up there in the first place.

Jackie's eyes followed him as he swung himself over and started to climb back down the ladder; Inez did the same after the shock had passed. "Matt, where are you going?" she demanded, shooting him a gaze of slight uneasiness.

"Down," was Matt's reply; he then disappeared from view as he continued down the ladder. Jackie sighed, then got to her feet, helped Inez up, and started to walk over toward the ladder; Digit slowly followed them. He hadn't said a word in the moment, but he had a horrified gaze on his face that suggested he was either about to run away screaming at the top of his lungs or vomit, one of the two. Jackie shot him a gaze of concern, then turned her head to look back at Buzz, who hadn't budged since Delete's fall. He was now staring straight ahead, near the spot where Delete had tripped, his eyes and his mouth both wide open in shock and horror. Jackie decided that she mustn't mind him, and continued her descent down the ladder, her hands shaking as she gripped the rungs.

When she arrived at the bottom, Matt had already turned the corner and, when the girls and Digit followed suite, they found him standing on the sidewalk, right next to the street, his back to them; however, they could clearly see that his body had gone completely rigid. He was standing in front of an object; it was blocked by his feet but the girls only needed one guess to figure out what it was. They shuddered at the thought, then stepped up beside Matt—

Then clapped their hands to their mouths to keep from screaming.

Just as they had predicted, Delete was lying on the sidewalk, sprawled out on his stomach. He appeared to have several broken appendages; one arm was bent back at an odd angle and his legs were sprawled in a rather unorderly manner. The other arm had come loose due to the impact and was close to hanging by a thread; they could see the wires…his face was not to be seen due to his positioning, but they knew that it probably was just as beat up as his body was. He was covered in streaks of black blood, and a small pool of it was slowly growing beneath him.

"Oh, man…" Jackie murmured under her breath as she eyed the battered robot.

It was then that Digit, who hadn't uttered a single word, finally spoke up. "H-he looks pretty b-beat up," he stammered, staring down at Delete as he said these words, the horrified gaze still etched into his face. "I w-wonder if h-he's still alive…"

"Well, only one way to find out," Matt replied, trying his best to sound brave but still sounding moderately frightened. He then reached out with his shaking hands and, sliding them underneath the robot's stomach, slowly flipped him over. The girls cringed as he creaked over onto his back, then finally got a good glimpse of his front—and gasped yet again.

The front was in an even more worse condition than the back had been; Jackie suddenly knew that the impact had been the thing that had done this to him. The chest wound was still visible, she could see, only it looked much more ripped up, and blood was still flowing from it freely, drenching his body in the substance. His face appeared intact for the most part, but when she looked closer she could see that the jaw had come loose from its hinges, and one or two of his teeth had fallen out. His eyes were still wide open in terror, and were leaking tears of blood down onto his face, leaving small streams on his cheeks as they stained the pavement. His eyes were still visible, but had dulled to gray and were coming close to blacking out entirely.

Matt, Jackie, Inez, and especially Digit all knew what this meant, and were horrified by it. Digit started stammering and finally hid his face in Inez's vest, Inez gaped at Delete open-mouthed, Matt made several frightened noises and put his hand to his mouth, then finally, slowly and steadily, picked up Delete's hand, gripping it tightly around the wrist. He felt it for a few moments—it was stone cold—then finally shook his head and dropped it.

"Well?" Jackie asked, clutching her hands tightly together as she looked at Matt, as if praying for some type of miracle. But of course, it would never come. Matt slowly looked up at her, his eyes still wide with terror, then finally said, in a voice that was slow and laced with pure terror:

"H-he's dead," Matt replied, starting to visibly shake to the point where his teeth were nearly chattering. "Stone cold dead…Jackie, you—you've killed him."