This takes place in the last Christmas year before The Hacker began working against Motherboard and disowned Digit.
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Fandom: Cyberchase Pairing(s): (brotherly) Delete/Buzz; (brotherly) Delete/Digit Words: 1,687 Warning(s): underlying evil tendencies; underlying abuse; inner turmoil
Green and red decorations are hung with care, all across the glorious Magnificent Raven, the pitch-black aircraft with sterling silver-tinted windows. Dr. Marbles had fun creating this with and for his son. Now, his son is growing up, and onto more enticing goals. He has two tween bots living on the ship as hired help, as well as a cybird child he had make-
shifted as the man had longed for biological companionship since his own parents had grown much too busy. The green-skinned man parades around his ship in a red-and-
purple jumpsuit, spreading Christmas cheer with spouts of songs.
"Whattaya guys up to?" The aforementioned cybird flies into the kitchen area.
The taller of the two tweens smiles over to his "brother", despite his actual brother's glares. The shorter one has never really trusted his boss, or his boss's kid . No one really, except his biological brother.
"Hey, Didgey. We're makin' a cake!"
"What kind?"
He really has no need to ask. His dad loves cake and his favorite is rich double chocolate in a puce-colored whipped vanilla icing. That is the kind his grandparents bake for most of the birthdays around here. His grandpa, the doctor, has been busy as of late. The same can be said for his grandmother she runs the central nervous system of Cyberworld.
"Double chocolate." The tween sighs, licking his lips. "Buzzy can't find the puce, though."
Puce is Digit's dad's, Hackle's, favorite color. So, it is always used as the coloring for the icing. Hackle is much taller than any of them, so Digit thinks about it a moment and flies to one of the taller cabinets. Sorting through the items, he located the puce coloring and hands it back down to them. The taller one, Delete, is ecstatic, while Buzz barely cracks a smile. Digit is fine with this. Progress.
In the main loading dock, Hackle can smell the cake baking through the variety of vents. His parents have yet to make an appearance. Only his dad had shown up for his birthday earlier in the year. His mother had sent her regards, but there had been more pressing matters for her not to come send well-wishes toward her son in person. Hackle had brushed it off, but he had also been aware of how the stress is tearing the family apart. Buzz and Delete aren't really his family, but they have nowhere else to turn. Digit is his only real family that he can be with. But Digit is too young. He will be just a tween next year, being two years younger than the help.
There is a pain in Hackle's head, like several screws coming off their hinges. He feels as though he may fall apart if his parents let him down again. They have already celebrated Christmas. Hackle had given out presents and received two gifts in return: one hand-
crafted from Digit and one shared by Buzz and Delete. It is almost a new year and the pains have increased. He hasn't reached out to a single parent, keeping to themselves on the Southern Frontier. There isn't much snow, but that isn't the point.
He knows his father is nearby and that his mother is still at work. She hardly stops anymore. He has a sickening feeling his father may be having an affair, as he knows how much time his father has been spending away from base, and he is almost positive it isn't a constant working call. Hackle puts on a brave face for his employers and, most importantly, his son. Yet, he can fee the deterioration before it has even begun. He is terrified of what might happen if he simply gives in. He isn't a quitter.
The cake is done, baked and iced. The family of four sit down to enjoy it as a meal. However, after they are done, the feeling is back. Buzz and Delete leave to clean up and Hackle is too hesitant to call for them to stay. He is afraid of losing them, while they are the closest thing to friends he has got. Digit sticks beside him, though, wondering aloud if something is the matter. Hackle chews through it, lying through his teeth, desperately hoping the scam will protect the ones he loves.
The next few antagonizing days pass slow for Hackle but quick for the others. He is in constant pain, but he manages to mask it for the others' benefit. Neither of his parents have made contact, unaware of how this is affecting him. He has turned down his favorite cake, desperately wishing they toss out all cake ingredients. He has appeared weaker, Digit and Delete have noticed. Buzz hasn't been focusing a lot on Hackle not that he does on a regular basis as is. Hackle has become exceedingly distant with everyone aboard his ship, and no one is allowed to enter his room.
He has now been shut in his room for the past forty hours. Nothing has been heard and Delete is more worried than the others just a notch more nervous than Digit. Delete has always been known to be a worrywart, but this is too much for him. Just on Christmas Eve, Hackle had been cheery. He had been singing along to carols, eating cakes and enjoying gifts. It is now New Year's Eve, and Hackle has gone silent.
The tall tween bot carefully sneaks into Hackle's room via the ventilation shaft. He is not sure at all what to expect, but he hopes the discretion is simply for more time to sleep, or maybe to unveil a new gift. What he finds instead, clenches his heart. His favorite employer is hunched over a work desk, possibly hungover and obviously sleep-deprived, dismantling something in his own chest cavity. Whatever he is doing, it is clearly near to his heart region which only concerns Delete more.
He watches as Hackle separates a few loose bolts and sutures a few loose ends together. It is unclear what the man's purposes are, but he seems to realize he is being watched. His hand retreats into his sleeve, returning instead as a multitude of instruments, closing his cavity like a guarded safe. Hackle moves toward his bed when the vent suddenly gives out. With a short-lasting shriek, Delete falls from his hiding place, and lands in front of his boss.
With an uncharacteristic sneer, Hackle leers over his employee. "What're you doin' in here? I told you, my room is OFF LIMITS!"
Delete flinches at the tone of the man's voice. He has gotten disappointed and a little mad before, but this is a new rage. It scares Delete and Hackle almost seems to enjoy the petrified look. He grabs the bot roughly by the scruff of his neck, carrying him out of the room, slamming the door. He throws Delete to the ground, storming away to the control room. Delete doesn't follow and, instead, tries to scout out Buzz. While doing so, he locates Digit first and the two are shocked when the airship hastily start quaking, preparing for an unplanned liftoff.
The ship veers in a sharp direction, barreling toward his childhood home. Digit and Delete are terrified as they go on a mad search for Buzz. The shorter bot is in the loading dock, being spun around and tossed in all directions as random objects keep threatening to strike him at any given turn. He is scared, thinking someone has commandeered the ship. His first thoughts go out to save Delete, then his boss and finally Digit. He manages to climb into a garbage chute and maneuver his way to the vent system through that.
There are only two hours left of the year, and Hackle can feel every lasting nut and bolt loosening in his wake. There is in intense pain in his head, as well as in his chest, causing violent twitches and muscle spasms. Buzz feels like a pinball, being thrown down a ton of tubes before not realizing where he is any longer. Delete and Digit stay side-by-side, even holding hands to maintain at least somewhat of a grip. The Magnificent Raven soon makes a crash landing into some deep rocks on the Northern Frontier not the original intended destination.
A loud, screeching howl erupts from Hackle's circuits. He begins to plot and scheme. He has no idea what he is doing until he is already working. Even then, his mind knows something but it isn't informing his brain. In a few hours time, Hackle has created a smaller hovercar. His eyes are maddening and he is now wearing a cape. He scours the ship, finding only Buzz.
"C'mon, we're leaving." He demands, voice surprisingly low.
"H-H-Hey, Boss." He answers dazedly. "Giv, Give me a sec."
Hackle quickly snatches Buzz's hand, dragging him along without waiting. He shoves Buzz into the backseat and calls for the other two. A few minutes pass and nothing.
"Delete! Get out here this INSTANT! You too, DIGIT!"
He can hear panicked scrambling and soon the two aforementioned are arriving over the wreckage. He quickly grabs them, stuffing them in back before he climbs into the driver's seat and speeds off. Digit knows there is a great change around the bend, and that it won't be good for a lot of people. He can feel it. Even Christmas had been different this year, though he had kept that hidden fact to himself. Not a lot of time passes, and soon they arrive to Control Central. His mother is so hard at work, she doesn't notice their arrival. His father isn't there, of course, and there are only a few minutes left of the year.
"Hello, Mother." Hackle derides, daintily waving to a computer head on a large multi-
colored screen.
"Hackle?" She replies in slight alarm. "Did we have something planned?"
"No, Mother." He almost growls. "We never do anymore."
"Hello, Digit." She acknowledges the cyberbird floating behind her son.
"Hey, Mother B." He waves. "How were your holidays?"
"Busy, Digit." She laughs good-naturedly. "Very, very busy."
At some point, Hackle stalks away. Digit continues his happy conversation with his grandmother though he would never actually call her that. Buzz and Delete remain in the car, nervous about the whole reason they've come here in the first place. They haven't come to Control Central in a very long time. Everyone is unaware of Hackle deteriorating in the corner, flinching and twitching in painful seizures just behind his mother's screen. Just before the countdown commences, an incredibly unbearable jolt shoots like a lightning strike up the course of his back. He lets out an extraordinarily bizarre, heated scream.
"Hackle, what is wrong?" Motherboard calls for her son.
"Everything, Mother." He growls with a threatening tone lacing his words. "Everything is wrong. Shouldn't you know that, Grandmaster of Cyberspace?"
"Hackle?" She sounds petrified, not just of her son, but for her son as well. "Talk to me, please."
"And what about Doc?" He struggles not to scream. "He's never around anymore, and you're just too damn busy. I've had ENOUGH!"
With this being his final word on the matter, he furiously wrenches out Motherboard's Encryptor Chip. The woman's facilities begin to fail and static breaks up her screen, as well as her words.
"Hack .le . why .. what .. happ ."
She attempts to call for Doctor Marbles but is terrified of the power-hungry, hateful cackling erupting form her son's circuits. Abruptly, Digit snatches the chip from Hackle, and places it back into its region while simultaneously calling for his grandpa. The doctor appears almost instantly and Hackle wrathfully grabs his son by one of his wings. Doctor Marbles stares down Hackle with a most disappointed and exasperating intent look. Motherboard is scrambling, unable to find words.
"Hackle, how could you? To your own mother?"
"Why don't you think about what you did to your own son?" Hackle spits back. "You've turned me into a monster. Congratulations. And Doc?"
"Yes?" He raises an arm toward the floating car as Hackle tosses Digit in and he slides in to drive.
"It's not Hackle anymore."
"It's not?" His voice is barely audible at this point.
His son glares back. "It's Hacker. The Hacker to you."
[][][][][][ I miss Cyberchase. I feel like all bad guys deserve a proper undesirable backstory since most children's show villains just are villains. No backstory to why or how, and I don't like that. I just watched this 2001 movie called "When Good Ghouls Go Bad". It was a kids' scary movie, but it was actually really good with funny parts and good special effects, and I normally don't like zombie movies. Anyway, one of the main zombies was Uncle Fred played by Christopher Lloyd. AKA The Hacker. Just something I thought I'd share. Thanks for reading. This is day 34. ][][][][][][]