Prologue

"So, are you really sure that you're going to be fine, Inez?" Jackie asked her friend, sitting on the bed where Inez was lying. Inez looked slightly pale, had several char marks on her body, and had a thick bandage wrapped around her still aching head. She appeared to be recovering just fine, but her condition gave Jackie every right to worry, especially since after what had happened just a few hours earlier.

"Yes, Jackie," Inez told her, sounding weak. "I'll be just fine…you guys can go ahead and sleep now."

"It's a good thing that we're still allowed to spend the night," Matt said in relief. "Whether you're recovering or not, Nezzie, we're still worried about your health."

"I told you, Matt," Inez said, sounding slightly annoyed, "I'll be just fine—" she coughed slightly—"And don't call me Nezzie, okay, Matt?"

Matt, noticing his mistake, nodded his head quickly and said, "Oh, right! Sorry about that, Inez…it won't happen again."

"It better not," Inez sighed; then she lay her head back down on her bed and said, "Now, let's just try to get some sleep before day breaks, okay guys?"

Jackie and Matt sighed, then nodded and went over to their sleeping bags on the other end of the room. Inez sighed and turned over on her back, looking up at the ceiling of her bedroom. After what had happened in cyberspace earlier, she was lucky to even be in here now, let alone have only a few injuries. The others in cyberspace were in an even worse condition than she was…

She continued to stare up at the ceiling, all sorts of thoughts rushing through her head; she had drowned out all sound, including Matt and Jackie's steady breathing from the other end of the room. What had started as an innocent sleepover at her house had become an intense chain of events that sooner or later led to them becoming the saviors of all cyberspace for eons to come.

She sighed, then looked toward the open window. With it being the middle of summer, a warm breeze was blowing through, rustling the curtains. She continued to run through the past events; thousands of questions popped into her mind as she did…

Finally, she could take it no longer. Sitting up at once, ignoring the pain from her burns, she reached toward her beside table and grabbed the pen resting on it, then, taking some paper up from the floor, started to write:

If you are reading this, you know not the events of the past. I have made my confession that I, indeed, am a traveler and savior of cyberspace. But I am not the only savior…I have two special friends, Matt and Jackie, that have helped me through this turmoil and horrid chain of events. Without them, I would not have made it.

But they weren't the only ones that helped me. Besides them, I now confess that I have cyberspace friends as well—there's my bird friend Digit, of course, and Motherboard, and Dr. Marbles. However, after this event I did what I thought I could not do. I befriended the two who had before been my mortal enemies…I finally saw their true colors, not the way they usually acted…I never understood before, but I guess that now I finally do.

I don't know why he saved me. I don't know why he chose to protect me. Perhaps he was dead tired of holding back on his chances. Perhaps he just decided that I chose to live, not to be crushed or killed. He almost killed himself in the process, but he's going to live, thank goodness. His brothers were injured as well, though not as bad as he was after what he chose to do.

I myself am pleased with them—all three of them. I'm proud with them finally putting the past behind them and accepting each other. I'm proud with them for finally discovering their true selves. I'm proud with them for taking the risks of suffering and death, and fighting to protect what they loved most. They suffered a few consequences, but they've finally settled it. They'll hurt each other no longer; they'll insult each other no longer; they'll leave the past events behind and finally accept the fact that they're brothers, all of them.

I now realize just what has happened around there, and why it had happened in the first place. We are now all closer together, with the possible exception of Hacker…he just doesn't seem to like anyone. Well, that's his loss, I suppose. Even after his team-up with the Doc, he still can't seem to accept anything…I suppose when you're an evil genius once, you're an evil genius for all time.

And what's queer is, we have no one or nothing to thank for this. I was only informed of this…it all started with the theft of some confidential blueprints…

She yawned silently as sleep finally began to overtake her. Setting the pen back on the beside table, she slipped the paper under her bed, then removed her glasses and set them next to the pen. She then took one last look at the open window, into the night, before she finally drifted into a dreamless slumber…