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Rachel did not swear. She never saw any reason for it, there were THOUSANDS of better ways for her to express herself, and she only knew two swearwords: shit and hell. However, since she was just sucked into another dimension, whatever rational part of Rachel was left decided this was as good a time as any.
As soon as Rachel hit the ground in Control Central, she jumped back up and stumbled towards Inez who was listening to Digit talk excitedly to her. Matt and Jackie both looked like they'd rather be somewhere else, especially Matt who was hurling over the guardrail . Rachel ignored them and grabbed the Hispanic girl's arm and began half talking half shrieking "Shit! Shitshitshit, INEZ WHAT THE HELL WHY, WHAT, HOW? THE HELL? WHERE ARE WE?"
A soft (but loud) feminine voice said from somewhere above Rachel "You are in Cyberspace."
Rachel looked up and saw a female robot on the giant screen. She opened her mouth in a silent scream, closed it, and let go of Inez's arm to lie on the floor in a ball while talking in an unnaturally calm voice "I'm high. That's it. Somebody slipped shrooms into my food and its just hitting me now. This is just a bad trip."
Jackie gave Rachel a half irritated, half quizzical look "A bad trip we're all having TOGETHER at the same time? Face it Feldman, THIS" Jackie swept up her arms and indicated the entire room "IS REAL! Motherboard has TORN us away from our lives AGAIN and, lucky you, YOU got DRAGGED into it too!" The older girl turned and glared at Motherboard "So, what was so important that you needed us on a school night? What problem couldn't you have solved yourself? Did Hacker build another giant plant or did he enter a skating contest, A SKATING CONTEST THAT ANYBODY COULD ENTER FOR SOME STUPID REASON, that determined the ruler of an entire site?"
Rachel partially recovered and stood on shaky legs "Wait...a skating contest? To determine a ruler?"
Motherboard looked sadly at Jackie but Inez spoke before she could "Leave her alone Jackie!"
"Leave her alone? Leave her alone?!"
Matt stepped in between them, still looking a little green, and snapped "If you girls start taking swings at each other again I swear I'll vomit on you both!"
Jackie glared at Matt "What, so you're taking her side now?"
"NO! I just don't want you guys to fight!"
Inez stated "Little late for that Matt.'
The redheaded boy rounded on her "Oh please Nezzie like YOU are innocent in all this! And besides Jackie's right! What was SO important that you needed to drag us here-"
Jackie interjected "Actually, Matt sweetie, you actually jumped in here to avoid our fight."
"And look how well that turned out!"
"SHADDUP!"
The teenagers looked at Digit in shock. Rachel blurted "He can talk? How is that possible? Why- nope I'm done. I'm lying back down until I ride out the high or wake up from this freaking nightmare."
Digit ignored her "You guys are supposed to be friends! Why are you fighting and being horrible to each other? Additionally, who's that and what's wrong with her?"
Jackie and Inez looked away from each other. Matt said softly "We haven't been friends for a long time Didge. We just...got older. It happens sometimes."
Inez added "Also, that's my best friend Rachel. She's having a series of nasty shocks."
"I see that."
Motherboard sighed "I guess I owe you kids an apology. I should have asked first but we're desperate. Hacker and Ledge have teamed up and its actually working to their advantage. They've taken over three cybersites and are working on taking over the rest of cyberspace. The only thing stopping them in the Infinity Line, a protective shield that surrounds myself and several other cybersites that was installed around three years ago and was actually the reason we never called you until now. They are trying to find the Infinity Stones-"
Matt whispered "What like the Avengers movie?"
The cyborg ignored him "Which power the Infinity Line. There are seven of them and the three cybersites they took over have three. The other four stones are safe for now but Ledge is trying to take those too. Hacker is guarding the other three sites."
Rachel, who had by this time recovered from the initial shock, raised her hand "Excuse me?"
Motherboard stopped and looked at her.
"Yes, um, I have SEVERAL questions. I'll limit myself to five. The first one is what are you talking about? Also, Who's Ledge? Who's Hacker? Why is everything named after either math or computer terms and what are cybersites?"
Digit explained for Motherboard "Your friend Inez is part of the Cybersquad which saves cyberspace from evil, Ledge and Hacker are the main aforementioned evils, I don't know, and Cybersites are kind of like small planets."
"Ah. I see. That clears everything up, makes perfect sense, and isn't utterly BATS!"
Digit turned to Inez "Is she always like that?"
Inez hesitated "Um...Yeah."
Jackie nodded "Yes."
Matt groaned "You have NO idea!"
"Great, because that might just be the attitude you guys need" Digit flew off "I'm going to get the ship ready. Next Stop: Radopolis. Slider and the other two are waiting. They'll help you on this one."
