I know I haven't updated in months and I don't want to hear complaints and chidings from y'all, got it? I've been working on a bunch of stuff, personal projects outside the realm of FanFiction. I'm making an original comic - slowly. Spent a ton of time writing, storyboards are a bitch though. Also got set up on DeviantArt, in case anyone's interested, it's so yes, I have been productive in these months.

Personal stuff aside, this story is about to get more dramatic. Inez will show up...eventually...yeah. Warning, it's going to get a little...let's call it "icky" at the end. You have been warned. I'll try to update more since I don't have to focus my mind on writing my comic script anymore - guys I didn't read anything but comics all summer, you have to admit I've committed here. Anyway, enjoy!

A rooster crowed in the distance as the dew settled on the unmowed lawn outside Matt's high, slightly tilted bedroom window. Sleepy blue eyes blinked once, twice, sun shining right into darkly dilated pupils. The teen scratched at his shaggy head as he sat up and groaned as his mind began to clear. Matt swung his legs off the mattress, pale, freckled skin shining in the harsh morning light.

"Good morning sweetie," His mother's cheery voice called. Matt grunted in reply and shuffled into the bathroom. He grabbed a comb and began to tug at his long bangs. Calloused hands went under the faucet to splash cold water on his face. After toweling off, the teen glanced up to focus on a stubborn zit that had been irking him for at least a week. Inez was always telling him pimples were a normal part of being a teenager, there was nothing weird or ugly about him…Inez.

It all began to come back to him…the offer, the portal, and…Inez. Gone. Forever? No. Maybe.

Fist met marble countertop with surprising force. Matt looked up at the mirror and saw a trickle of water leaking from the corner of his eye…no. He wiped at the tear angrily and threw his clothes into the corner before stepping under the shower. The steady pounding of the water on his back lulled him into a daydream of the events of the previous day.

How had it ended up like this? Him, the level headed one, breaking down and having to leave the room to cry? Him, the strong one, needing a girl to pat his back and assure him everything would be fine? Was he really that weak?

"I'm not weak," Matt muttered, turning off the water. "I just wasn't fast enough. Today, we'll go save her like we always do." His mutterings continued back to his bedroom and through the process of pulling on a T-shirt and jeans. "We've done it a million times, and the Grimm Wreaker is easy to break into. Shouldn't take more than five minutes, really. But what was Digit going on about? Stupid bird," He shook his head before glancing back at the mirror. A pale, pimpled teen with a bad haircut wearing a baggy blue shirt with a faded Superman logo stared back at him.

The door slammed loudly on the way out, followed by a single word.

"Idiot"

The seatbelt clicked into place as the pickup truck roared to life. Driving from the country into the suburbs was always interesting…sort of like going from Cybersite to Cybersite, really. A new world every time you looked out your window. It would be fun to rescue Inez, Matt mused. Usually they just high-fived and ran back to Control Central to celebrate with pizza or something. But this time, maybe she would hug him. In fact, the look on her face when she got out of her cell would probably say it all. The big eyes, the sudden, bright smile of relief…a hug, maybe a kiss?

He shook his head with a smile. "Nah, it's not like that." Walking up the steps to Jackie's door, a thought struck him. Was it?

Luckily, Jackie stepped out to greet him. She smiled, lips shining with more of that glossy goop she loved to wear. "Hey! Ready to go?"

Matt nodded. She opened the passenger side door and paused. Already buckled in, Matt frowned. "You ok?"

Jackie shook her head as though ridding her hair of cobwebs. "Yeah, fine…just…you know, I usually wait a minute so Inez can sit in the middle."

Matt froze. He had made sure his truck had a bench seat as opposed to bucket seats so that he would never have to choose which girl to sit by. But looking back, Inez was always in the middle, next to him.

"Weird," He said idly, throwing the car into reverse as Jackie closed the door with a resounding click. They drove in silence, Jackie flipping through radio stations at random, finally stopping on some pop song. Matt groaned inwardly.

The mall was already buzzing by the time Matt's dusty pickup pulled in. Jackie commenced the traditional "dragging of the Matt" as she went from store to store, grabbing bushels of clothes, taking forever to try them on, and then discarding them all too quickly. After an hour, she turned on him with a look he knew all too well. Whenever the gang went shopping, Matt and Inez could follow a busy shopaholic Jackie around the mall for hours. The two of them would talk as Jackie shopped, content in their positions, until Jackie finished her shopping, and started on theirs. But today, with Inez gone, Matt got to enjoy the full brunt of Jackie's shopping enthusiasm. What seemed like hours later, a beaming Jackie led Matt out of the giant mall.

He couldn't help himself, he dropped to his knees once they reached the parking lot. "Sun! Beautiful, bargain free sunshine! Sweet pavement free of linoleum! How I've missed you!"

Jackie rolled her eyes. "And you say I'm dramatic." Matt dusted himself off after swinging up to stand again. A bit of his stomach flashed at Jackie as he stretched. He settled, leading the way to the truck. Within minutes they were driving again.

"So what should we do now?" Matt's eyes focused on the road, Jackie turned to stare out the window.

"I don't know, what do you want to do?"

"Whatever. I don't care."

The ride passed in a silence that continued all the way home to Jackie's house, up the stairs, and into her bedroom, where the door was closed with a click. Matt sat in her desk chair without hesitation, Jackie took up position on the bed. The clock ticked, Matt's fingers drummed and twiddled intermittently. He shook his hair out of his eyes with an irate sigh.

Jackie glared a bit. "What?"

"Can we just go to Cyberspace already?" There was no humor to him, only a tense anger.

"Matt, Inez is fine I'm sure..."

"You don't know that!" Matt lunged towards the bed, his lean figure hulking over Jackie's slim body. "Hacker is a dangerous man and Inez is so...you know...he could have already done so much, I keep getting these thoughts, like Inez is out there trying to reach me through, I don't know, telepathy or something! We have to help Inez, we have to save her!"

Jackie stood to place delicate, long fingered hands on Matt's forearms. "Calm down. How about this - we'll go to Radopolis. Slider is there, maybe he can help us. The more people aware the better, right?"

Matt sighed. "Yeah, okay"

The swirl of the portal seemed to suck Matt's stress and anxieties away. Perhaps it was the soothing combination of colors, or maybe the feeling of weightlessness as he and Jackie - and usually Inez - soared through time and space. By the time the two teens tumbled through the twisting portal and onto the giant skate park that was Radopolis, Jackie noticed he seemed much more relaxed. They walked briskly through Radopolis, following the smell of oil and machinery till they arrived at the garage.

"Slider? You there?" Jackie perched in the doorway looking about like a nervous deer.

"Yeah, hold on a sec!" Shortly, the tall, broad shouldered teen that was Slider appeared from the shadows of the garage. Oil smeared his hands and shirt as usual, bangs sticking together from sweat and sticky oil. Brown eyes smiled eagerly at his friends but sobered in moments. "Where's Nezzie?"

The story wasn't a long one to tell. Slider stayed silent through it all, though Jackie knew he was dying to ask the obvious question.

"Why haven't you saved her?"

Matt turned to Jackie. "Yeah Jacks, why haven't we saved our best friend from an evil and dangerous man, hmm? Care to explain?"

Jackie glared at the ceiling. Boys...idiots. "This isn't a simple kidnap and rescue, Matt. Hacker bought her from us, sick as it sounds, meaning that legally, he has every right to her. Inez is Hacker! property, and us rescuing her would be seen as theft. We need to plan, learn the law, get a lawyer, take this to court. It's the only way things can go back to normal."

"It's a little late for normal, Jackie." Slider spoke quietly, a sad whisper that echoed in the garage.

A dangerous hiss came from Matt. "What do you mean, "too late"?"

"It's only been a day - how much could have happened?" Jackie reasoned innocently. Matt turned to her, a million dangerous possible happenings running through his head.

Slider's chill voice brought them back to reality. "There's a difference between Earth time and Cyber time. One day on Earth equals one year in Cyberspace. It's been more than a day for Inez, it's been months since I last saw you guys..."

Guilt washed over Jackie and Matt, who gulped nervously. Matt made a quick subject change to relieve the tension. "But wait, if time passes so quickly here, why have you aged the way you have? Why isn't everyone we knew when we were kids old and grey by now?"

Slider smiled crookedly. "We're not real. Getting older is just updating our software, maybe a bit of hardware here and there - I could stay like this forever if I wanted. Of course I wouldn't, but you know, it's always a possibility."

The sound of their footsteps was nonexistent compared to the roar of grinding boards, whirring wheels, chains clicking, and the constant screech of tires of all sizes. Matt and Jackie looked around without thought, conversation unnecessary at this point. A sense of heavy unbalance hung in the air.

Out on a path somewhere, further from the densely populated city parks and garages than they had ever been before, Matt and Jackie kept walking, still not talking. They kept going till they reached the edge. Every Cybersite had its edges - places where the world just ended, or at least that part of it. Some sites were round, this was true, but most had developed from old chunks of computer bits and still weren't completed, even a world as advanced as Radopolis. It was like a cliff, though there was nothing to look down upon, just space and a million stars. They sat cautiously. Jackie swung her legs a bit, Matt tapped the edge with his heels. His sneakers felt a bit loose. Hopefully they wouldn't fall off, that would be a hassle to explain to his parents. Expensive to replace, too, money they didn't have.

"We'll search for her tomorrow, okay?"

Matt looked up, startled out of his thoughts. Jackie leaned back on her hands, shoulders hunched. He couldn't read her expression if he tried - not that he gave any thought to that sort of thing. He nodded. "Okay."

Jackie tried to bite her tongue, to stay quiet, but it went against her nature to do so and she knew it was futile to resist. "Are you worried?"

Matt balked. "What? Me, worried? About Inez? Of course not, she's gone missing before, she knows how to handle herself. Everything's going to be fine, it's just a pain we have to go through all this trouble to rescue her, so stupid." He stopped talking for a minute. "I'm not worried, I just...don't want to see her hurt. And Hacker could hurt her. I don't want her to be gone forever, I mean we fight all the time but it's usually just joking around, at least I'm joking. Without her here, everything feels weird, unbalanced. Like in the car, it was just us and we didn't have anyone squeezed in between, that's what we need, we need someone squeezed between us to make everything right."

Jackie put a hand on his shoulder, breaking him out of his ramble. "Matt, just...shut up for a sec, ok?"

She kissed him. Cupping his face to turn his lips to meet hers. She hasn't been able to focus, thinking and wondering. Maybe it was wrong to covet physical affection like this at such a time, but Jackie was awful at controlling herself. She had to test it, see if she was attracted to Matt or the person he could be. Matt was confused. Nothing was logical about this, so nothing was thought. All he could think was that this would be so much better if he had to bend down to kiss her, if that hand cupping his cheek so sweetly was smaller, the fingers stubbier and fleshier. This other girl, the one he wanted to kiss, that's who he was kissing in his mind. So when Jackie pulled back to look at him with her big brown eyes and flushed brown cheeks and full, glossy pink lips, Matt couldn't help the look of confusion and disappointment from overtaking his face so obviously. Jackie pressed her lips together.

"Sorry" She said it, both thought it.

No one spoke for a while. Someone had to or the situation would go from numb to awkward and from there sour and hurt. Jackie didn't look at him as she spoke. "What does one day in Cyberspace equal in Earth time?"

Matt thought for a moment, brow furrowing. "About...four minutes, I think."

She nodded. "Okay.

Matt nodded as well. "Yup." He stood, pressed a button on his watch. A portal spiraled into existence lazily, sparkling with the stars. "I'm exhausted, I'm going home for some sleep. You coming?"

Jackie shrugged. "I think I'll stay here for a bit more."

"How much longer?"

Jackie smiled coyly. "Oh, just four minutes or so."

Matt grinned, rolled his eyes, and with a little wave, he was gone. Jackie paced the edge for a bit, pretending she was on a tight rope. When she had kissed Matt...she couldn't help but wish he was a bit bulkier in the shoulders, a bit more square in the jaw. It wasn't superficial longings for a better specimen of a man or anything, Jackie simply couldn't help but imagine she was kissing someone else.

Her phone beeped. "Hey Slider, what's up?...Yeah, I'd be up for going to a race...No, Matt went home...is that okay?...oh. Great!...um, Slider...would it be okay if I stayed with you for a little while? I don't want to go home yet...okay, I'll be back in a bit. Thanks...bye."

Jackie closed her phone with a smile. She checked her watch. According to the tiny digital screen it was one am back home on Earth...four goes into sixty...fifteen times...an hour more couldn't hurt, right? Jackie smiled to herself. "Just an hour."

Matt lay in bed, the room dark and shadowy around him. Crickets and cicadas sang outside, but he didn't care to close the window. He wasn't tired. Wide, bloodshot eyes focused on the small digital clock on the nightstand, red numbers ticking away. Slowly, he counted the minutes. There. Four minutes. One day.

He rolled over onto his back, the bright numbers burned into his mind's eye. While he lay in bed warm, comfortable, and safe, Inez hopefully just survived another day with Hacker. What was he doing to her? Was he a horrible friend? And then that kiss with Jackie...wishing she was someone else...was it superficial longing for a perfect specimen or something more? Matt slammed his eyelids shut. He would sleep, and in the morning he would find Inez and he would save her. And if Hacker had a problem with it, too bad. Matt would kill him to get Inez back.

The party was in full swing. A bunch of friends lounging about enjoying each other's company, what more could one ask for? Hacker smiled at his melange of accomplices, nemeses, and friends.

"More drinks, anyone?" Hacker voiced the question in a light tone. His friends roared in support. Wicked was already giggling from her drunkenness, draping herself over whoever had the misfortune (or in some cases, fortune) to sit next to her. All were laughing, taking a break from plotting to drink till they forgot why they were so twisted inside, only remembering that drink was good, and more drink was better. Hacker snapped his fingers twice. Light, brisk footsteps padded their way over the tacky shag carpet to the group of evildoers.

"Be a dear and refill everyone's drinks, would you?"

His servant nodded with a slight bow. One hand held a tray of vodka and tequila bottles, the other remained modestly at her skirts. A stained apron was tied over a thin shirt that looked suspiciously like a piece of cloth tied to cover her modest bust. She kept having to kick her long skirt out of the way so as not to trip. Her hair was covered in dust. Eyes struggled to focus on her surroundings, though she never looked anyone in the eye. Hacker's friends took notice of her presence as she began filling their drinks silently, making her way around the room.

Wicked hiccuped, gave a nasty grin. "So, Hacky - is this your new girlfriend?"

All laughed. Hacker smiled. "She is my servant. I bought her from Motherboard last year."

An insane looking doctor peered up at the girl who leaned down to fill his cup. After pulling at her apron front to examine her desperately covered breasts, the doctor leaned back in his chair to address The Hacker. "Say, isn't this one of those annoying children from Earth who were always causing you trouble?"

Hacker grinned proudly. "She is from Earth, this is true, but trouble is no longer in her vocabulary. I have her trained, and trained well. Observe - Baskerville!"

Having just had his drink topped off, the villain in question sipped the clear liquid, eyes darting between Hacker and the round piece of meat to his left that was at such a lovely point for viewing. Worried he was in trouble, Baskerville gulped. "Sir, I did not mean to stare, she has an admirable figure is all, I..."

"Hush Baskerville, I couldn't care less about that. But if you're so enticed...give it a smack."

Baskerville almost fell out of his chair. "Wh-what?!"

Hacker smiled. The entire room fell silent, breath held at what would happen. Of course to a drunk this was all extremely dramatic - to most it would be a disgusting display of human ignorance and the truly twisted mind of a villain. "You heard me. Give it a smack."

She straightened sharply, eyes widening, back arching, when Baskerville's hand made loud, rippling contact. "Master, perhaps I should go..." Hacker pressed a button on his watch and Inez fell to her knees clutching her head, bowing to her master. The air crackled with the hiss of electricity. Inez's eyes bugged out from the shock of the pain. Hacker leaned down to grab her face and look straight into her eyes, brown mud meeting night sky black. His breath was hot and rank as he spoke breathily, voice tilting and lilting like a tipsy tightrope walker.

"Don't embarrass me now, my sweet Inez. Wouldn't want anything to happen to you, now would we?" He pushed her away, all howled with laughter. She stood, quivering, and nodded.

It soon became a game that even Wicked took part in. Inez walked the room in slow circles, refilling drinks. Whoever's drink had been refilled would then use her as a source of amusement in the form of some violation. They gave her squeezes and smacks, pinches and tugs, pulled her clothes up and down to their heart's content till her panties, the ones she had been wearing for a year now, the ones with the little purple butterflies on the waistband and the faded blood stain she had tried to scrub out and failed to, had been pulled down and off, and her apron top became untied so her tightly wrapped breasts were exposed to the crowd. They hooted and howled, enjoying how red her cheeks became, how her hands began to shake. Finally, Hacker yawned.

"Inez, come."

She walked to him quickly, hoping for a dismissal. Instead, he pointed to the ground. She resisted the urge to sigh as she got down on all fours, head hanging in what could only have been shame. No one cared to notice. Hacker placed one foot, then the other onto her bony back. A moment later, a cushioned blanket of sorts was put over her spine. Hacker sighed in contentment. She had become a piece of furniture. Inez stared at the floor trying to block out the plots and tortures and murders being planned around her.

Why did no one come for her? Did they not care? Fine. She'd just have to adapt to survive in this world of villains - and adapt she would. A glint of cunning came to her eye, a smile curved on her chapped and cut lips. The smile showed no happiness, only a twisted ambition, a dream soon to be a reality.

What do you guys think? Leave me reviews, and please don't give me crap for not updating fast enough - I know, I've been busy, alright? I worked three hours straight last night to write this, hope you enjoyed this, it was so much fun to write. Review!