Note: Any of the characters in this fic associated with Cyberchase, sadly, do not belong to me. Ivy is the only original character that I have.

Well, it took me a while, but I finally got Chapter 3 done . . .I'm so proud of myself! Pat on the back for me! 8^) School is becoming rather hectic at the moment, so it might be a while until I get the 4th chapter up . . .but only time will tell . . .cause even I don't know how much free time I'm going to have on my hands!

Alrighty then! On with the show!

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My One and only: A Cyberspace Story

By Dramaqueen-8.0

Chapter 3: A Desperate Attempt

* * * * *

It had been just three days since Ivy had first emerged from the pod, baffling the three of them; surprising Hacker most of all, considering that he'd had something entirely different in mind.

Instead of a son in his mid twenties, who would have turned out to be just as evil as his creator, the cyborg was now stuck with a mere child of age five . . .and considering his luck, there wasn't a drop of evil in the girl.

Although, there had been an intimate father-daughter scene between the two, this being the first time that The Hacker had ever shown true emotion towards anyone. Unfortunately, the only one to witness this rare moment had been the girl herself, who, at the time, had also been expressing her compassion. It would be quite some time before moments like this were to occur in the view of others . . .perhaps never.

Naturally, the villain had no problem with this whatsoever. In his opinion, the fewer people that new about Ivy, the better. The last thing that he needed was mockery from his enemies. Even though he secretly cared for the girl, as much as he hated to admit it, it just wouldn't be acceptable to his reputation if those who opposed him knew that he now had a weakness . . .a soft spot. He would pale at the mere thought of it.

After the touching scene, Hacker had put off testing the child, and instead decided to go over the data from his computer. No matter what he tried, the data still came out the same, saying that after a certain amount of time, the machine had followed his specific instructions, allowing the pod to open at the exact moment that the subject had reached the completed age of five years. This was not what he had inputted into the database, even though it was possible that he might have made some mistakes in his previous equations, it still puzzled him immensely that the computer could have been off by so many years!

It would all become even more confusing for him, as the computer had failed to mention when he had given it the implication that he had wanted the subject to be female instead of male. After many frustrating hours of sitting in front of the glowing monitor, he finally decided to put it aside for the time being, hoping that the problem would solve itself.

He had a much larger one to deal with at the moment . . .parenthood.

This also caused him to pale.

* * * * *

"You're it!" Ivy laughed with delight as she ran around the table of the control room, trying to keep as far away from Buzz as possible, who, at the moment, was now 'it' in a game of tag.

"Oh, no ya . . .don't," he panted, as he did his best to keep up with the toddler. "You can't . . .get away dat' easy . . .Kid."

Even as he said this, he was already slowing down, finally coming to a complete stop. Ivy had run all the way out of the room, as happy as ever. She had gone off to find a place to hide, thinking that she was still being pursued.

Buzz took a few deep breaths before finally trudging over to the second nearest chair, since the first was already being occupied by Delete, who was still breathing heavily from when he had been chasing the girl. The shorter robot did his best to feebly pull himself up into the chair, collapsing into a heap.

"Holy cow, Buzzie!" Delete had caught his breath and was now trying to slowly sit up in the chair, looking over the table at his brother. "How can somethin' so small have so much energy!? I mean . . .I know she's young, and all, but you'd think that she'd run outta' steam sooner or later!" He rested his head on the cold, steel table, his eyes half open. "Right?"

"Yeah," Buzz responded, without looking at him. "But one 'ting is for sure . . .she most definitely did not get all dat' energy from Hacker, lemme tell ya." He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "No sir . . .you won't find da' boss runnin' around, playin' kiddy games . . .especially with dat' much power! I have no idea where dat' came from!"

Delete sat all the way up. "Where is the boss, anyway? I know he doesn't like kids, but shouldn't he at least be spending SOME time with her?" He looked into the direction of the doorway that she had left through. "After all, he is her father."

Buzz, having caught his breath as well, sat up to look at the taller robot. "Are you nuts? Da' boss is goin' just as crazy as us when it comes ta' dat' little menace!" He pointed over at the open doorway with his thumb, then bringing both hands down to his sides, slumping back into the chair, still rather exhausted. "Don't get me wrong, she's a good kid. But when it comes ta' all dis' quality time stuff, da' boss don't have a clue as ta' what he's doin'! None of us do! He may not wanna admit it, but we need help."

Delete had been rubbing the sleep out of his eyes when this had caught his attention. "Help?" He looked up at him. "Whadda ya mean by 'help', Buzz?"

Buzz sighed, sitting up again. "You know . . .help. As in taking care of her properly. Like what ta' feed her, how ta' dress her, all dat' girly stuff!" He crossed his arms, mumbling. "It makes sense why Hacker wanted a son instead of a daughter." He looked back up at Delete. "We don't know da' first 'ting about how take care of a kid, let alone a girl!" At this, he threw his arms up in aggravation.

"You're right," he sighed, scratching his head. It was true that none of them knew how to actually manage a child . . .especially a girl!

That was the main reason behind their employer's need for an adult subject. They knew very well that Hacker was not good with children, even one as lovable as Ivy. But since the henchman knew nothing about what had happened in their room a few days earlier, they were under the impression that Hacker didn't care much for her. Therefore, they felt that it was their duty to handle most of the parenting.

After a moment of silence, Delete finally spoke. "So, do ya' think the boss will even want help? You know how stubborn he can get when it comes to getting help from someone else!" He too slumped down into his chair, in desperate need of a nap. "Besides . . .who would be willing enough help someone as evil as The Hacker . . .?"

The two sat in silence once again, thinking about the problem at hand. Suddenly, as if in unison, both robots sat upright, now very much awake, as an idea had just occurred to them. They both looked at each other questioningly.

"Delete," Buzz began, rather uneasily. "You don't 'tink dat' . . ." He trailed off, looking up at his younger brother.

"Maybe . . ." Delete fidgeted by tapping his fingertips together. "I mean, who else is there, Buzz." He leaned in closer, so that only the two of them could hear. "But will he want to? After all . . .with what happened back on Pompadoria and the wedding and-"

He was cut off by Buzz's hand holding his mouth shut.

"Quiet, Deeds!" he hissed, looking from side to side, then back at Delete. "You know how embarrassing dat' was for Hacker! We're not supposed ta' bring it up, remember!?" He slowly released his grip.

"Sorry . . .I forgot," he whispered, rubbing his muzzle. "But what if because of the . . .ya know . . .would he even think about asking?"

Buzz shook his head. "The question isn't whether or not he would do it. If he gets desperate enough, he most likely will."

He glanced around the room nervously again, this time lowering his voice a considerable amount. "But will SHE still be willing to help HIM . . .?"

* * * * *

Ivy skipped down one of the long, metallic hallways of the Grim Wreaker, humming to herself as she occasionally stopped to take a look inside of the rooms as she went. Naturally, she had gotten bored with Tag and was now looking for something else to do. So far, she hadn't found anything worth expanding her curiosity.

Over the past few days, she'd become very familiar with a lot of the rooms aboard the ship, wandering in and out of the open doorways as often as she pleased, exploring whatever treasures they might contain. And, considering the owner of the ship, there weren't too many things of interest for a child to find.

She passed Buzz and Delete's room, not really bothering to stop and explore the already too familiar space, seeing as how that's where she'd been staying for the past few days. Delete had given her an old shirt that she could use as pajamas, since the only other thing that she had to wear was her black jumpsuit, which she now wore.

She had stopped skipping, and instead was now jumping from tile to tile on the floor while still humming. She was about try and jump over three at once, when she heard something coming from down the hall in front of her. She froze, listening for whatever it might be. After a moment or two of silence, she heard the same sound as before.

It was a voice, and it would become silent every so often, as if it were engaged in a conversation. But she didn't here anyone else speaking, just the one person.

Ivy smiled.

Knowing exactly where and who the voice was coming from, she resumed her skipping, heading for the source.

* * * * *

Hacker moved his head from its resting-place on his propped up right hand over to his left, releasing another frustrated sigh. He'd been looking through every phone and address book that he could find, searching for some way of locating information on children, as he still had no idea what he was supposed to do with a five year old.

Seeing as how Cyberspace had become the perfect place to start a family and raise children without any trouble at all, there really hadn't been a need for information on the subject for quite some time. For him, however, it was becoming ridiculously inconvenient.

Every now and then, he would find something, but then realize that it required the parent be at a certain place in person with the child, contacting someone by phone, or giving out personal information. All of these he'd considered being out of the question. He intended on keeping the girl a secret, which meant outside contact involving him to be seen, or heard, wasn't going to happen.

He picked up a nearby pen and began to write something down on a pad of paper. He would then scratch it out in frustration, as it hadn't been what he was looking for. He began to tap the end of the pen on the metal surface of his desk while he became deep in thought.

'How am I supposed to find information on something like this!' he thought, reaching for the last phone book in his possession. 'I'm THE Hacker, for crying out loud! I shouldn't have to bother with things like this!'

He angrily flipped through the yellow pages, looking for the keyword in mind; childcare.

'Why couldn't I have paid more attention to those calculations . . .maybe then I wouldn't have to sit here, looking through every single phone book known to-'

He stopped in mid-thought, as he had come across a certain page in particular. It didn't contain what he was looking for; it had just caught his eye . . .

It was an ad for information on spells, potions or just decorating ideas. There was a number listed below. But it wasn't the ad itself or the number that had gotten his attention . . .it was the name of the person who had placed the full-paged ad.

The Wicked Witch.

He observed the page in silence, recalling his "partner in crime".

Well, it was more like ex-partner now, considering what had happened on the cybersite Pompadoria. He had to admit that her pretending to be the long lost princess of the site was ingenious . . .he was just humiliated at the mere thought of what he had attempted that day, in order to gain control of one measly little cybersite.

Marriage.

He rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "The things I do for power," he mumbled to himself, as he resumed tapping his pen on the desk, going into deep thought again. But this time, it wasn't about Ivy . . .

He knew that it was ridiculous of Wicked to only pretend to be royalty in order to marry him. But he didn't know which was worse . . .the fact that she hadn't let him in on the scam that she was a phony, or that he had basically left her at the alter, not saying a word to her. After all, he may be pure evil, but that was no excuse for not being a gentleman about the whole thing. The least he could have done was to tell her that he couldn't marry her, rather than just high-tail it out of there the moment that he'd discovered she was a fraud!

Hacker sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

He hated to admit it, but he actually felt a little guilty about what he'd done. He might have actually apologized if they had spoken at all recently. But he hadn't seen or heard from her since the wedding, which had to have been at least two months earlier.

As he continued to eye her phone number, an idea began to slowly form itself.

Wicked was a woman . . .Ivy was a little girl . . .

He rubbed his chin in thought. This might be the answer he was looking for . . .if she wasn't still angry with him, that is.

But he found it hard to believe that she could still be sore at him for this long. The very idea of it sounded hard to believe on some levels . . .

Wasn't it . . .?

He shook the thoughts of guilt and sympathy from his head, feeling ridiculous for thinking like a "good guy".

He then eyed the far end of the room, spotting the phone, wondering whether or not it would be a good idea to call her. His main concern was actually set upon how Wicked would take the news of him becoming a father, and if she would be willing to help him out.

He stood up, heading towards the phone. As he reached his hand out to pick up the receiver, he stopped, letting his hand rest lightly on top of the phone.

After staring at the lifeless object for quite some time, he finally takes a deep breath, exhaling slowly. He reaches out, picks up the receiver, and begins to slowly dial the familiar digits. He then listens for the ring on the other end, preparing to sound as charming as possible.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three ring-

"Hello?" A feminine voice had answered the phone. A voice Hacker knew all too well.

"Wicked!" he beamed. "How are-"

He was cut off, however, by an ear-splitting CLICK on the other end, signifying that not only had she hung up on him . . .she was still sore at him.

"-you." He finished, a little surprised.

He sighed, looking down at the receiver in his hand. "Yep . . .still mad."

And with that, he pressed the re-dial button, knowing that, from past experience, if he called her again after she had hung up on him, like she had just now, more so than not it wouldn't happen a second time.

Then again, he'd never left her at an altar on her wedding day in previous occasions . . .

This time, it took six rings for her to finally give up and answer the phone, annoyance lacing her every word as she spoke. "What is it, HACKER? I'm a little busy at the moment." She had gritted her teeth as she pronounced his name, giving him the impression that sweet-talking her wasn't going to work this time.

Hacker raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Busy? What, on a Saturday?"

It was time to try another approach; flattery.

"My dear, you work much too hard for someone as successful as yourself! Why, with how well known you've become, I'd of thought that you'd have a few people to do this work for you. After all, you do deserve it."

"I'm not working on anything for business, at the moment, Hacker." She clearly wasn't buying his act of innocence and didn't want to hear anything else that he had to say. "I'm a little preoccupied with other matters. Now, unless you have something to say that's actually WORTH hearing I suggest you not even bother wasting your time talking to someone who won't listen."

Hacker didn't know whether he should keep up the charm, or just cut to the chase, hoping that perhaps she'd help him in spite of their differences. After a moment of silence, he finally knew what had to be done.

"Well?" Wicked asked impatiently, sounding ready to hang up again.

He gave another sigh, taking a deep breath of air.

"Well, actually, Wicked, considering what I've done to you recently . . .I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that what I'm about to tell you is something that has been putting me through quite a considerable amount of torment and uneasiness."

He smirked, thinking. 'If the thought of me suffering doesn't do the trick . . .nothing will.'

Wicked's end of the line was silent for so long, he thought that he would have to call her for the third time.

After what seemed like an eternity, she responded.

"I'm listening . . ."

* * * * *

As she approached the entrance of the laboratory, Ivy could now fully understand what her father was saying. Peering her head through the open doorway, she could see that his back was to her and he was talking on the telephone. He was now seated at his desk again, fidgeting with his pen nervously, as he was doing his best to come to the end of his odd predicament.

"And that's why I called you, Wicked. I don't really know what else to do . . .but seeing as how you're still upset with me, I'll doubt that you'll want to help me with this, and I'll also understand if you don't want to."

Wicked, who was baffled by the entire story, just stood there, holding the receiver to her ear, trying to take in all that Hacker had said. She knew that it wasn't like him to sound courteous . . .unless he wanted something, that is. Still, considering the situation he was in, she couldn't blame him for being a little desperate, especially if it meant calling her, knowing that she was still angry with him for what he had done to her.

Wicked was silent for a moment before she finally omitted a sigh in defeat. No matter how angry she would be with him, she could never turn him down when he sounded so pathetic and guilty like this. He may not have done it very often, but it was a sad attempt every time.

"Hacker . . ." she shook her head, not believing what she about to say. "You mean to tell me that you tried to create a . . .child!?" She found it rather difficult to say this last word.

"Well, not a child," he said, "but rather a son, old enough to be my heir . . .you know if I ever, uhh . . .you know?" This conversation was becoming a little uncomfortable for him for some reason.

"Okay, fine. You tried to create an 'adult heir', but instead you ended up with a . . .little, girl!?"

"That . . .would be the gist of it, yes."

"So," She was now doing her best not to laugh. "You . . .THE Hacker, the Scourge of Cyberspace . . .the King of Chaos . . .are a, f-father!?"

He sighed. "Yes, Wicked. I, THE Hacker . . .am a," He rubbed the temples in between his eye, as he could feel a headache coming on. ". . .father."

She couldn't stand it. She finally burst out laughing, bringing tears to her eyes. All Hacker could do was remain silent, tapping his foot, waiting for her to get it out of her system.

Wicked was laughing so loud, that Ivy could here it clearly from her spot at the doorway. She smiled, putting her hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing. Unfortunately, a small snicker had alluded her, causing Hacker to turn.

She gasped, "Uh-oh."

She tried to duck out of sight, but he had already seen her, causing him to grin . . .but only slightly.

"Well?" He asked, turning his chair to face the door. "Are you going to just stand out there laughing, or would you prefer to come in here, so you can mock me right along with her?" He pointed at the phone.

The girl slowly came into view, coming in front of the door. Ivy grinned innocently. "No, that's okay. I'm done now!" She walked all the way into the lab, standing in front of him. She reached her arms up towards him, indicating that she wanted to be picked up.

The cyborg raised an eyebrow at her action. He looked down at the phone in his hand, where Wicked is still heard laughing hysterically. He looked back down at the girl, finally shrugging, setting the receiver down on the desk. He reached down and picked her up, setting her on his lap.

"Who are you talking to?" she asked, pointing at the now abandoned phone.

"Oh, just a friend." He looked down at the phone. "I think . . ."

Wicked began to settle down a bit, mainly because it was causing her sides to ache. She wiped the tears from her eyes. "I, I'm sorry, Hacker," she chuckled weakly. "I couldn't help it! But you can't blame me, though, can you? I mean, you, a father?" She started laughing again, despite her exhaustion.

It was Ivy's turn to raise an eyebrow. She looked up at him. "What's so funny, Daddy? How come she's laughing at you?"

He was about to answer her, when he heard Wicked's voice again. "Oh! Is that her? Well, by all means, put her on!" She was doing her best to sound serious, but was failing.

Hacker looked down at the phone, then at Ivy, not knowing if it was a good idea. He scratched his head, reaching down to pick it up. He continued staring at it, thinking.

Wicked spoke again, this time annoyed. "Hacker, if you want my help, you're going to have to let me speak to her eventually. Now, give her the phone!"

Hacker sighed, handing the phone over to Ivy, still rather reluctant to do so.

She gladly accepted it from him, smiling as she spoke into it, trying to sound as social as possible. "Hello?"

Wicked, who could feel another laughing fit coming on again, tried to remain under control. "Why, hello, dear! And what's your name?"

"Ivy," she responded sweetly.

"Ivy!?" Wicked was caught off guard for a moment, not believing that something so sweet sounding could come from a man like Hacker. "Well, uh, that's a . . .pretty name! Did you pick it out yourself?"

"Uh-uh!" She shook her head. "My da-" She stopped herself, looking up at Hacker. "I mean, The Hacker, gave it to me . . ." She looked up at him for feedback, to see if she had done well. He nodded. She returned to the conversation. "Yep! He named me! I like it!"

"Oh, HE named you?" She was even more surprised at this. "How very . . . 'fatherly', of him." She was beginning to feel a bit concerned now, wondering if the cyborg had lost his mind if he had actually named her.

Wicked, who also wasn't too great with children, tried to think of something more to say. "How old are you, Ivy?"

"Um," Ivy looked down at her free hand, counting her fingers. Hacker saw this and shook his head.

"Five," he whispered to her.

She smiled up at him again before speaking into the receiver. "Five!" she said proudly

"Uh-huh . . .?" She figured that she might as well sound as motherly as possible. "So, Ivy, how are doing over there? Have you eaten anything since you were . . .uh, created?"

"Hmm . . ." Ivy scratched her chin in thought. "Well, whenever I go into the kitchen, Buzz and Delete give me a donut! I really like 'em! Especially the ones with sprinkles!"

"Donuts?" she asked, astonished.

"Yeah!" The girl continued, not realizing that what she was saying was a bad thing. "And when I'm thirsty, I just get a soda pop out of the fridge! They have a lot of that stuff here! I must have had, like, a million cans of it!"

"You mean, all you've had is donuts and soda the entire three days that you've been there?"

"Yep! Pretty much!"

'What in the world is that man thinking!?' The witch thought in disgust.

"Dear, I hate to ask but . . .have you even had a BATH while you've been there!?"

Ivy was confused again. "Bath? What's a bath?" She looked up at Hacker, who had slapped himself in the forehead after hearing this part their conversation. "Daddy, what's a bath?"

He looked down at her, at a loss for words. "Well, uh-"

Wicked just about lost it. "DADDY!?"

He went wide-eyed, taking the phone away from Ivy. "Wicked, let me explain- "

"Are you insane!? Feeding her things like donuts and soda!? And she doesn't even know what a bath is! She's a child, Hacker, not one of your dimwitted assistance! And why in the name of Cyberspace is she calling you 'Daddy'!?"

"Well, there! You see? That's exactly why I need you . . .er, I mean, your help! I need your help!" He looked down at Ivy, who still had a look of confusion. "Um, Ivy, why don't you go find Buzz and Delete and play a game with them, or something?"

"But I just got done playing Tag with them! I think they're tired!" She now expressed a look of sadness, as she had wanted to play with him. "They look like they need a nap, anyway."

'How could someone of my blood have concern for those two idiots!' he thought to himself before rephrasing his question, setting her gently down onto the floor. "Well, just go tell them that I TOLD them that they have to play with you . . .alright?"

She looked up at him in silence before sighing sadly. "Okay . . ." She then turned, leaving the room in disappointment.

Hacker looked after her, making sure that she was now out of earshot. He then returned his attention to Wicked.

He lowered his voice, becoming desperate. "Wicked . . .I know that you and I have our differences at the moment, but, this doesn't have anything to do with me or any of my plans to bring down Motherboard and take over Cyberspace . . ."

He paused, thinking about this. "Well, it did . . .but it doesn't now!"

He waited for a response to come from her end of the line. When there was none, he continued. "Wicked, you know that I don't say things like this very often but," he looked uneasily around before resuming. "Please, I need help with this . . .if you won't do this for me then, well, do it for the girl."

Wicked was shocked at this Hacker could tell, as he had heard a gasp from her end.

"Please . . .?"

Wicked didn't know what to say now. She'd thought that she had made it perfectly clear to him that she didn't want to have anything to do with him right now. But after hearing this pathetic attempt of his, she felt that there was something that she had to do for the girl, rather than Hacker himself.

She was silent for a while, before finally giving him a somewhat regrettable answer.

"Hacker." She now sounded stern, causing Hacker to give her his full attention. "I am going to help you-"

He exhaled in relief, thinking he was out of the clear. "My dear, you have no idea how much this-"

"Let me finish." She sounded even sterner now as she cut him off. "I am going to help you, BUT, it won't be for you personally . . .it'll be for Ivy. Seeing as how you have NO IDEA what you're doing over there, you leave me no choice but to assist you. Now . . .I will be over there tomorrow morning-and don't tell me that you would prefer the afternoon, because I know how late you sleep in!" She had cut him off again, as this was exactly what he was about to suggest.

"Yes ma'am." He responded, not wanting to anger her any further.

"Alright then . . .I will be there at 8:00. I have A LOT to go over with you. This includes your two idiot assistance. Knowing you, they'll probably end up being the ones who take care of her, anyway."

He was about to disagree, but stopped himself. He knew that it only frustrate her more. Instead, he just gave his approval. "Whatever you think is best." Then, just to sound more grateful, he added, "You're the boss!"

"That's right." She said before hanging up on him. "And don't you forget it . . ."

The line then went dead.

Hacker just looked down at phone in his hand, listening to the tone. After a moment, he finally pushed the disconnect button.

He got up and walked to the other side of the room, placing the receiver back in its place.

While doing so, he shook his head. "The things I do . . ."

He then turned toward the door of his lab, heading into the direction of the kitchen.

To be continued . . .

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Well, that's it! Please review! ;)