Matt kept his head down the entire walk back to the airship, his mind scrambled.
Was it okay to leave them? Maybe this wasn't a good idea… he thought.
This was just what you needed,Hacker said to him telepathically. They don't understand you like I do. I know you've been silently suffering. I've seen the pain and hurt in your eyes when that girl Inez looks at Slider the way she won't look at you. "I think of you like a son."
Matt looked at him in surprise. "H-how did you—"
"Telepathy, my dear Matthew, all just simple telepathy," Hacker explained.
Matt nodded. "So you can hear my thoughts?"
"When I want to, yes."
"Okay…"
"Some of your thoughts will be shielded from me as well, so don't worry."
Matt smiled. "Okay."
Hacker smirked and walked inside his aircraft, Matt following close behind.
Meanwhile, Jackie, Inez, Digit, and Slider started their search tracking down Hacker and Matt.
"Found their signal?" Digit asked Slider.
"No, not yet…" Slider mumbled, staring at the screen.
Inez still felt guilty.
Jackie sighed. "Hey, Matt's waiting for us to save him, even if he doesn't seem like it, there's still some good left in him, but Hacker's trapped it. That Good Matt's waiting for you to free it. Do you think Good Matt will want you to be sad and blame yourself?"
Inez shook her head. "No… but—"
"We'll find him. And it's not just your fault. I doubt Matt will blame anybody," Slider said. "Well, maybe himself, but we've got to tell him that it's nobody's fault but Hacker for using Matt's weakness to control him. That's just shallow and stooping really, really low."
Inez stood up and wiped a hand across her eyes and nodded.
"Found their signal!" Slider cheered. A big grin broke across his face.
"Well, what're we waiting for? Let's go save Matt!" Jackie said.
Inez felt a huge weight lift off of her chest.
OOooOO