A/N: Ok I know I said 2 to 3 weeks and it's been about 4, but you've got to admit I'm getting better! And to make up for the delay, it's a long chapter 4,550 words (9 pages on open office, woot!) long to be precise. And also I have a good reason for the delay this time. I just went to 2 sleepovers within 2 weeks, mine (for my sweet 16! yay! and yes I know the age on my profile had a typo, but it was only off by a year and now it's true! aaannnyyway, yeah up til 2am that night, up by 7 the next, or rather same :) morning!) and my bff/beta's (for HER sweet 16, again SO much fun, but up til 4 that time and up by 8) yes me, my bff and everyone else involved were/possibly still are, crazy but it was SO much fun and SO worth it! :) And then to top it all off I started school on the first of this month! (Junior year here I come! :) ok so that's my excuse (this time) for my crazy life and terrible time manegment skills! *strikes dramatic pose* and so until the next time I have to come up with am excuse for the crazy long delay...
Disclaimer: I don't own Cyberchase, or it's characters, it's owned by WNET, Thirteen WNET New York, and Nelvana Title Entertainment Inc. I merely borow them from time to time... :)
Chapter 2: Revenge
Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future is not come, and the present becomes the past even while we attempt to define it, and, like the flash of lightening, at once exists and expires.
-Charles Caleb Colton
~oO0Oo~
Discardia Junkyard
I never wanted to leave Radopolis, but I had no choice son.
Why? What happened?
"When I learned that Hacker planed to use the transformitron to take over Cyberspace, I refused to give him the blueprints." Coop sighed slightly. "What I didn't count on was his revenge, It happened a few days later, I was testing a new mono-line board when I suddenly realized Hacker had switched my helmet for one made of magnetite. All Cyborgs react differently to magnetite, some suffer more damage than others, some none at all. For me the damage was total, my hard-drive deteriorated, and I began to time I went to the only person I thought could help."
"Who?" Matt questioned.
"An old friend." Coop answered.
A feminine voice in the doorway spoke. "An old friend meaning little ole' me?"
The kids and Digit quickly whirled around, if not out of surprise, out of habit. Leaning against the door frame behind them was a brunette woman, in jeans, black boots, a gray top, and a black leather jacket.
Coop stood.. "Rylie, how..."
"Protocol Skater-boy," She walked over to the couch and sat down. "You really think the CSA wasn't going to have ship scanners planted here? Not to mention bug the cabin encase the wig-gel king got past the sensors."
He gave her a smirk. "Well, yeah I figured you would, but that wasn't what I was going to ask you, I was wondering how you got here so fast."
Rylie chuckled. "Oh, that, well we've got a base a few planets over."
Inez spoke up. "Ok I'm so confused here, it's not even funny."
"Yeah same here, what on earth are you guys talking about?" Slider questioned.
"When your father left, he asked his sister to take you in, because being the smart guy that he is, he knew what had to happen. Then came to me and told me what happened. And then we took his story to Motherboard and she had the CSA put him in the Witness Protection Program."
"Whoa!" Matt squeaked. "Rewind and freeze, your a CSA Agent?"
Rylie gave a mock salute. " Agent Rylie Jennings, at your service."
"Double Whoa!" Jackie grinned. "That is too cool!"
She grinned. "Yeah the job does have the 'cool factor'." Rylie turned to Slider. "When your father called me, I was already assigned to Hacker's case, so natch, it made me the agent in charge of your dad's safety - hence the reason I'm here now." She folded her hands in her lap and narrowed her eyes at Coop. "Now that I've answered your questions, care to tell me how they found you?"
"Oh...that...well..." He ran a hand through his hair. "I uh, left a map."
"Coop, you do realize what could have happened..." She sighed.
He cut her off. "Yes, yes, I know it could have been disastrous, save the lecture for when Motherboard finds out, Ryls!"
"Fine." She huffed and then turned her attention to the kids. "So why did it take so long to find said map?"
Matt spoke up. "It was in the back of a picture frame."
"And I never had any reason to open it up," Slider continued. "And probably never would have, if it hadn't been for Digit falling and breaking it open. And..." He gestured toward Matt, who took something from his backpack and tossed it to him. "Here's the INC." He handed it to his father.
Rylie's head shot up as Coop smiled. "Well done son."
"Wait a minute," She stood. "You told us you destroyed EVERYTHING in context with that machine, Coop!"
"No," He started slowly, knowing if he didn't word this right, he was toast. "I said I destroyed all the plans and blueprints, and I did."
"But you said you were still in the planning stage so we assumed that was all you had!" Her voice raised an octave.
"Never assume Ry." He grinned sheepishly at her.
"Bite me." She stuck her tongue out at him and plopped back onto the couch.
Coop chuckled. "Well at least it's in good hands now."
Jackie laughed. "Yeah and Hacker's goin' bonkers lookin' for it!"
Rylie looked up and Coop spoke quickly. "That's bad Jackie."
The girl looked at him questioningly, and Rylie groaned realizing there was trouble ahead. "It means he's somehow recreated the blueprints and built the transformitron."
"I don't know how exactly, but it's possible." Coop sighed.
Matt looked at the older man with a puzzled look in his eyes. "I don't get it Coop, what exactly does the interface card do?"
Coop answered with a worried look. "Hacker needs it to connect his computer to the transformitron, then he can program it to transform himself, into anything he chooses."
Just then a sickening BANG echoed throughout the cabin.
Digit yelped. "What was that!"
More bangs and new crunching noises rang out, the walls shook and slowly started to rise, as all this was going on Rylie's 'Agent mode' kicked into gear. She jumped off the couch and reached a hand to the belt under her coat.
As the walls rose high into the air, everyone but Coop jumped up from where they were sitting, and a man clothed in a magnetite proof suit walked casually into what was left of the room. Everyone instantly knew who it was. "Hacker!"
Deciding the best way to catch Hacker off guard was to tick him off, Matt chuckled at the green skinned man. "Nice suit."
Hacker opened the helmet of his suit. "That's THE Hacker to you! Mock me if you wish you irksome earth child, but this 'nice suit' as you put it, protects me from THIS." As he spoke, he brought his hand out from behind his back, exposing a large handful of magnetite. Coop jumped. "Magnetite!" Digit and Inez, knowing the disaster that would arise if the magnetite touched Coop, planted themselves in between Hacker and Coop.
After seeing the Slider backed up some and Rylie immediately edged herself toward the him hoping to shield the teen from the ambush plan she could see being formulated in the deranged man's mind. Hacker gave his signature evil grin. "That's right! Now hand over the interface card before I crash your hard-drive permanently!"
"Forget about it Hacker! I'm immune to that stuff! Remember?" Digit growled.
Hacker turned to Slider. "But he's not! Now hand over the NIC!"
Rylie knew it was now or never, the hand that had been lingering at her belt had since grasped onto a miniature two-shot magma bullet gun. She stepped in front of Slider, whipped the gun out and cocked it all in one swift move. "Don't move, I've got a bullet and I'm NOT afraid to use it."
Hacker slowly lowered his hands. "You know I wouldn't have done that if I were you."
As she opened her mouth to question him, she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. Before she could react, she was clubbed over the head by a teenager in a ski mask. She stumbled and cried out from the pain of the impact, but she was still on her feet...until the kid gave her another quick smack to the side that sent her to the floor and the gun across the room.
"Rylie!" Coop shouted.
A kick to the gut sent Rylie's head reeling; she groaned as her body went slack and she quickly slipped into unconsciousness.
Hacker smirked. "Told you..." He turned his attention back to Slider. "Hand it over."
"No way!" The teen snapped. "The NIC stays with me."
"Have it your way!" Hacker growled as he threw the magnetite at the boy.
"Sli!" The magnetite had landed on the teen's feet, making them glow red and increase in size.
As everyone jump up to help the Rylie and Slider, a huge magnet was lowered from the Grim Reaker. Apparently the suit Hacker was wearing was metallic, because the helmet immediately attached to the magnet, swiftly lifting the villain to his ship. About half-way up the magnet stopped rising, Hacker lifted his gloved hand and cords came out of the sides and the glove shot down and grabbed the teen-borg's sweatshirt hood and the glove quickly retracted, pulling Slider along.
"Slider!" Everyone shouted.
As the glove finished retracting, Hacker glared at Coop. "Now I have the INC and your son! Welcome to your worst nightmare my old friend." And of course he had to add an evil laugh for affect...
As the Reaker took off the masked teen shot a grappling gun at the undercarriage of the ship and was pulled off the ground and into the air.
As the ship shot off into the sky everyone was shouting random things "STOP!" "NO!" "COME BACK!" as a last futile attempt. Rylie however, who was starting to wake up had a few words of her own she wanted to shout at Hacker, something along the lines of "Your under arrest syco!" or perhaps something slightly stronger. She pulled herself up with some help from Coop and quickly bent down and unharnessed the gun strapped to her ankle.
"Oh my gosh, what are we gonna do!" Jackie wailed.
"Coop ran over to a pegboard with some keys and a harnesses on it. "I'm going after my son." Rylie handed Coop the gun from her ankle harness and he strapped the harness on and holstered the weapon. "Thanks," He murmured, grabbing the keys.
"We're coming too!" Matt said quickly.
"No!" Rylie and Coop said at the same time.
Rylie's phone went off, her boss was calling. "Man those camera's came be a good thing and a bad thing." She thought, she threw Coop a look that said 'You handle them. I'll handle him.' Then she quickly turned on the phone and walked a few feet away.
Coop turned to the kids and Digit. "Stay here and mix the cure I developed. I can't do it myself because one of the ingredients is magnetite." He picked up a stone tablet. "Here's the recipe. Mix these ingredients to generate an orange cyber-field and reverse the damage of the magnetite."
"But Coop..." Matt started.
Coop cut him off. "Just be sure you measure the right amounts, or it won't work."
Rylie waved Coop over as she was finishing her conversation. "Yes sir, I understand. Yes I think I can hold the creep off for that long. Absolutely. Of course. Thank you." She hung up and looked at Coop. "You've got your agent pending status again, I had them re-instate you temporarily. But I can assure you... the CIC? NOT happy about it."
He rolled his eyes. "Figures...are they sending us backup?"
She pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, just two agents, they feel that a soft entry made fewer agents would be safer."
He sighed. "Well how long till they get here?"
"One hour, they're meeting us there."
"Alright lets go.." they started to jog toward the speeder, but Inez stopped them.
"Coop, Rylie, wait, I'm coming with you, and don't try to argue; I always win!" She crossed her arms.
Rylie threw Coop a 'Fine, we don't have time to argue' look. He turned his attention back to Inez, slightly annoyed at the nine year old's stubbornness. "What are you waiting for?"
Rylie and Coop continued toward the speeder, Inez following them. "See you at Hackers', and hurry!"
~oO0Oo~
Coop tried to keep his focus on flying the speeder, not how he wanted to pound Hacker, and wring the CIC's and SIC's necks for not keeping a better eye on Connie and Slider (though he knew the reason the CIC wasn't around much these days), AND cream the tech's who somehow missed the fact that Hacker had penetrated the defense shields on Discardia! Not that he was bitter or anything...no come to think of it, that was pretty much it – he was bitter. And it was all directed at Hacker, the man had nearly destroyed every thing that meant anything to him, his jobs, his home, his family...his marriage - his marriage, that had been the worst one. As soon as Lori was out of the hospital, she was put into witness protection with Coop on Discardia. At first they held onto each other for support, but soon they started drifting apart, Lori was having trouble coping with her amnesia, and Coop was having trouble coping with...well...everything. It got to the point where neither of them could take it anymore, they had Rylie (despite her protesting) transfer Lori to a different site, undercover instead of isolation. He hadn't seen her since, but from what Rylie and Derek had told him when he had asked a few years back, she was doing good, almost normal. He had wished SO many times he had normal, but he couldn't have it. Lori had the luxury of not remembering most of what she lost. 'A blessing and a curse' she had called it. Coop could see why she would see it that way, but every day for seven years he had the ache in his heart that he couldn't forget, though many times he had wished he could have; even if it was just for a minute...
~oO0Oo~
Rylie looked over at Coop, the man was BEYOND angry, and she was wondering if giving him that gun was such a hot idea, the CIC (her bosses' boss) hadn't thought so, and Rylie was beginning to agree with her. She groaned inwardly, the past seven years had been awful, Hacker defiantly knew how to tear up people's lives, and it had just gotten worse as time went on. About six months after Coop left Rylie and Derek had gotten married, after a year or so they deiced to try for a baby, Rylie hadn't been on birth control since; they got pregnant twice – and both times she lost the baby. The doctors couldn't explain it, she got pregnant easily enough, her body just wouldn't carry it to term. For the past few years they had been looking into adoption, and this past year they had gotten about six months and half-way into the process when it fell through, the baby's mother had changed her mind. Of course they had known it was a possibility, but it was heartbreaking none the less...losing her children was the most painful thing she had ever been through. And Rylie knew that there was a definite possibility of Hacker hurting Slider, the man was losing it – had been...very slowly, every sincethe 'family issues'. And now? Well...she knew he was about to snap completely, any day now, and a mentally dysfunctional man, plus a thirteen year old hostage was a recipe for disaster. Like before, her losing her children was the hardest thing she had ever been through, she hoped and prayed that Coop wouldn't have to go through anything even remotely like that. Coop was her honorary brother and best friend, Lori had been like a sister, and Slider was like the child she never had, she'd do anything for them...anything.
~oO0Oo~
Inez sat in the backseat watching the tense expressions of the two adults, she knew there was a lot more to this then they had said, a lot more pain, a lot more sorrows, and a lot more complications. She sighed quietly and sank back against the seat, adults thought kids couldn't handle the hard stuff, they thought that kids were delicate, especially her. In everyone else eyes she was petite, fragile, Inez Garcia who had the ever cliché stereo-type of having to much heart-ache for someone so young - it had it had been that way ever since she went to live with her Abuela – after her parents were killed by a drunk driver. To everyone, even Jackie and the guys (after they had found out) to a degree, she was like glass...and would break easily, but if someone had told her that last month she probably would have hit them. Because last month...she was standing in front of a grave, watching the her Abuela be buried along-side her parents. But she never cried once during the funeral, she saved the tears for her pillow that night. Abuela had been the final straw; Inez refused to be seen as the weak one anymore, she was going to show everyone that she was strong. And that was why she had insisted on coming with Rylie and Coop; because it was official for her, Inez Garcia was an orphan, she lived in a foster home, she didn't have any more family; all she had was her little family of friends in Cyberspace. And there was absolutely NO WAY she was going to let ANY of her friends feel the pain that she had, chasing the hope that it was all gonna work out, and when it didn't - desperately clinging to memories...that wouldn't do anything but remind her of what she had lost, for a long time. Nobody was losing anyone tonight...not if she could help it.
~oO0Oo~
As the trio's thought flew around in their heads, the speeder reached it's destination. Coop switched the gear shift on the speeder, and the craft started quietly and slowly hovering to the ground behind some bushes. The group jumped out and scurried to the nearest windows, as they looked through the window Inez gasped. "Is that the transformitron?" She was starring at a huge, complex looking machine.
One look and Coop knew what it was. "Yep, and it looks ready to go."
"Coop." Rylie inhaled sharply. "Look."
Following Rylie's line of vision, Coop saw his son sitting in a metal chair with his wrists tied down.
"We've gotta get him out of there." Inez mumbled as she watched her friend groan in pain from the affects of the magnetite.
"I might just have a way." Coop said thoughtfully, backing away from the window. "Follow me."
As they reached the speeder Rylie spoke up. "Coop we should wait for the other agents."
Coop glared at her. "I'm not gonna just sit here when he's got my son in there!"
"Who said we were going to just sit here?" She asked him.
He gave her a questioning look.
Rylie smiled. "I said we should wait, I didn't say we were going to."
Inez laughed. "I just found my new role model."
The two adults chuckled, as Rylie pulled a small device off her belt. "Alright Coop, what's your plan?"
Coop walked around to the back of the speeder and opened the trunk. "Well...this might help."
The girls looked at the object in the truck, Inez grinned. "This looks promising."
~oO0Oo~
Discardia Junkyard
Digit plopped the last bag of ingredients on the table. "Ok, we've got all the ingredients."
Jackie walked up to the table. "Coop said, all we have to do is follow the recipe exactly. This'll be a piece of cake." She rolled her eyes.
Matt picked up the recipe tablet. "There's always a catch Jacks. Let's just figure out how to do this right."
Digit hovered next to Matt, reading over his shoulder. "So four cups of Magnetite, six cups of Kristinium..."
"...and seven cups of Francesium" Matt finished. "Alright let's do this."
Jackie smirked. "You know, It'll probably be easier if have get some measuring cups guys."
Matt opened his mouth to give a snappy retort but couldn't think of one; so he just settled for giving her a glare. "Ack! The chaos of this week must be getting to me." He thought.
Digit on the other hand was rummaging in his chest hatch for the cups. "Let's see...Cyber-tapes, spoons...ah-ha! Cups!" The cyboid held up the three measuring cups, and Matt and Jackie quickly measured out the minerals and dumped them into a large bowl.
Jackie poured her last cup in. "Alright that should do it."
Matt picked up the bowl and started stirring. "Stir and cure!" The mixture in the bowl started to bubble and glow. "Alright!"
"Yes! It worked!" Jackie exclaimed.
Digit pipped up. "Let's go cure Slider."
Out of nowhere the Cyberfield stopped glowing and quickly deflated.
"What happened?" Jackie shrieked.
Matt sighed. "It must only last a few seconds. You know, kinda like a timer."
Digit looked at the kids dejectedly. "Who knew? Not even Coop."
Matt jumped into action and started scooping up the bowls and bags. "Come on, we'll take everything with us and make a fresh batch at Hackers'."
They all grabbed up the supplies and ran for the Speeder.
~oO0Oo~
Northern Frontier; Outside the Grim Reaker's Hanger
Rylie scooted out from under the speeder. "Ok it's attached, that thing's not goin' anywhere until we want it to."
Coop looked up from the control panels he was closing up. "Good everything is set up here, now we just need to find the right moment to put this into action."
"Psttt!" Inez was waving them over frantically, from the hanger window she was peeking into.
They both jumped up and ran toward her. Peering into the window they saw what Inez was so frantic about. Hacker was standing over Slider, apparently ranting and raving about his perfect plan, the window was slightly cracked so they could hear what was being said.
"Meet the 'Electric Eel of Aquari-yum'! The source of power for my transformitron, I stole it from Icky's super secret hideaway," Hacker laughed. "They don't even know it's gone!" He turned to the golden object that resembled a giant ring setting. "And this my young friend is the 'Pedestal of Penguia', a mystical, magical, mechanism...that will carry the power from the Eel to the transformitron!" He grinned (evilly of course) and hopped off the platform. "In a short while I will become more powerful than ever before!"
Slider scowled at him. "My dad will stop you!"
Rylie nudged Coop and whispered. "Looks like your still his hero."
Coop smirked and thought. "Yeah right, I'm anything but a hero."
"Oh, he will?" Hacker trembled in mock fear as pulled the NIC from his pocket. "Not a chance. As soon as I plug this card into my computer, I can transform into aaaanything I choose! After that Cyberspace will be mine! YAAHHHAA! YAHAHAHAHA!"
A voice suddenly whispered in Slider's ear, making him jump. "And there's nothing you or your back-stabbing father can do about it runt!" The voice belonged to our friend in the ski mask, as he joined Hacker across the room, Slider gave the mystery man the deadliest look possible. "Huh, and you call MY father back-stabbing? Just look at who your working for." He muttered under his breath.
The masked teen, whipped this head around. "What? What was that?"
Slider tensed up, immediately regretting what had come out of his mouth. "Nothing. Just thinking out loud."
The teen glared at Slider through the eye-holes in his mask as he walked over to him. "Well I suggest you think quieter then!" He backhanded Slider across the face and walked back over to Hacker.
"Who is this guy?" Slider thought as he grimaced from the sting of the slap.
~oO0Oo~
Coop stiffed with anger as he watched his son be slapped, he looked over at Rylie and Inez. Rylie was bitting her lip, attempting to control her fury; and Inez was clenching her fists at her sides. Oh yeah, let these guys loose and Hacker and our mystery man were history. Inez looked at Coop. "We've got to get him out of there."
Coop nodded. "Lets move."
With that the trio sprinted back to the speeder.
~oO0Oo~
Buzz and Delete walked away from the transformitron, cleaning supplies in hand.
"All clean Boss!" Buzz said as he set the rags on a table. "Spic and span."
"Yeah, your good to go!" Delete pipped up.
Hacker walked over to the computer connected to the transformitron, NIC in hand. "And now, thanks to the genius of yours truly, I will activate the transformitron." He began to insert the card, but stopped short and glanced at Slider. "Actually, your father deserves equal credit, you know we did design this together."
Slider struggled against the cuffs on his wrists. "Not to use this way!"
"A minor point, a mere technicality." The villain scoffed as he shoved the NIC in the computer slot.
The machine began to power up, glowing and vibrating.
"YES!" Hacker shouted. "It works! MUAAHAHAHA!"
Slider struggled once again. "I've got to get that card!"
The mystery teen smirked as he watched Slider struggle. "Give it up man, solid steel cuffs, you ain't goin anywhere."
Slider glared at him.
Buzz spoke up. "Ooo, I like the fireworks Boss!"
"Yeah," Delete squeaked. "Does it do anything else?"
"It does it all, my brainless bots." Hacker grabbed his henchmen by the shoulders. "It's a dream maker! Now tell me, if you could be aaannnyyything you wanted to be what would it be?" He shoved the two bots toward the open glass chamber.
Delete thought for a moment. "Umm...A BIG bunny!"
"A GIANT doughnut!" Buzz added.
Hacker grinned as he closed the door. "Perfect. Now lets see if your dreams can come true." He walked over to the control panel and pushed some buttons. The transformitron started glowing brighter and making odd noises.
With a final ZAP the door flew open and a transformed Buzz and Delete came out just as they had requested, as a BIG bunny and a HUGE doughnut. As they came out Hacker and the mystery teen just stood there in shock for a moment, but quickly came back down to earth. "Oh this is good, very, very, good!" Hacker kissed the glass dome. The teen turned to him. "Yeah, I'm impressed, your scheme actually worked!" Hacker turn to Slider grinning. "NO ONE CAN STOP ME NOW! AH-HAHAHAHAHA!"
The masked teen just rolled his eyes. "And Que the lightening!" He thought sarcasticly.
~oO0Oo~
"Revenge is an act of passion; Vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged."
-Samuel Johnson 1709-1784
~oO0Oo~
A/N: And BAM! there I went and did it, now before I start getting hate mail for what I did to poor Inez, give me a chance to explain myself - I don't want to give away everything so I'll just say this and hopefully it will keep the hate mail at bay :) WARNING: SPOILER ALERT! go back and re-read the paragraph explaining Rylie's life, then think about Inez's sitch...and that's all I will say (allthought that was prob. WAY to big of a hint! but I warned you...) so hopefully I am liked again!
Alrighty, it's 10:18pm I'm bushed, so I 'll say this, then I'm crashing...the review button is lonely do this writer a favor and cheer it up, por favor! :)
Oh and Lucille Ball's 100th birthday is today (8/6/11) random fact I know, but my family's a fan so I just thought I'd mention it! XD
God Bless,
~Dgirl~