Ok, here's your update. Enjoy.

Thanks for the support! You guys are the best.

"What do we do now Buzzy?" Delete sighed, leaning back into his comb-like hands.

"Nothing we can do Deedee, except wait for the Hacker to come back," replied the stout tin head with scrawny appendages jutting from four points on his metallic body.

"Yeah, but," whined the taller robot, straightening, "Don't you think he'll be mad?"

"Nah, he's too busy with his magnetite to pay attention to us." He gazed through the steel bars marring the tiny window above the door's handle. "Don't worry. As long as those kids stay tied up until the boss gets back, we'll be fine."

"But Buzzy," struggled the robot. "What do we do if they do get out?"

"Oh. Heheh, I didn't think about that," muttered Buzz, laughing nervously.

It was a typical Friday on the Wreaker. Hacker was away collecting enough magnetite to last him a decade, and Buzz and Delete had gotten themselves locked within one of the three cells while boarding up the garbage shoot as Hacker had requested a few months ago. The Earth children, cyberturkey, and Slider sat in the sprawled over one another in the wheelbarrow just outside the cell door, in preparation of transportation into the tiny prisons. Needless to say, they were excited at their captors error, but unable to act on that emotion due to their shackles. Matt, currently wedged between Jackie and Slider, was especially frustrated at the irony. Why wouldn't Slider get off? With Buzz and Delete behind their own bars, escape wasn't that far, if only the stupid Raster would get a clue and roll off! He growled and elbowed the boy on his back, trying to mumble over the tape across his mouth.

"Hnn i-uh, gff." (*Hey Slider, get off)

"Mm?" questioned the boy, shifting his weight in a vain attempt to glimpse the speaker's face, as if that would help him decipher the meaning of the strangled plea. But it simply caused him to completely smother Matt's lungs, the pressure from Jackie's back and Slider's chest and shoulder expulsing the air from him.

"Mmh! Gff!" the green-sweatered child panicked, wriggling madly as if he could squirm out from under Slider. The assaulter rolled away instantly, unsure of the cause for emergency, and abruptly plunged from the pile of bodies. His body impacted the floor with a grave "thud", followed within seconds by a muffled scream.

Below Matt, Jackie muttered a small, fearful "I-uh? Uh ong?" (Slider? What's wrong?)

"They're getting away Buzzy! Do something!" cried Delete, the shout drawing his attention to the situation beyond their little cell.

"Umm,…uhhh…let's see here…" sputtered Buzz, frantically glancing every which way to find a means of liberation. If the boss were to find them in here after the Earth brats had already escaped…

Then he located the tools, and his mood brightened. They had been intended to aid in the concealment of the garbage shoot through which the children had escaped last time, but… the shoot was impenetrable now in its steel coverings. Well, at least they still had a crowbar within the mess of tools.

"Here," he shouted, dashing over to retrieve the iron bar. "Use this."

Delete snatched it away from his chubby pal, the terrible fear rushing to his head, and jammed it into the slight crack of freedom between the wall and the heavy door. Both robots grabbed the lever desperately and begun pulling hard, evidence of their desire to live.

"I-uh?"

Matt, his mind echoing Jackie's dread, swung his body until it was in his capacity to roll to the edge of their container and assure Slider's breathing. No matter how much he hated the guy, he didn't want to be considered a murderer. But the sight before him caused him to frown underneath his sticky muzzle.

Slider seemed fine, no sign of injury, despite the fact that he was coated with sweat and his breathing labored. Obviously something was wrong; maybe he landed on something sharp or had whacked something upon impact with the tile floor. Whatever it was, Matt would have to come to the victim's level to do a diagnostic, as Digit's wing was covering half of Slider's body from the spectator's eyes. But Slider would have to move for Matt to be able to roll off without injuring him further.

"I-uh!" he shouted to the best of his ability. Slider glanced over his shoulder at the noise with weary eyes. "Uf!" Matt grunted. (Move) The Radster showed no sign of response, so Matt decided to try again, enunciating this time in an attempt for clarity.

"U-V-F! Nu!" (M-O-VE! Now!) And to further explain the intent, he rocked his bound body a bit as if to sway off the edge. Slider understood and rolled farther from the wheelbarrow, wincing now and then in the pain of his unseen wound, as Matt dropped down to join Slider on the floor with yet another thump.

"Auh?" (Matt?) came a faint call from the pile of bodies above the two boys. "Uh aun-n?" (What happened?)

"What happened Buzzy?" mumbled Delete, his head spinning and tiny fabricated rabbits flitting across his vision as he held his metal head with a tender orange hand.

"The bar broke, that's what!" ranted the other robot, throwing down one ragged end of the metal rod. "We need to find another way out of here."

"We could try using the hammer," Delete suggested lazily, the bunnies whirling with great celerity about his giddy head.

"Stupid, what good will a hammer do? …Unless…," the midget robot pondered, picking the tool up study it. With a start of this foreign thing called inspiration he ran over to the left side of the door, leaping as high as his stunted body would allow at some unattainable goal. Realizing that his handicap wasn't curable, he spun to face his inmate. "Hey, Delete, come over here and help me."

Delete shook his head to clear the frolicking rabbits from his sight and stumbled over to his companion. The waiting robot clambered onto the taller wordlessly, Delete grunting as Buzz's metallic shoes scraped over his face. Finally, once on the android's shoulders, Buzz brandished the hammer and began slamming it onto the higher of the door's two hinges, the totem pole of technology swaying precariously at each movement.

"Heh, we'll be out of here in no time," encouraged Buzz, landing a hard blow onto the golden joint. Delete chuckled in agreement.

They're coming, panicked Matt as the sound of pounding reached his ears. We have to hurry. He glanced at Slider's russet back, thinking hard. But his escape plan was becoming scrambled with the nonsensical terror of each "thwang" that resonated through the deserted hall and he began to fear their re-capture. In a rushed helplessness, he scrambled to get to his feet. Perhaps he could accomplish something right-side up instead of on his back like a turtle; but no matter how much he flipped and squirmed, the ropes binding his ankles together prohibited any motion of the sort.

When the orange hair child had temporarily exhausted his energy, he noticed Slider glancing over his shoulder carefully. He had such a serious, challenging expression that the boy felt a twinge of habitual hate, which quickly dissolved into curiosity as Slider wormed his way down to Matt's legs, his eyes continually set on the bindings restricting the whirlwind's movements. Well, at least one of them had a plan.

Seizing the rope's frayed endings, the Radster began to work them within the limited range of movement his handcuffs allowed, grunting in frustration and premonition each time Matt shifted his legs to see if the restraints had loosened yet. Finally, after three unbelievably long minutes, Matt kicked the shackles from his legs and rolled to his knees in triumph. He had to admit. Slider was good to have around sometimes. Sometimes.

He rose to his feet and glanced around for something with which to break the handcuffs and free the others, wandering into the main control room in his search. There, poised perfectly on the ground amidst the chaos of tool boxes and instruments which the two henchmen had intended to use in the fixing of the cell, was a set of giant shears. Matt grinned victoriously beneath the clingy duct tape and knelt to the ground to begin sawing at the circular restraints clamping his hands behind his back. However, after a few moments, the boy realized that the action would not yield any fruit, as the tool was not properly held within the tool box and kept jiggling out of reach. Sighing, Matt groped for it, his back dangerously close to the sharp instrument, until he latched onto its neck. A loud "bang" from the restless robots startled him and, struggling to rise while distancing the thing from his body, the boy slowly dragged the shears over to Slider's limp figure. It couldn't be helped. He'd have to free the Radster first to save himself and the others.

Matt positioned himself with the shears, grunting a warning at Slider so that he would not move and accidentally impale himself with the object of his liberation. It took a while to successfully slide the chain connecting the two cuffs between the jaws of the tool, but eventually it was accomplished. Just as Matt was about to slam the blades of the shears together, a shuddering "boom" shook the entire ship.

The child glanced fearfully at the cell door, expecting the two metal idiots to come charging out and confiscate his toy. With relief, however, he discovered the slab of metal to remain standing, the clanging continuing on the other side.

But if not that, then what…

"Well well. What do we have here?"

The boy swung around in alarm, his hands strained on the shears' handles, gripping to it as if it were life itself. Nonetheless, a hideous green fist reached out and yanked at the instrument, the blade kissing Slider's lower arm as it tauntingly flew away from the prisoners.

"You know, if I didn't know any better," the newcomer chuckled darkly, "I would say that you two were about to escape." He laughed, but through clenched teeth.

"Uh uhh ooh, A-r!" (Let us go, Hacker!) demanded Matt, the incomprehensible speech becoming lost to the villain's comprehension.

"What's that?" snickered Hacker, holding a hand to his tiny ears. "I can't quite understand you. You'll have to speak up," he coed in mock-pity before shoving Matt onto his back and striding past him arrogantly.

"Buzz! Delete! Where are you!" the villain growled, angered that his instructions had been left un-obeyed.

"Eheh, we're right here boss," mumbled Buzz through the cell's puny window.

"What?" questioned Hacker in surprise as he spun around and strode up to the cell. He peeked curiously in the window. "What are you two duncebuckets doing in there?" But the robots had barely a second to respond before the thick metal door began to tip, crashing down and barely missing the criminal.

The cyborg stared at the door for a few moments, his jaw lax in surprise and dismay, before quickly spinning on his subordinates. "What did you two do to my beautiful cell?"

"Well, eheh, that is…" began Delete, rubbing the back of his paint-can-of-a-head in embarrasement.

"W-we wanted to make sure the Earth brats couldn't escape this time, so we were fixing the shoot like you asked us to…" stuttered Buzz.

"Yeah, a-and then the door closed by itself and trapped us inside!"

"So we tried to get out before the kids escaped…We're sorry boss," apologized Buzz.

"Yeah. Awful sorry," added Delete, nodding vigorously. Hacker merely clasped his face in his hand in a sign of frustration and groaned.

"Nevermind," He dismissed, waving his hand exasperatedly. "Just put those brats in the other two cells." He glanced angrily at the children in the wheelbarrow, their limbs jutting out at random locations, then at the two boys on the ground. When he returned his gaze to the robots, he was surprised to find them sitting in the same position, a dumb look infecting their facial features.

"Now, you useless scraps of metal!" he screeched. The pair immediately rose and with a "Yes!" and "Right away boss," they scrambled to begin loading the escapees back into the cart for transportation. Hacker observed them with the mild interest of a bored supervisor—he knew he had more important things to attend to but he also knew that if he left, his subordinates would literally tear down the place.

The robots wheeled the children, who were currently kicking and moaning threats at their captors, to the cells next door and began heaving the five bodies from their container and one by one shoveling them into the appropriate prisons. When they had completed their task, Hacker ordered the magnetite to be taken to the lab and took his leave, the other two following soon afterwards. The empty halls echoed with their metallic footsteps.

The divisions had been as such: Jackie and Matt in one cell, Digit, Slider and Inez in the other. Of course, had Hacker put any thought into this, he would have realized that in order for the separation of the Cybersquad to complete its intended purpose, he would have needed five cells. However, with all thought dedicated to his latest and greatest scheme for cyberspace domination, he could not be bothered with such trivial planning. As long as the kiddies were kept out of his artificial hair, he was contented. After all, this new plot could rid Hacker of the Earth brats permanently as well as secure the whole of Cyberspace in his palm—two cyberturkeys with one stone. He had no time to predict the small fries' escape.

As it was, they weren't getting very far anyway. Matt and Jackie had managed to break through the bindings, due to the fact that Matt's feet were already undone and Jackie had a hairpin within her mass of dreadlocked hair. Inez, Slider, and Digit could all manage to remove the ropes encompassing their feet through use of Digit's beak, but the handcuff chains were too solid for him to sever. In addition, no one in that penitentiary could speak or devise an escape route for their party thanks to the duct tape. They were stuck staring at blank walls.

"I hope Slider and the others are alright," mumbled Jackie, currently aiding Matt in a thorough search for even the slightest crevasse within their cage. Usually breaking out of one of Hacker's jail cells was a cinch, accomplished within ten minutes at the most; but this time there was no special key/door knob combination that could be used (the door already had a handle), no point of entry open yet just out of reach, no hidden exit beneath the thick paneled wall. Everything was completely sealed off. (first time Buzz and Delete actually did their job correctly.)

"They're fine, Jacks," sighed Matt as calmly as he could muster. He was immensely frustrated with his failed effort, and hearing her obsessively babble on about Slider wasn't something he could endure at this moment. Still, sometimes girls aren't as empathetic as they claim.

"But Slider's hurt! What if he broke his leg, or worse? What if he broke his back! What if he's lying there in the cell, bleeding, and he can't move or call for help? He could be dying and no one would ever—"

"Chill Jacks," the boy moaned, trying not to snap. He deviated from his inspection of the bench to turn and find the black-eyed girl wrapped in her own little frenzy. She was such a drama queen. Of course, that was why she was such a good motivator and an admirable teammate. But when she went off on one of her panic tangents… "He's fine. I saw it myself. There wasn't anything wrong."

"But what if it's internal? What if he had a heart attack or broke his rib cage or—" By now the fangirl had her worried fist almost in her mouth, all the "what if"s bombarding her thoughts and pushing them farther and farther towards the edge of hysteria.

"Jackie! There is nothing wrong with Slider! And even if there was, we couldn't do anything in here!"

"But—" she whimpered, more persistent on this specific topic than any other subject of one of her freak outs.

"Let's just concentrate on escaping right now, ok?" Matt snapped his head back around and resumed his detail-oriented examination of the seat, fury raging in his head.

Slider was fine; why wouldn't she believe him? If it had been Matt whom Jackie was worried about, there was no doubt in the boy's mind that the Radster would have little trouble convincing the female of the orange-haired boy's health. So why, why? Why did they cling to him like that? Why wouldn't they trust Matt, their teammate, as opposed to some stranger that helped them out once in a while?

A small moan and slight sniffle redirected Matt's attention back to his inmate. He sighed, regained his composure and, just for the woman's sake, added softly "Then we can go and rescue Slider."

He twisted ruefully toward her and returned her uplifted smile in as much of its fullness as he felt possible. He hadn't meant to lose his temper again—man, twice in one day. He had to find a way to resolve this; it was endangering the standing he had with his friends.

"Come on," he prompted, standing and offering a hand to the collapsed figure. "The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can rescue the others and stop Hacker." A genuine grin flooded his face at the thought of the overly familiar words, falsely running hatred and remorse from his mind and together the pair proceeded with their search for freedom.

"Boss! We brought the magnetite like you wanted," announced Delete, rolling the pink cart up to the cyborg with Buzz. In all honesty, the room wasn't much different than any of the other rooms occupying the Grim Wreaker; no classified equipment or feature to distinguish the area other than a large "Do not disturb" sign plastered on the door in cyber scotch-tape.

"Excellent," hissed Hacker, in full costume with his necessary lemon decontaminant suit. "Now, behold, my brainless bots, the creation of a potion so malicious, so diabolical, not even Merlin the Magnificent could complete it." {;)} The villain chuckled gleefully and, daintily removing a few handfuls of the glowing rock from its pile, sprinkled the substance into the fluid-filled beaker placed on the table in front of His Awfulness. The robots gathered at the counter's edge expectantly, like children waiting for a firework to explode.

"…Um, boss…nothing's happening," complained Delete, disappointed.

"That's the point, my dear Delete" Hacker giggled, stroking the glass fondly. "It's not supposed to do anything. Yet. Heheheh." (evil laughter)

(hehe, oh the suspense)

hey, have any of you noticed how Matt is always so dang happy? (in the series I mean) It's starting to bother me; all the lines sound wrong because they don't stay true to his true happy, silent-suffering character…cept in the olympus episode...

Sorry, I was kind of off on the characters in this one. I'm trying to back into the swing of things. Hope s'okay.

And yeah… I was waaaaay off on the duct tape part…but I like it in its own way, so I'm gonna keep it for now.