Jackie bent forward, grabbing at her knees, and panting to catch her breath.
"Man... I was so not cut out for this!"
Inez caught up to her and stopped too, wheezing.
Digit hovered above them.
"Come on, you two! Hacker's gettin' away with the Sunisphere!"
Jackie and Inez forced themselves to push onward, huffing and gasping for breath all the mean while.

Speaking of meanwhile...

Matt lay on a couch at Control Central.
He sighed heavily as he spun his yoyo around in a mastered "Around-The-World" spin.
He sighed again and lowered his arm, letting the yoyo drop from his hand.
Motherboard was now staring at him.
"Matt. Is there something you wish to get off your chest?"
Matt shook his head.
"I'm here if you need to talk. I am your friend."
Motherboard persisted.
Matt looked into the back of the couch.
"Thanks, Mother B.. But I'd rather not talk about it. It'll just make things worse."
"Make things worse?"
Crap... Why did I say that?
"Don't worry about it, Motherboard."
He sat up now, moving his legs into a sitting position with a little more than some effort.
There was silence.
Motherboard seemed to be thinking.
Before Matt could come up with an excuse to leave, she spoke again.
"I heard you injured more than your knees. How is your wrist?"
Man. She doesn't know when to quit, does she?
Matt nodded, holding up his wrist a bit to show it off.
"I told you before. I'm fine. No offense, Mother B., but I'd like to go home. I'm not going to be of any help to the team, so I might as well just opt out."
Motherboard looked taken aback.
"Matthew! That is not something I thought I would ever hear from you!"
Mattt cringed.
He'd done it now.
He'd messed up again.
Just like always.
And like always, he was going to get yelled at for it.
He braced himself.
He felt a heat engulfing him.
Was it warm in here?
No.
It was fear.
What's worse is Motherboard seemed to take notice.
"Matthew?"
Matt didn't reply.
His mind was blank.
He felt as though he wasn't in control.
He could hear panting.
Deep...
Deep...
Panting.
Like someone was hyperventilating.
It took him a moment to realize his chest hurt.
Motherboard called out to him again.
But he didn't seem to hear.
She called louder, then flinched when her friend, one she'd come to see as a child of her own, threw his hands up to his head, gripping so hard, his nails dug into his skin.
And screamed.
All he could see was black.
All he could feel was black.
All he could hear was...
Black.

Inez fell to her knees, and Jackie slumped against a tree.
Digit flopped down on the ground right beside them.
Jackie wheezed, "We can't keep doing this! I'm pooped! I'm a pianist! Not a marathon runner!"
Inez groaned, then coughed at the amount of air it took from her.
"How are we ever going to catch them?! We've been chasing them for at least an hour and a half!"
Digit looked at his suddenly apparent watch.
He makes things appear sometimes.
He must be connected to a void, or something.
"Make that an hour and 45 minutes."
His wing fell to his side, and he huffed.
Inez, managing to build up enough energy, stood and kind of wobbled forward.
She blinked, "Guys?"
The two looked at her in confusion.
She didn't return the stare.
"Since when do Hacker, Buzz, and Delete wait for us?"
Digit rolled over, getting to his feet, "What?"
Jackie mustered up the same energy, clambering over.
Inez pointed to a relatively distant view of the three villains.
Jackie raised her hands to her face, only pausing when Digit offered her a set of binoculars.
I told you he was a void-boird.
She nodded a thanks to him before looking through.
The sight startled her.
"Hey... They're not moving forward."
Inez tilted her head, "What do you mean? Let me take a look!"
She looked through the glass as soon as they were handed over.
There, she could see the same image Jackie had.
The three villainous cyborgs were running just a little ways ahead.
But they weren't moving any further down the path.
It's like they were...
"Running in place!"
Digit and Jackie looked at her.
Digit lifted his arms up in a shrug, "Running in place? But why?"
Inez combed the area, searching for any clues.
She spotted one.
"Hey, Digit. What's the small blue box beside the really tall tree?"
She handed over the binoculars, and he yelped.
"Yikes! That's a projector box!"
Jackie and Inez stood stiff.
The squad were verbal thinkers.
Almost everything they thought was said aloud.
But this time...
They couldn't even formulate words to describe what they just realized.
Instead, they watched as Digit looked over the section of the path they stood in.
He yelped once more, which caused the girls to raise their shoulders in a sense of hopelessness.
"Another projector box! Hacker's been leading us in a circle this whole time!"

"Incoming call! Incoming call!"
Motherboard ignored it.
She yelled out for Matt, and this time, after receiving no response, she decided to dial for Dr. Marbles.
"Incoming call! Incoming call!"
Motherboard, now frustrated and panicked, just barely held back a shout.
"Who could be calling me at this exact moment?!"
She glared down at the ID number.
"405-6745."
She read out loud.
Her eyes widened, and she glanced at Matt very quickly.
Her thoughts were torn in two, and she growled before dismissing the call and inputting the Doc's number instead.

They hung the phone up, huffing in irritation.
"Must be Matthew."
Their shadow peered over a pay phone.
"I told her that he wasn't in any shape to help."
He turned and began to walk away from the phone.
"Whatever. I'll call her back later."
They smirked.
"I'm sure she'd love to hear about Hacker's new plan..."