However, Macbeth had gotten so tired of losing that she decided to pause on trying to take over the school and just concentrate on stopping I.N.K.. She came up with a plan to do so: act as if she had come up with another child-torturing device, and leave a message for I.N.K. in her bedroom - where they were sure to find it - that would lead them into her secret lair. Then she would attack them with her giant cat machine, which she repaired a long time ago just in case.
Newton had found the note first, next to Vagnar's bowl. The note basically was a secret combination for the safe in her lair, so Newton assumed that the torturing device was there. They all put on their camouflage gum masks and headed for the basement. Trixie had decided to come on this mission too, as their communicators always lost contact whenever one or more members were down there and she wanted to stay in touch during the whole thing. They found one of the secret entrances to her lair, snuck in, found the safe, and began working the combination.
"That was easy." Vin remarked.
"Too easy." Trixie said.
Sure enough, once the combination was done an alarm sounded! A panel slid open and Macbeth, in the cat robot, came out!
"I.N.K.! Prepare for your doom!" Macbeth cackled.
Scared, they tried to run out of the lair but a giant paw cut them off.
"Ah-ah-ah, there will be no escape!"
I.N.K. ran around, trying to find an escape, but it looked hopeless. Fortunately, Trixie and Newton found a hiding spot behind some oil drums near the entrance to the lair but Vin and Zero were still out in the open. Vin was then suddenly trapped against a wall, and Macbeth raised the cat robot's other paw as if she was going to scratch him! She was, but not in the way that we are usually scratched by cats. No, this scratch was for the kill!
"NO!" Zero cried, knocking Vin out of the way.
Zero ended up being the one with the fatal scratch across her torso! After Vin stopped skidding along the ground he looked at Zero with horror and pain. She was lying there, still, as if she was dead. Trixie and Newton gasped, tears starting to form in their eyes.
"ZERO!" He cried, feeling his heart break; he then looked at the cat robot with hate and anger instead of fear. "YOU!" He screamed, leaping at the robot.
He crashed through one of the eyes, which were really windows, and knocked Macbeth down. He then started trashing the controls.
"What are you doing, stop!" Macbeth protested.
Vin didn't listen, he just continued until he realized that the robot was about to self destruct. He then leapt out of the robot, picked up Zero, and ran towards where Trixie and Newton were hiding. That's when they saw Mr. Soper.
"MR. SOPER!" The three of them gasped.
"What is going on here?" Mr. Soper cried, shocked. "I come down here to find a broom and instead I find this secret room! And this...is that a robot or a cat?"
"Uh, it's a robot in the shape of a cat." Newton explained awkwardly.
"And it's going to explode, duck!" Vin added.
Vin ducked behind the oil drums with Zero while Mr. Soper went back into the basement and hid behind a box. After the explosion he carefully walked back to where Vin and the others were.
"I ask again, what is going on here?" He said.
At that moment, a pod opened up and Macbeth came out, dazed and disheveled.
"Miss Macbeth! What are you doing?" Mr. Soper was really shocked now.
"Oh...Mr. Soper...I, uh, well..." Miss Macbeth was at a loss for an explanation.
"She was trying to kill us." Vin admitted.
"Vin!" Trixie and Newton protested.
"No guys, it's time we told him the truth." Vin shook his head. "The truth about how Macbeth had been trying to take over the school and how we have been stopping her this whole time."
"What!" Mr. Soper gasped. "Miss Macbeth, please tell me this isn't true."
"Uh..." Macbeth was about to tell one of her lame lies, but couldn't stand the pressure anymore. "Yes it is true! I hate kids and want them to be under control like robots! I especially hate the Invisible Network of Kids! Namely them!" She pointed to Vin and the others angrily.
No one had ever seen Mr. Soper so angry.
"Miss Macbeth this time you are permanently fired!" He snapped. "And you four, how come you never told me sooner about all this! Who are you anyway?"
His yells attracted the other kids into the basement. They were very shocked to find out about all this.
Vin removed his mask and Zero's mask while Trixie and Newton removed theirs. Everyone stared at them.
"Well that does explain some of the stunts you have pulled in the past..." Mr. Soper realized, then became angry again. "But it doesn't excuse any of you for not telling me sooner about this! Why didn't you?"
"Because-because fighting Macbeth gave us a purpose." Trixie admitted, hanging her head shamefully. "Without the need to fight her our lives become boring."
"Even so you kept putting the school and your fellow students at risk of Miss Macbeth's control!" Mr. Soper scolded. "That was very selfish of you!"
"But...but we kept saving the school everytime, even risking our lives..." Newton started to sob.
"No guys." Vin said sadly. "Mr. Soper is right. If we had told him about Miss Macbeth from the beginning Zero...Zero wouldn't be dead."
He started crying, very heartbroken. Even Mr. Soper's anger melted upon seeing how upset Vin was. Trixie sadly went over to Zero and put a hand on her chest in mourning. Then she looked up, suddenly happy.
"Vin...Zero isn't dead." She said. "I can feel a heartbeat."
"What?" Vin looked up; he then carefully put a hand on Zero's chest. "You're right!" He said happily, his heart healing a little.
He then kissed Zero, who smiled a little but didn't wake up.
"I have to get her to the medical ward." Vin said, running out of the basement with Zero.
Mr. Soper turned to Trixie and Newton.
"I won't punish you for lying to me, it's obvious that the four of you had already been punished more than enough." He said, no longer angry but not exactly happy either. "But next time please find a way to keep yourselves busy without putting others at risk."
"Yes Mr. Soper." Trixie and Newton said.
Mr. Soper left, calling the authorities about Macbeth on his cellphone, while the other students started talking to Trixie and Newton about the past. Macbeth was now emotionally defeated, so she didn't even try to make a run for it. She did glare at everyone as the police took her away in a squad car though. Her 'pet', Daryl, was crushed when he discovered her true nature. As time passed however he recovered and even later realized how much of an idiot Macbeth really was.
Meanwhile, Vin ran to the medical ward and got the attention of the main robotic doctor. The robotic doctors had been improved recently, as they now were able to feel most human emotions.
"What happened to Zero?" The main robot doctor asked Vin.
"I'll explain later...please, you must save her." Vin said, still crying.
"Of course."
He got the attention of the other robot doctors, who came out with a stretcher. Vin let the main robot doctor place Zero on the stretcher and they rolled her into surgery. Vin waited outside. He never budged, he just stood there watching the door. Eventually he did sit down, but he still kept his eyes on the door. Later on Mr. Soper, Newton, and Trixie came in and found Vin still sitting there.
"Will Zero be okay?" Newton asked, worried.
"I hope so, I can't live without her." Vin said, not even looking away from the door.
Finally, the main robot doctor came out.
"It was a very close call, but she'll pull through." He said. "She will be confined to bed for a very long time though."
"As long as she survives, it's okay." Vin said.
The other robot doctors wheeled Zero out and gently set her down on a hospital bed. They then hooked up an IV to her. Vin immediately went over to her and sat down on a chair on her right side, the side without the IV.
"Vin, you should let Zero rest." Mr. Soper said.
"I will, but I'm not leaving her side until she's well enough to leave the hospital." Vin shook his head; he then took her right hand in his hands. "Please Zero, don't leave me." He said to her.
"Come on, we should leave them alone." Trixie said.
She, Newton, and Mr. Soper left.