Hello again my lovely readers! Sorry this chapter has taken longer than usual. My co-writer was on vacation and I was just very blank in general for this chapter. So, the majority vote was for Jackie/Slider. The only problem is... my co-writer and I have grown to really like Jackie/Scanner. So we've decided we're gonna leave implications for both in this story and if anyone wants to continue this series after its done and pair her officially with someone, you're free to do so. Also, my wonderful co-writer just posted a super short but super hilarious oneshot parody of a future scene in this story on her DA. Go read it! You won't regret it. That being said, let's get to the current chapter.
And... ACTION!
~Chapter Nine~
Hacker grinned evilly as he twirled the gun in his hand. Three weeks. Just three weeks left until he could use this gun to take down his greatest rival forever. But not before he made her regret every last thing she'd ever done to him.
"Buzz! Delete!" He barked at his henchmen, "Are the cables done?"
"Uh, yeah boss," said Buzz.
"Don't you think this is a bit much though, boss?" Delete asked as Hacker walked up to observe the final product, "I mean, wouldn't it be easier to just shoot her and be done with it?"
"Easy and painless," the evil cyborg said, "I need to make her pay for everything she's ever done to me. And the only way to do that is to make her suffer!"
"Um... Boss," Buzz stammered, "What exactly did Motherboard do? Aside from making you live here?"
"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" Hacker shouted at the spherical bot, making him cower in fear, "Now give me those cables. I need to test them."
The two bots gave him the cables and he went to his lab.
"Come with me, boys. We'll see how this goes together," he said excitedly.
Buzz and Delete stared at each other for a second. They were never allowed in the boss' lab. Both shrugging, they followed.
"Don't touch anything!" Hacker warned as he led them inside.
He went to one corner and pulled out a dummy. It was made with roughly the same toughness as a cyborg's skin. If nothing else, this would show how well the cables can burn. He placed the probes to the cables across the dummy, then he pressed a remote. He and his henchmen watched as a lightening show cascaded around the dummy and it thrashed around on the floor. Hacker pressed a button to make it stop, then removed the probes. Burn marks were left in its place.
"Yes!" he said, "Perfect!"
"B-boss!" Delete stammered in horror, "That's what you're gonna do to Motherboard?!"
"Did you think I made you two duncebuckets work on it for an arts and crafts project?" he asked sarcastically, "Of course that's what I'm gonna do to Motherboard!"
"But Boss that's terrible!" Buzz argued, "Just imagine how much pain she'll be in!"
"Oh I imagine that all the time," Hacker said, laughing maniacally, "Now we just need to gather some magnetite and we'll be all set!"
"You're gonna expose her to magnetite too?" Delete asked in disbelief, "Boss you're going too far!"
"You dare criticize The Hacker?" he said, marching up to the two bots.
"Well, um, I mean..." Delete stammered nervously.
"You know what Boss? Yes we do!" Buzz said, gathering up all the little courage he had, "You've gone too far this time! We're not gonna help you out anymore on this one! You're on your own!"
Hacker glared at the small bot. He lifted him up by the antennae and then slammed him down against the floor with all his might, knocking the bot unconscious.
"BUZZY!"
"Question my orders and you'll be next," Hacker said in a low voice, "Now take him and get out of my lab!"
Delete nodded quickly and carried his friend out of the lab, shutting the door.
Hacker stood there for a moment, still angry, before it sank in what he had done. Why did he do that? Buzz and Delete were the only ones who had ever been completely loyal to him.
"Nobody disobeys The Hacker," said the voice of the ghost he'd shook hands with so long ago.
"No, but I didn't have to hurt him like that," Hacker internally argued with the ghost.
"Oh but you did have to. Those two idiots need to learn their place. Think of it as practice for when you become the supreme ruler of Cyberspace."
"Yes, when I rule Cyberspace. After I get rid of Motherboard. After I..." his henchmen's words rang in his head, "But what if they're right? What if I am going too far?"
"Now is not the time to go soft. Think of all she did to you. Banishing you, underestimating you, making you stay in that hellhole school when she knew how miserable you were there!"
"To be fair," argued the small voice of reason, "She never knew just how bad it really was. You never told her the whole story."
"It doesn't matter! Someone as wise as Motherboard is portrayed to be should be able to tell when something is up. She just didn't care!"
"Nobody's perfect! She can't just magically tell something is going on!"
"I'm sure she could've done more than she did though," the ghost said.
Hacker gripped both sides of his head tightly. He was getting tired of this mental war that seemed to be getting more and more common as the day drew nearer. He hadn't had a mental battle this bad since the day he'd infected Motherboard with that virus. He could still hear that little voice of reason as it whispered "What have you done?"
"SHUT UP!" He screamed at the two voices that were arguing in his mind. He'd had enough of this for one day. He needed a break.
Hacker walked out of his lab and into the living area, his henchmen nowhere to be found.
"Delete must be taking care of Buzz in their room," he thought as he turned on the television, "I wonder if there's any new shows coming on?"
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Location: Control Central:
Motherboard sighed contently as she opened her eyes. What had started off as a horrific flashback nightmare had turned into a lovely dream. She was honestly somewhat sad she had to leave it. She turned her head towards her alarm clock, curious as to how much time she had until she'd have to get up for the day. When she saw that she had actually overslept, she practically jumped out of bed and raced to her bathroom. After she had a rushed shower and brushed her teeth, she threw on the first dress she pulled out of her closet, and ran into the living area, stopping in her tracks when she saw her fiancee sitting casually at the kitchen island, drinking coffee and looking at his phone.
"How long have you been up?" she asked.
"Oh... about an hour," he answered.
"Why didn't you wake me?" Motherboard asked, exasperated.
"I thought you might like to sleep in today. Everyone else is."
"'Everyone else' isn't in charge of the whole Cyber universe!"
"Cyberspace isn't going to collapse just because its ruler slept in an extra hour," Antoine assured her.
"How do you know that?" she argued, "We've lost the ability to monitor the cyber sites. Anything could be happening by now."
"There was a time when that supercomputer didn't exist and Cyberspace still didn't fall apart," Antoine reminded her.
"That was long before a certain someone decided he wanted total control."
"I'm sure if Hacker attacks any place the respective rulers will call and let you know," he said.
"And what if its too late by then?"
Antoine sighed. She had a point there. Instead he just walked up to the woman and wrapped his arms around her. What else could he really do?
"I know you want to take care of me, Antoine. But I have the whole public in my care. I can't let them down."
"I really picked the perfect pet name for you," Antoine said, "You're a mother to the whole public now. Everyone loves their wise leader."
"Do you really think I'm wise, dear?"
"I always have," he answered before pressing his lips to hers.
Motherboard felt the world fade away at his kiss. She'd never tire of those kisses, especially after being deprived of them for so many years.
"I can't wait to marry you," she said as they broke the kiss.
"Same."
"You really have been my saving grace these past five years."
"So I've heard from you before," he said.
"I can't say it enough. You were the only one I could turn to. There were times... it was so hard to mask the pain. To not wince or yell. Those times when the glitches would distort my face were the worst. It felt like someone was really ripping me apart."
"You still haven't told anyone?" Antoine asked.
"Who would I tell? Dr. Marbles? He already knows it hurt. But I could never tell him how much it hurt. He was already on edge trying to find a cure. I couldn't add pressure on him."
"Its over now though. You can open up now," Antoine urged, "He told you his secret. Now you should tell yours."
"No. He can't know. He'll blame himself. He'll say he didn't try hard enough, and that its his fault for creating Hacker in the first place. And if I tell Ada or Digit they may tell him by accident."
"You can't keep all this to yourself forever," said Antoine.
"I can try," she argued.
"Motherboard, do you know how worried I was over you keeping this all inside over the years? The unnecessary stress you put on yourself was deadly when combined with the virus."
"I'm sorry I worried you. But I just couldn't let them know. I'd feel too guilty."
"You have nothing to feel guilty over," he said.
"You always know just what to say, don't you?" Motherboard remarked.
"I only speak the truth."
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"Inez really?!" Matt asked in an offended voice.
"What?" asked the girl in question.
"I thought we were friends, but I guess not," the boy said as he walked out the door.
"Matt wait! What's going on?" Inez called after him.
"I can't believe you, Inez!"
The young girl turned around to see her friend, Jackie, looking very upset.
"What did I do?" Inez asked.
"You know exactly what you did! I can't believe I was ever friends with you! Goodbye!"
"Jackie!"
"Don't ever talk to me again!" she said as she too walked out the door.
Inez gasped as she woke up from her nightmare. What in the world was that? That would never happen, right?
Matt stirred at the sound of her gasp and looked at her. "Inez, you okay?"
"Yeah Matt," Inez said, uneasily, "I'm fine."
"You don't sound fine."
"Well... I had a dream. You and Jacks were really mad at me and I didn't know why. Then you both walked out and said we weren't friends anymore."
Matt crawled over to her and wrapped an arm around her. "Its just a dream, Nezzie. We'll always be friends."
"Not if you keep calling me 'Nezzie,'" she said, knocking him with a pillow.
"Hey!"
Inez smirked at him and he took his pillow and knocked her with it. Inez returned the favor before running to the other side of the room. Matt threw his pillow at her but it didn't quite reach her and landed on Jackie instead.
"Ugh! What gives?" she said groggily as she sat up, "I was getting my beauty rest!"
"Sorry Jacks," said Matt, "Nezzie and I were just having a pillow fight."
"Don't call me 'Nezzie!'" the Latina said throwing her pillow.
Matt ducked and it hit the still sleeping Digit.
"Yoikes!"
"Sorry Didge!" Inez said.
Digit took his pillow and threw it back at Inez but it hit Jackie instead.
"Again?" she said annoyed before throwing it back at Digit.
Soon enough a full pillow fight was in action. The door opened and Lyryn and Widget were there in their pajamas, woken up by the noise.
"Can you guys keep it down?" Lyryn asked before also getting hit in the face with a pillow.
"YES! Pillow fight!" Widget yelled before joining in.
Lyryn smirked and threw the pillow back into the midst of the battle before jumping in herself. Pillows flew across the room in a frenzy. At one point, Inez got her feet tangled in a stray sleeping bag and crashed into Matt. The two fell to the floor, their faces inches from each other.
"Oooooh..." Lyryn and Jackie said laughing as the two quickly pulled away from each other, blushing.
"Alright, nothing to see here," Matt said, throwing a pillow at the girls, reigniting the fight.
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Location: Cybersite Angle Londe:
"What do you think, dear?" Ada said, as she spun around in the matron of honor dress she had just gotten delivered to her.
"You look beautiful as always, my lady," her husband said, "You could make anything look beautiful just by wearing it."
"You're too kind, Marbles."
Marbles grinned, slipping an arm around his sweetheart, head laying on her shoulder.
"Hm, like a certain wedding gown on our special day."
She blushed. Why did she wind up with a man that made her blush by the thought of him alone? She had no idea, but was grateful regardless.
"Hm, I do recall quite the fetching groom waiting for me at that altar, you know."
She smiled as it was his turn to blush.
"Ahh, Ada, why do you feel the need to make me blush?!"
She turned her head, claiming him for a kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I wish we had more time together like this."
He hugged her, sighing. "I know, Ada. It's just that," he broke off, sighing.
"What?"
He looked down, filled with angst. "It's just... Ever since Hacker broke off, I-"
Marbles sighed as he came to a nearby wall, sliding down it before laying his head on his knees, glaring at the floor. Ada sighed, remembering another time he was this distraught, that fateful day that his creation was judged and banished to a far off site.
Flashback:
Ada couldn't help staying up when her husband didn't return to their room after a few minutes. It was late at night when they had heard frantic knocking at the door to Marbles' private housing sector of Control Central. Less than a minute after answering he had rushed into their room, frantically changing into his lab coat and a pair of pants, all but ignoring her requests to know just what in the cyber world was going on.
He'd now been gone for a full half hour and she was getting worried. Stretching, she got up and threw her purple robe over her, deciding to see for herself what was going on.
Her first instinct was to see if he was in the main control room. She was surprised to see that Motherboard was wide awake there and looking very distraught.
"Motherboard? What are you doing up at this hour? What's the matter?"
"Its Hacker," she said, her voice filled with a sorrow unbecoming of her.
"What about Hacker? Is he alright?"
Motherboard's gaze met hers and Ada was disturbed by the amount of pain she saw in the cyber ruler's eyes.
"He tried to shut me down."
Ada gasped. "Shut you down? As in permanently?"
Motherboard nodded, her gaze shifting back to the floor.
Ada was devastated. The Hacker she got to know was kind and loyal to Motherboard and-
"Where's Marbles?"
"In the hangar bay," Motherboard answered, "He's sending Hacker to the Northern Frontier."
Just then the doctor walked in.
"Ada? What are you doing up?"
"I was concerned when you didn't come back after so long," she said, "Motherboard just told me what happened. That Hacker tried to shut her down."
Marbles nodded. "He removed her encryptor chip and locked it away. If Digit hadn't intervened I think I have an idea of what he would've done next."
"But why?" Ada asked.
"He wants to replace her apparently," the doctor answered, "As I was downgrading his power he threatened to come back some day and take over Cyberspace."
"You drained his power?" Motherboard asked.
"I had to," he explained, "With the amount of power I programmed in him he could easily have seen his plans through."
"Hacker has expressed interest in ruling Cyberspace for a while now," Motherboard said, "But I never thought he would try to kill me in order to do so."
"Neither did I, Motherboard," Marbles said, looking down sadly.
He sighed, walking back towards the housing sector without a word to either female. Ada nodded to the screen.
"I'll talk to him, Motherboard."
Motherboard nodded. Ada was often the one to breach Marbles' inner walls and open up with him. "Alright Ada."
Ada caught up to him on the bridge that connected the housing sector with the rest of the site.
"Marbles," she said, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder, "Are you alright?"
"What do you think, Ada?" he spat, uncharacteristically cold, "My own creation hates me and tried to destroy my sister."
Ada widened her eyes, backing up. "I'm sorry."
Looking at her expression, Marbles felt his cyborg equivalent of a heart twist. He had never spoken to Ada like that until then. He looked away before running into the housing sector to his room. Ada followed, hearing the bedroom door close as she walked in. She closed the entry door before she heard glass break. Then an agonized scream broke out that chilled her, heart and soul. She opened the bedroom door, noticing the broken mirror shards spread out on the floor.
"Marbles?" She saw a leaking trail to the other side of the room, realizing he had blacked out.
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She smiled a bit as he came to, still bandaging his hand after cleaning up. She looked at him when she felt him pull away.
"I'm sorry," He sighed, his breath still shaky, "It wasn't your fault."
Ada looked confused. "What?"
He looked up. "I-I'm sorry I snapped at you. It wasn't your fault. It was a way-" He cried, realizing,"I almost killed my own sister!"
Ada held him. "Shhhh, shhh. He's gone now."
She sighed, hugging her beloved tighter and closer. "None of us could have known this would happen, Marbles."
She sighed again, stroking the small of his back, finding his soft smile. Rubbing it a bit firmer, she lay him on her lap.
"Ada."
She smiled "Hm?"
He smiled a bit, having calmed down. "I love you."
She kissed him, smiling as he blushed. "Hm, I love you, too."
End flashback
She looked at her husband, hugging him. She never wanted to see him that upset ever again. After that, she noticed a ridge along the wrist where he usually wore his locator. An old scar from the first and, hopefully, last day he came undone.
So Inez's dream was an actual dream I had a week ago where Matt and Jackie get mad at her for no real reason. Marbles' breakdown was all my co-writer's idea so go on her DA page, Lunalacravan, and give her some love if you liked it. Also I have posted my cover of Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas on youtube so give that a listen if you're interested. I just got my first dislike on youtube and have been taking it harder than I thought I would. I knew it had to happen eventually but it was on a video that so far has 0 likes and I thought it was gonna be my most liked video. It also was a song that I was planning to perform for NATS which makes me think that maybe I should pick a different piece. But I'm sure I'll feel better after I get my lovely reviews. *Hint* *hint.* As Digit would say:
See ya in Cyberspace!