The device is finished, Hacker announces it to the world, and the beginning of a plan is made.

Be warned that my work schedule has changed and that I will now have fewer hours to write. Also, working on four fanfics at the time with this new schedule will probably be a bit much, so something will have to go, and I'm sorry to say it most likely will be my fanfics for Cyberchase. Don't worry, I have every intention of finishing this fanfic, and probably writing another after this one (as this one will leave things hanging at the end) but after that, I'll probably call it quits for Cyberchase fanfics for now.

But that doesn't mean I won't ever come back to it. ;)

11.

Neutramatter's Sting

Hacker watched as Inez slid the newest part through the glowing white portal. Taking it in his hands, Hacker took it and attached it to the rest of the machine that had been built on his side of the portal.

"That should be it." he said to himself.

He then walked over to the nearby control panel and pressed a few buttons, looking at the readouts. He grinned, and then turned to the radio he had been using to communicate to Inez with.

"We're done." he said into it bluntly. "Come out. Now."

He then turned to the portal and waited. After a few moments, Inez stepped through, scowling. Hacker knew she disapproved of all of this, but he knew, as she did, that she could do nothing. Hacker was personally pleased by this. He liked it when he annoyed his enemies.

Approaching Inez, he held out his hand, and motioned to Inez to hand over the belt-like device and the earpiece. Inez, still scowling, obeyed, roughly shoving them into Hacker's hands. Hacker then turned around and chucked it onto the control panel to stay. Hacker then rebound Inez's hands behind her back and with a shove, silently indicated for Inez to move.

Inez obeyed, and Hacker escorted her back to her cell. Opening the door, he undid her bounds and shoved her into the cell, slamming the door shut behind him.

"You get to stay there now." Hacker announced with a cruel grin. "Because now the real fun begins!"

Inez eye's widened as she realized what Hacker was implying. "No!" she exclaimed, throwing herself on the door, but to no avail.

Hacker backed away from the door, still grinning, enjoying Inez's frustration.

Finally, Inez started to calm down, but she was still angry. "Hacker, you really are crazy!" she exclaimed.

"Maybe." Hacker admitted. "But at least I'll emerge from this conflict victorious for a change."

He then laughed, and walked off, leaving Inez alone in her cell.

Hacker didn't stop until he had returned to the Wreaker's bridge. Heading over the control panel, he started typing in commands. After a momentary pause, the machine Inez had helped him create turned on, whirring softly. Pipes connected to it rattled as they sucked up neutramatter, stealing it straight from it's dimension and transported it straight to a neutramatter-safe containment box several decks below.

Hacker watched as a gage slowly started to fill up, then grinned as it was finally filled completely, and switched the collector off.

"It's ready." he whispered to himself...


"So Hacker intends to use this neutramatter stuff to get control of Cyberspace?" Alex recapped, rubbing his chin as he looked the plans lying before him over.

"And use it to blast away anything that stands in his way." Digit added gravely.

Peter shook his head. "For once, you gotta respect the guy for coming up with such a deadly device." he remarked.

Matt nodded, slipping the plans back in their manilla folder. "True." he said. "But now you two are all caught up on the situation, we need to figure out a way to stop Hacker from ever using it."

"I say we blast Hacker out of the stars." Hardson voted instantly.

"We cannot destroy something we cannot find." Motherboard objected, who was still trying to, and vainly, search for the Wreaker, even with Buzz and Delete's help in narrowing the area to search.

"Besides, Inez is still onboard the Wreaker." Lara said. "If we blast Hacker, we'll end up blasting her too."

"But not if she's in the neutramatter dimension!" Hardson said.

"No, we'll just strand her there, because we'll have destroyed the only thing capable of getting her back!" Digit said.

"Face it, major." Matt said. "Blasting stuff isn't going to save the day this time."

Hardson frowned and folded her arms.

"Too bad we removed the lifeboat's tracking device before we escaped, Buzzy." Delete muttered. "It could work both ways, you know. Allow the Grim Wreaker to track it, or the lifeboat to track the Grim Wreaker."

"Yeah, but you can't do one or the other." Buzz pointed out. "Even if we still had the device and could figure out a way to reconnect it, Hacker would detect us long before we ever got near him."

"And there's still the fact that you don't know where the Wreaker is, just the general area." Alex pointed out.

"Yeah, I know." Buzz said.

"So...and this is just me playing devil's advocate for a moment...but what if we wait for Hacker to get this neutramatter weapon we know he's building finished and ready to use?" Peter asked suddenly.

"Then we're all doomed!" Digit exclaimed, like it was obvious.

"Not right away." Peter pointed out. "And look at it this way. Once Hacker does get this thing up and running, he's going to use it. And once he does, we're not going be able to miss it. That will let us know exactly where he is. Then we can mount a rescue of Inez and then let Hardson and the CSC blast Hacker and the Wreaker into oblivion."

"But at what price?" Lara asked. "How much damage will Hacker have dealt before we do all that?"

"Oh, good point." Peter said. "I suppose he'd work to destroy as much as he could before we took him down, huh?"

"Yeah." Lara said curtly.

"Incoming transmission." Motherboard suddenly announced. "Unknown source."

And then Motherboard's face suddenly vanished and was replaced with Hacker's.

"Hi there, kiddies!" he cackled. "I've got a surprise for you!"

"Your neutramatter weapon." Alex said, holding up the plans. "We know already."

"I know you know." Hacker said, and then frowned at Buzz and Delete. "No thanks to you two."

"Where's Inez?" Matt demanded.

"A lot safer here than all of you at the moment." Hacker said. "And before you ask, allow me to demonstrate my new power."

The screen suddenly changed to show a view of a barren cybersite out the observation deck onboard the Grim Wreaker.

"This is cybersite designation CS-445050002366970." Hacker's voice continued from off screen. "A barren, and uninhabited place. I figure no one would mind if I used it as a test site. Now observe."

At first, nothing happened. Then a large yellow streak shot out from under the Wreaker, around where it's laser cannon usually sat, and struck the cybersite head on. A shockwave of energy washed over the site, and then the beam was seen shooting clear through the site altogether, creating a large hole into it. As the beam began to die down, the site began to crack, as if it was slowly deteriorating, and then shattered altogether, the pieces breaking into even smaller ones as time went by.

"Behold the power of my neutramatter cannon!" Hacker exclaimed, reappearing on the screen. "And I intend to use this weapon to it's fullest capabilities." he laughed wickedly, and then the transmission ended.

Silence fell for a long moment. Then Motherboard spoke.

"I have pinpointed Hacker's location." she announced. "He is changing course, and is heading in our direction. He will arrive at Control Central within two hours, present speed."

"To wipe us out." Lara said gravely.

"Peter, about that plan of yours." Matt said. "Looks like we're going to try it out."