One more chapter to go after this one! Everything seems to be resolving themselves, but don't go jumping to conclusions just yet... ;)
14.
Turning The Tide
Outside the Grim Wreaker, the superweapon started to charge, the power crystals embedded in it's tip starting to glow with white light. Still pointing at the power station, it fired a large bolt of pure white energy, a big contrast to the red energy it had fired in the past. It struck the power station, sending the energy rushing through the structure and to it's relays.
Then, huge white bolts of energy were sent all across one fourth of the cybergalaxy, traveling to every cybersite within that one quarter of the cybergalaxy. All over this portion of Cyberspace, everything started to turn good again as the white positive energy washed over them. One such wave of energy washed over Control Central, and as it caressed through the site, the lighting within the site returned to normal, the aura of evil driven out, and all of the occupants within lost the evil red glow in their eyes, and resumed their normal characteristics.
Feeling slightly shocked, Matt, Jackie, Digit, and Dr. Marbles all bent over double, clutching their heads. Motherboard's screen flickered once or twice, and she shook her head.
"What happened?" Matt asked with a moan, his memory of being under the influence of Hacker's superweapon being foggy. "Is it what I think it is?"
"Is everyone all right?" Motherboard asked.
"I believe we will be, thank you Motherboard." Marbles replied, rubbing his own head. "Do you remember what has transpired?"
"Vaguely." Motherboard replied. "I do not like it."
"If I'm remembering things right, I don't like it either." Digit muttered.
Jackie suddenly gasped, realizing they were missing someone. "Where's Inez?" she asked, panicked.
"Inez?" Matt repeated, then, without thinking, replied, "She escaped." his eyes suddenly widened as he remembered vaguely what that implied. "Uh-oh." he said. "I think we owe Inez an apology."
"But if she escaped Hacker's attack, whatever it was, then where is she now?" Digit asked.
"And why has whatever Hacker's done been undone?" Jackie asked.
"I am searching for Inez now." Motherboard announced. "If she is where I believe she is, she could be in trouble."
Inez being in trouble was actually a bit of an understatement. The moment the superweapon fired, and Hacker realized he had just lost the quarter of the cybergalaxy he had worked so hard to obtain, he let out a yell and charged Inez. Inez gasped and went to flee, but Hacker proved to be too fast, grabbing her by the arm.
"You're mine!" Hacker exclaimed.
Inez dealt Hacker a punch to the chin, desperate to escape, but Hacker's grip held.
"Let me go!" Inez said, fighting and kicking as Hacker dragged her across the room.
Hacker just ignored her. "Buzz! Delete!" he shouted to his robotic henchmen, who were just starting to come to again. "I have a job for you!"
Inez still fought, until she saw that Hacker was dragging her very close to where the other modified laser pistol lay, still recharging. Using her free hand, she quickly grabbed it, and before Hacker could even notice, spun around, and pointed the pistol at Shari, who had retrieved her wand and was standing motionless to one side, and fired. A white bolt of energy zipped across the room, and struck Shari square in the chest, knocking her backwards.
Before Inez could look and see if the pistol had been recharged with enough positive energy to reverse the effects of the negative energy Shari had been exposed to, Hacker quickly grabbed Inez's other hand and whipped her around to face him. Inez struggled, and as a result, the pistol was fired a few more times into the ceiling. Inez saw the pistol was operating normally again, and tried to force it downward to point at Hacker.
Hacker resisted, preventing Inez to get a good aim. Getting frustrated, Inez kicked Hacker in the knee. Hacker winced, and his grip loosened just enough for Inez to wrench herself free and get some distance between her and Hacker. She then whipped back around and fired a few warning shots at Hacker telling him to keep back.
"Inez!" a voice suddenly called out.
Inez turned and saw Shari, back on her feet, pointing her wand at Inez. For one fleeting moment, Inez thought that Shari was still evil, but then Shari suddenly shifted her aim and pointed her wand straight at Hacker, Buzz and Delete rushing over to aide their boss.
"Blast! Fast!" Shari annunciated, and her wand released a large shockwave that knocked the trio of baddies backwards.
"Shari!" Inez exclaimed, relieved to have Shari back on her side. "We need to destroy the power crystals! Prevent this from happening again!"
Shari nodded, and fired off another spell.
"No!" Hacker exclaimed, and quickly tried to block the spell with his body, but the spell simply zipped around him.
Smashing out a window, the spell zoomed out into Cyberspace for a moment, then curved downward to face the superweapon and heading towards it. Suddenly the spell banged and split into eight parts. Each one of those eight parts zipped forward and struck a power crystal, shattering it instantly. Within moments, the power crystals were destroyed, and the superweapon rendered useless.
A warning message stating this was so appeared on the forward viewscreen, flashing violently to grab the attention of everyone in the room.
Seeing their mission complete, Inez turned to Shari. "Let's go!" she yelled, and raced for the nearest exit.
Shari quickly followed. Hacker let out a roar, and pursued them, his eyes showing that the villain was beyond enraged at the moment. Inez fired a shot at Hacker, and missed, but it caused Hacker to slow for a split second, just long enough for Shari and Inez to squeeze through a door and close it. Quickly shooting out the door's controls to prevent anyone from following them quickly, Inez grabbed Shari, and they rushed down the corridor.
They met no interference during their mad dash through the Wreaker, but they didn't slow down for an instant, knowing that there could be an enemy just around the next corner. Eventually, however, they returned to the Wreaker's roof where their cybercraft was still parked without event. Clambering into the craft, they took off and zoomed off in a random direction.
"Where are we going?" Shari asked.
"Anywhere, just as far from Hacker as we can get!" Inez replied, forcing the cybercraft to hit it's top speed.
Behind them, the Wreaker broke off of it's orbit around the power station, and moved to chase the little craft, lowering it's laser cannon. The first shot was a lucky hit, and damaged the craft's engines, slowing it significantly.
"He's going to fire again!" Shari yelled as she saw the Wreaker adjust the aim.
"We're done for!" Inez exclaimed, seeing that she had no way to avoid the shot in time.
Then, like a prayer being answered, a swirling pink portal opened in front of the cybercraft. Thanking Motherboard for her impeccable timing, Inez dove the cybercraft into the portal, just barely avoiding getting hit from a laser blast that would have destroyed the cybercraft. Once the portal closed, the Wreaker slowed to a halt.
Hacker vented his frustration at being stopped after coming so close to capturing Cyberspace once agin for some time. But then, finally, he came to his senses and a new look came to his eyes. Hope wasn't lost for him yet, he still had a way to get revenge...