MY EVERYTHING
By Max Jordan and Grand High Idol
CHAPTER TWO
Awhile later Delete had left Hacker's lab and, after cleaning the mud from himself after Buzz had finished, had returned to his room and was now pacing around, thinking about what he had seen and heard earlier in the lab. He had all the time to think to himself; Buzz had gone into the kitchen to get something to eat (obviously), and Hacker was probably still busy in his lab working on that egg.
He wanted that egg badly, but he appeared lost in his train of thought. As he continued pacing, he spoke out loud to himself.mainly because it made him feel less lonely, for one thing, and he felt better that way. It also helped him to think just a little faster than he did when he wasn't talking.
"The boss is making an egg that can make more of Buzz an' me," he said to himself, "but what if it can make other people too, new people?" He sighed and turned around, beginning to pace to the other end of the room. "This place gets so lonely.but if there was somebody else here, I'd have somebody to talk to." He sighed and shook his head. "But who? Who do I know that I would want to sit and talk to?"
He then abruptly stopped pacing and got lost in his thoughts once again, back to the scene where he had landed on top of Inez. He giggled to himself and sighed romantically, clasping his hands together at remembering that moment. That was probably the closest to Inez that he'd gotten, besides the time that he had trapped the kids in their first mission. He didn't know her very well then, but now that he did.
"Yeah, Inez is nice," Delete finally decided. "She'd be wonderful to talk to." He sat down on his bed and crossed his legs, staring down at the floor for a few more moments. "But if I'm gonna make another Inez, I'm gonna need to get some of Inez.but how?" He got up from his bed, hand to his mouth, deep in thought, as he walked out of his room and down the hallway.
He didn't exactly even know where he was going until he looked up and spotted an open doorway. Curious, he crept over to it, then, checking to make sure that Hacker wasn't in the room at the moment, walked inside and stood in the doorway. It was a narrow room, covered in shelves; the things occupying them appeared to be various broken materials and objects. Delete looked around some more, and the sudden memory of this room came to mind. This was the room where Hacker stored his failed inventions, or the inventions that he had made but had never put to use.
Too curious of what might have been in the room since he last stopped in it (which was when he was about twelve or so), he began to walk down the corridor, looking at the various items that aligned the walls. Some of them he found rather disturbing, some he cringed at, and yet some of them he thought appeared very cute (he stopped momentarily to pat the head of an offline robot dog). He finally stopped when something caught his eye-on the lower shelf he spotted a dusty velvet pillow.and there was something atop it.
Coming a few steps closer, he could now see that the small object seated on the pillow was a thumbnail-sized robot that paid a similar resemblance to a mosquito. Next to it, covered in dust as well as anything else, was a small remote control. Trying to remember what Hacker had created this for, he tapped his head a few times to bring himself to think.
Then he remembered. Hacker had built it originally to drain the Sensible Flats reservoir of water, then charge money for it to sell it back to the citizens of Sensible Flats. It hadn't worked, though, mainly because Hacker didn't have enough of these things to actually suck the reservoir dry.
That was when an idea suddenly sprung into Delete's head. Continuing to think of it for fear of losing it again-he tended to forget things on a regular basis-he quickly snatched up the mosquito, along with the remote, and, stuffing it inside his shirt, quickly ran back to his room. Looking around to make sure that Buzz wasn't in yet, he sighed in relief, then slowly walked in and gently removed the remote and the mosquito from his shirt.
Looking it over, taking care not to damage it too severely, he found that the mosquito's remote control system had a small monitor in the middle of it, much like a radar, so that the holder could determine what the bug saw through its artificial eyes. Thinking that he should give it a test run- see if it still worked after all this time-he switched the device on, and the creature immediately hummed to life.
Delete grinned, then shifted the control upward, and the bug obeyed, sending itself up into the air a few feet. Then shifting the controls to left and right, he found that he could control it himself with little trouble and much ease. He smiled at uncovering this fact.
"Perfect," he told himself. "Now I just gotta wait for the boss to take us somewhere, and the kids show up. Then I can finally get what I want." He stopped himself. "Gee, that sounded a little harsh."
He shook his head, then stuffed the mosquito and remote back into his shirt just as, ironically enough, Hacker's voice was heard from the main control room-how'd he get back in there so fast? Delete guessed that he must've finished working on his egg or whatever that thing was.
"Buzz, Delete, get out here NOW!" Hacker shouted into the hallway. Delete smiled to himself, and his eyes narrowed as he took on a rather smug expression.
"Bingo," he muttered to himself; he then turned around and ran toward the direction of the main control room. Buzz was already there; he was licking the excess sugar from his fingers, and Hacker was standing in front of the table, his arms crossed. Hoping that Hacker didn't notice that he had swiped his device, Delete halted in front of him and innocently placed his hands behind his back.
"Good, it's about time you duncebuckets got here," he sneered, before turning around and heading toward the Grim Wreaker's control panels. "Come on, we've got some shopping to do."
"Oh, can we pick up a pizza too?" Buzz asked hopefully as Hacker took his seat in his Recharger Chair.
Hacker growled at him. "Not that kind of shopping, you delinquent duncebucket, now come on." He pressed the ignition button, then took the controls in his hands. "You'll get the plan when we arrive at our destination."
* * *
The "destination" soon enough proved to be R-Fair City. The Grim Wreaker landed outside the main amusement park area, in one of the nearby parking lots, then Hacker, Buzz and Delete walked out and headed in the direction of the amusement park. Hacker stopped them right behind a games booth.
"Now, my clueless cronies, there are some things that I need to get, and I need a distraction. You two have my full permission to annoy, disturb, and in other words cause a total disruption in a different area during the time I get them. Understand?" He raised an eyebrow.
Buzz laughed. "No sweat, boss, annoyin' is what we do best."
"You can say that again," Hacker muttered to himself, rolling his eyes. Buzz didn't catch what he was saying, fortunately, and instead walked past him and into the amusement park itself.
"Come on, Dee-Dee, let's go," the stocky robot called to his little brother. Delete nodded obediently, then ran off after Buzz into a crowd of cyberspacian visitors. Hacker grinned, then rubbed his hands together, turned to the side, and walked off into the shadows.
By the time Buzz and Delete had pushed through the crowd and had arrived in the center of the midway, it was thoroughly crowded with tourists. Buzz shook his head, then opened the bag of snacks that he had swiped from a nearby booth earlier and stuffed a handful into his mouth. "Man, look at all 'dese guys. Can you believe 'dat?" He swallowed. "It should be pretty easy to cause a distraction with 'dis many people around.problem is, where should we start?"
It was then that Buzz spotted the R-Fair City roller coaster, one of the biggest rides in the area, and of course all of the thrill-seeking tourists were lined up to ride it. Getting an idea, Buzz grinned cockily, then began to run in the direction of the roller coaster's main entrance.
"Come on, Deeds, time for a roller coaster ride," he said to his little brother as Delete wearily followed him, pushing his way past a walking couple and nearly hitting a rather obese man in the process.
"Great, I love roller coasters," Delete replied, grinning weakly and trying his best not to sound too nervous. In truth he didn't like thrill rides-he couldn't get on a Ferris Wheel, even, without screaming or hurling.much to Buzz's embarrassment on that day. But Buzz was a natural thrill-seeker at work, and if Buzz wanted to do it, that usually meant he had to as well.
Sighing, he followed Buzz as the two pushed past everyone in the line, causing quite a few yells and curses from the adults and a few screeches and whines from the kids. Content that they were causing such an uproar, Buzz smirked and shoved past the remainder of the line, then jumped up onto the platform, Delete following. Running over to the controls and shoving the man at them aside, Buzz grabbed the main control lever and jabbed his finger in the direction of the coaster.
"Get in, Delete," he ordered.
Delete sighed, looked at the coaster cars, gulped, then jumped in. Buzz grinned, then leapt up and slammed his feet down on the control lever full force, causing it to snap. The coaster cars began to move up toward the first hill, and Buzz quickly ran over and leapt into the car beside Delete.
As soon as they went over the first hill, the coaster went full speed, carrying Buzz, Delete, and a few other unsuspecting bystanders who had merely come for a ride along the track, over the hills, veering over the constant, sudden curves.Buzz was cheering in amusement, but Delete was screaming at the top of his lungs, covering his eyes, trying to avoid the horrible nausea he felt every time they hit a curve. Oh well, he thought to himself as he brought one hand to his mouth to prevent himself from vomiting, Think of it this way. At least the kids are gonna show up soon enough.
Almost as if on cue, the pink portal opened just near the center of the midway, and the kids and Digit jumped out, this time landing neatly on the ground instead of landing on top of each other, like they normally did. Quickly regaining his balance, Matt straightened his sweater, then looked at the other three.
"Did Motherboard say what was wrong?" he asked, confused.
Inez shook her head. "No," she replied, "She just said to get to the midway at R-Fair City, and fast." She looked around at the shouting and gaping tourists around her, then sighed. "But what's going on here?"
Jackie looked up toward the direction of the roller coaster, the direction that the tourists were currently looking in, then gasped. "Oh man, I think I found the problem," she exclaimed; then, sure that she had caught Matt, Inez and Digit's attention, pointed up at one of the coaster's hills. "Look!"
Matt, Digit and Inez looked up, then spotted the coaster as it went over the hill and plummeted toward another curve, catching a glimpse of Buzz and Delete in the process. Matt glared. "Figures.we hear about trouble, and five minutes later, guess who we find?"
"Never mind that, they have to be stopped!" Jackie exclaimed, she then pushed through the tourists, trying to state her apologies for knocking them aside in the process, Matt and Inez trailing behind her, with Digit in flight over their heads. Upon reaching the front of the coaster, Inez and Digit ran over to help the stunned coaster operator to his feet, while Matt and Jackie eyed the coaster's lever, which, of course, was still broken.
"Oh, well this is just great," Jackie scoffed, staring down at the lever. "Now what?"
Matt looked up in the direction of the coaster again, then narrowed one eye, as if in thought. Finally he looked over at the others and said, "Jackie, Digit, find something to pull that lever with. I'll go handle those two." He pointed up toward Buzz and Delete, who were just coming down the last hill on the ride-that is, if the lever had actually been pulled at the time. As the coaster passed by them, even though it was going at least sixty miles per hour, Matt ran aside it and leapt into the last empty car.
"Matt!" Inez exclaimed as the coaster passed her. "Are you nuts!"
Without even thinking of what she was doing at the time, Inez ran behind the coaster and took a flying leap into the last car just as it started up the beginning of the hill again, this time going much slower, thank goodness. Jackie sighed as she watched the coaster head upward again, then shook her head.
"Why can't those two cause trouble at an ice skating rink?" she sighed, then turned to Digit. "Come on, Didge, we need to find something to shut off the lever before Matt goes and hurts himself."
"Well, that's Matt for ya," Digit replied, shrugging. "But yeah, let's go find something to fix the lever before anything serious happens."
Jackie nodded, and the two began searching for something, anything, to fix the lever and possibly shut off the coaster.which was currently taking its descent on the second hill. Buzz, pausing in his thrilled screaming to look behind him, spotted Matt at once, then narrowed his eyes and turned around, Delete still shrieking at the top of his lungs beside him, his hands clasped to his face very much like Home Alone. The stocky robot ignored him, however.
"Well, well, well," he smirked, putting one foot on the top seat of his coaster car. Of course, the roller coaster took a sharp turn at this point, and Buzz almost fell over, but he didn't seem to care. "Care for a ride, kids?"
"Not funny, Buzz," Matt replied angrily, bracing himself against the wind. "Now get over here before I make you."
Buzz scoffed and crossed his arms. "Fat chance."
Matt smirked, then, being what he was, replied sassily, "Yeah, well, that's easy for someone like you to say."
Buzz could be ignorant at times, but he knew when he was being insulted. Angrily gritting his teeth, he balled his hands into tight fists, but, knowing that he couldn't jump at the boy while they were still on the turn area, instead snatched up the bag of snacks he had from the bottom of the coaster and began throwing them at Matt. Inez sighed and rolled her eyes, then began to slowly and steadily climb toward their spot on the coaster.
Delete, who had previously been screaming but had stopped when he had heard Matt's voice, now turned around in time to see Inez climbing toward Matt on the coaster. His expression of nausea and dread now turning to one of happiness, he quickly turned around, then reached into his shirt and pulled out the mosquito, along with the controls.
"Perfect," he muttered to himself, knowing that no one else could possibly hear him over the roar of the wind. He gently switched the robot on, then took the controls in one hand, holding the bug with the other. "Now, let's do this."
They had come to the top of the second hill now, and were now going straight again. Buzz, having run out of snacks, for one thing, and now that he knew that he was within perfect leaping range he could actually carry out what he had meant to do in the first place. Emitting an angry screech, he leapt forward, jumping on Matt. Matt fell backward into the coaster, and the two began wrestling with each other, yelping, screaming, cursing (Buzz, anyway). This left all three of them-Inez included-fully distracted, so it was easy for Delete to manage to get the bug behind her, despite how quickly they were speeding along the roller coaster's track.
Buzz put up a pretty good fight with the boy, but Matt, being two feet taller and twenty pounds heavier, had the advantage in this case. Angrily, he grabbed hold of Buzz just as he was about to kick Matt, then the redhead slammed him down to the bottom of the coaster, pinning him down by both arms. Buzz growled and struggled, but Matt, panting harshly, refused to let go of him. Inez was still watching, wondering what Matt was to do, when the robot finally managed to land on the back of her neck. Grinning, Delete pressed the button in the center.
At this Inez suddenly let out a shriek of pain, then grabbed the back of her neck with both hands, thus allowing her to lose her grip and almost fall off the side of the coaster. In a panic, she successfully managed to grab one of the bars just as she had begun her descent to the ground below.
"Inez!" Matt cried; he then released his grip on Buzz and leapt to grab her, before she let go of the bar entirely. The mosquito, having finished taking its sample of her blood, then came back to Delete, and he quickly caught it and stuffed it and the remote back into his shirt before anyone came to notice.
It was then that two things happened: the roller coaster finally screeched to a halt, for one thing, and the Grim Wreaker flew overhead just after that. Apparently Hacker had finished his "shopping" and was now coming back to collect his two henchmen. Buzz, getting up from the bottom of the coaster and gingerly rubbing at his bruises, looked up, then jumped to the edge of the coaster.
"Come on, Deeds, time to go," he told his little brother. Delete nodded, then clambered onto the edge after him, as the Grim Wreaker lowered its tube and sucked the two robots up, before shooting off back into cyberspace. Matt watched them as they left, then groaned in frustration.
"Man, first a mud pit and now this," he sighed, shaking his head. "Talk about one of those days."
"Matt!" Inez shouted; she was still dangling from the bar of the roller coaster, Matt holding tightly onto her pink shirtsleeve. "Do you mind?"
"Oh," Matt replied, finally coming to his senses and looking down at her. He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that."
Inez sighed angrily, then allowed Matt to pull her up onto the coaster, just as Digit flew up as so to retrieve them both, while the coaster operator resumed his position and allowed the two to come down a few seconds later.
* * *
Back at the Northern Frontier, after the Grim Wreaker had been successfully parked, Hacker came into the main control room, laughing triumphantly. "Yes!" he exclaimed. "Those Cyber-brats were too busy to stop me. Now I can finish my invention, and when that's done I'll finally be rid of those brats for good!"
He then turned around and went back down the hallway-to his workshop, no doubt. Buzz, meanwhile, was still tending the bruises Matt had given him, and decided to go to the kitchen for some ice and perhaps a snack. Delete, knowing what he had to do, placed his hand to his shirt, sighed, then snuck off after Hacker, taking care not to make any noise in the process.
He stopped outside the door, in his usual spot, watching Hacker as he continued his process on the egg. All the time Delete was clutching his hand to his shirt, the area where the mosquito was hidden, every now and then grinning and sighing romantically, for what seemed like hours. Finally, Hacker threw his tools down on the table and grinned in satisfaction at what lay before him.
"Finally, it's completed," he said to himself, sounding rather pleased with his accomplishment. "Come tomorrow, now, those kids won't stand a chance. Cyberspace will finally be mine, and there's nothing that those meddlesome moppets can do about it."
He then began to head toward the doorway. Delete had to press against the wall again to avoid being seen as Hacker walked away, in a thoroughly smug mood. Delete sighed, then exhaled again and removed himself from the wall, looking in through the doorway at the egg in the process.
Looking around cautiously some more, he smiled, then walked into the lab, stopping in front of the table. Staring down at the egg for a few moments, he finally sighed, then wrapped his arms around it and gently picked it up. It was lighter than he thought; he looked at it, then, even though he hadn't completed the process just yet, hugged it lovingly to his chest.
"The boss may need you, but I need you more," he said to the egg, before turning around and quickly running out of the lab. Once he was in the hallway, he went down the opposite end of the hallway, which, considering the fact that these hallways were rarely explored, was still dark. He swallowed, he was just a tad afraid of the dark, then walked carefully down the hallway and finally entered the storage area.
This was where they stored a few supplies, along with other various, discarded items from eons ago. It was rare when anyone went down here to get something, thus he knew that this was a good place to conceal it. Looking around some more, he hugged the egg tighter, then bolted off and ducked down into a dark, rather large space between two absurdly large box crates.
"Yeah, this is a good spot," he told himself as he gently set the egg down on the tiled floor. "No one'll ever find it here.hopefully."
Looking over the egg, he finally found a button on the side. Wondering what this did, he reached out and pushed it, and, much to his surprise, one of the sides opened up. Inside it he could make out a few tubes, sockets, and various wires, along with a rather small computer screen. Now, as the egg opened, green letters flashed across the computer's monitor:
Insert DNA sample.
Delete nodded, then took the mosquito out from underneath his coat for seemingly the last time, then fiddled around with it, trying to figure out how it opened. As he was toying with it, he didn't notice that one of the seams on his shirtsleeve was coming loose. When he had seemingly gotten the mosquito open, he was about to remove the blood sample when it snapped shut onto the ripped seam of his shirt, slicing his wrist in the process.
It wasn't a bad cut, but it was a cut nonetheless. Delete yipped, then cursed under his breath and tried to get the mosquito off of his shirt. What he didn't notice was that the cut was currently beginning to lightly bleed, and as he managed to tear the mosquito from his seam a drop of it had fallen into the exposed side, mixing itself in with Inez's.
He sighed, then dumped the blood sample into the egg and pushed the button again. The egg closed shut, as the computer monitor flashed a few more words:
Scanning.DNA sample accepting.commence construction.
Delete gently sucked the wound on his wrist to rid it of the blood, then sat back against one of the crates, looking at the egg, which had remained completely silent.and still, now that the sample had been accepted. Delete didn't know what to think of this. Would it go through, or would it fail? He hoped that the latter wasn't what was to happen.
He yawned, then finally curled up next to the egg and quietly fell asleep, wondering what he would find when he woke up in the morning.
By Max Jordan and Grand High Idol
CHAPTER TWO
Awhile later Delete had left Hacker's lab and, after cleaning the mud from himself after Buzz had finished, had returned to his room and was now pacing around, thinking about what he had seen and heard earlier in the lab. He had all the time to think to himself; Buzz had gone into the kitchen to get something to eat (obviously), and Hacker was probably still busy in his lab working on that egg.
He wanted that egg badly, but he appeared lost in his train of thought. As he continued pacing, he spoke out loud to himself.mainly because it made him feel less lonely, for one thing, and he felt better that way. It also helped him to think just a little faster than he did when he wasn't talking.
"The boss is making an egg that can make more of Buzz an' me," he said to himself, "but what if it can make other people too, new people?" He sighed and turned around, beginning to pace to the other end of the room. "This place gets so lonely.but if there was somebody else here, I'd have somebody to talk to." He sighed and shook his head. "But who? Who do I know that I would want to sit and talk to?"
He then abruptly stopped pacing and got lost in his thoughts once again, back to the scene where he had landed on top of Inez. He giggled to himself and sighed romantically, clasping his hands together at remembering that moment. That was probably the closest to Inez that he'd gotten, besides the time that he had trapped the kids in their first mission. He didn't know her very well then, but now that he did.
"Yeah, Inez is nice," Delete finally decided. "She'd be wonderful to talk to." He sat down on his bed and crossed his legs, staring down at the floor for a few more moments. "But if I'm gonna make another Inez, I'm gonna need to get some of Inez.but how?" He got up from his bed, hand to his mouth, deep in thought, as he walked out of his room and down the hallway.
He didn't exactly even know where he was going until he looked up and spotted an open doorway. Curious, he crept over to it, then, checking to make sure that Hacker wasn't in the room at the moment, walked inside and stood in the doorway. It was a narrow room, covered in shelves; the things occupying them appeared to be various broken materials and objects. Delete looked around some more, and the sudden memory of this room came to mind. This was the room where Hacker stored his failed inventions, or the inventions that he had made but had never put to use.
Too curious of what might have been in the room since he last stopped in it (which was when he was about twelve or so), he began to walk down the corridor, looking at the various items that aligned the walls. Some of them he found rather disturbing, some he cringed at, and yet some of them he thought appeared very cute (he stopped momentarily to pat the head of an offline robot dog). He finally stopped when something caught his eye-on the lower shelf he spotted a dusty velvet pillow.and there was something atop it.
Coming a few steps closer, he could now see that the small object seated on the pillow was a thumbnail-sized robot that paid a similar resemblance to a mosquito. Next to it, covered in dust as well as anything else, was a small remote control. Trying to remember what Hacker had created this for, he tapped his head a few times to bring himself to think.
Then he remembered. Hacker had built it originally to drain the Sensible Flats reservoir of water, then charge money for it to sell it back to the citizens of Sensible Flats. It hadn't worked, though, mainly because Hacker didn't have enough of these things to actually suck the reservoir dry.
That was when an idea suddenly sprung into Delete's head. Continuing to think of it for fear of losing it again-he tended to forget things on a regular basis-he quickly snatched up the mosquito, along with the remote, and, stuffing it inside his shirt, quickly ran back to his room. Looking around to make sure that Buzz wasn't in yet, he sighed in relief, then slowly walked in and gently removed the remote and the mosquito from his shirt.
Looking it over, taking care not to damage it too severely, he found that the mosquito's remote control system had a small monitor in the middle of it, much like a radar, so that the holder could determine what the bug saw through its artificial eyes. Thinking that he should give it a test run- see if it still worked after all this time-he switched the device on, and the creature immediately hummed to life.
Delete grinned, then shifted the control upward, and the bug obeyed, sending itself up into the air a few feet. Then shifting the controls to left and right, he found that he could control it himself with little trouble and much ease. He smiled at uncovering this fact.
"Perfect," he told himself. "Now I just gotta wait for the boss to take us somewhere, and the kids show up. Then I can finally get what I want." He stopped himself. "Gee, that sounded a little harsh."
He shook his head, then stuffed the mosquito and remote back into his shirt just as, ironically enough, Hacker's voice was heard from the main control room-how'd he get back in there so fast? Delete guessed that he must've finished working on his egg or whatever that thing was.
"Buzz, Delete, get out here NOW!" Hacker shouted into the hallway. Delete smiled to himself, and his eyes narrowed as he took on a rather smug expression.
"Bingo," he muttered to himself; he then turned around and ran toward the direction of the main control room. Buzz was already there; he was licking the excess sugar from his fingers, and Hacker was standing in front of the table, his arms crossed. Hoping that Hacker didn't notice that he had swiped his device, Delete halted in front of him and innocently placed his hands behind his back.
"Good, it's about time you duncebuckets got here," he sneered, before turning around and heading toward the Grim Wreaker's control panels. "Come on, we've got some shopping to do."
"Oh, can we pick up a pizza too?" Buzz asked hopefully as Hacker took his seat in his Recharger Chair.
Hacker growled at him. "Not that kind of shopping, you delinquent duncebucket, now come on." He pressed the ignition button, then took the controls in his hands. "You'll get the plan when we arrive at our destination."
* * *
The "destination" soon enough proved to be R-Fair City. The Grim Wreaker landed outside the main amusement park area, in one of the nearby parking lots, then Hacker, Buzz and Delete walked out and headed in the direction of the amusement park. Hacker stopped them right behind a games booth.
"Now, my clueless cronies, there are some things that I need to get, and I need a distraction. You two have my full permission to annoy, disturb, and in other words cause a total disruption in a different area during the time I get them. Understand?" He raised an eyebrow.
Buzz laughed. "No sweat, boss, annoyin' is what we do best."
"You can say that again," Hacker muttered to himself, rolling his eyes. Buzz didn't catch what he was saying, fortunately, and instead walked past him and into the amusement park itself.
"Come on, Dee-Dee, let's go," the stocky robot called to his little brother. Delete nodded obediently, then ran off after Buzz into a crowd of cyberspacian visitors. Hacker grinned, then rubbed his hands together, turned to the side, and walked off into the shadows.
By the time Buzz and Delete had pushed through the crowd and had arrived in the center of the midway, it was thoroughly crowded with tourists. Buzz shook his head, then opened the bag of snacks that he had swiped from a nearby booth earlier and stuffed a handful into his mouth. "Man, look at all 'dese guys. Can you believe 'dat?" He swallowed. "It should be pretty easy to cause a distraction with 'dis many people around.problem is, where should we start?"
It was then that Buzz spotted the R-Fair City roller coaster, one of the biggest rides in the area, and of course all of the thrill-seeking tourists were lined up to ride it. Getting an idea, Buzz grinned cockily, then began to run in the direction of the roller coaster's main entrance.
"Come on, Deeds, time for a roller coaster ride," he said to his little brother as Delete wearily followed him, pushing his way past a walking couple and nearly hitting a rather obese man in the process.
"Great, I love roller coasters," Delete replied, grinning weakly and trying his best not to sound too nervous. In truth he didn't like thrill rides-he couldn't get on a Ferris Wheel, even, without screaming or hurling.much to Buzz's embarrassment on that day. But Buzz was a natural thrill-seeker at work, and if Buzz wanted to do it, that usually meant he had to as well.
Sighing, he followed Buzz as the two pushed past everyone in the line, causing quite a few yells and curses from the adults and a few screeches and whines from the kids. Content that they were causing such an uproar, Buzz smirked and shoved past the remainder of the line, then jumped up onto the platform, Delete following. Running over to the controls and shoving the man at them aside, Buzz grabbed the main control lever and jabbed his finger in the direction of the coaster.
"Get in, Delete," he ordered.
Delete sighed, looked at the coaster cars, gulped, then jumped in. Buzz grinned, then leapt up and slammed his feet down on the control lever full force, causing it to snap. The coaster cars began to move up toward the first hill, and Buzz quickly ran over and leapt into the car beside Delete.
As soon as they went over the first hill, the coaster went full speed, carrying Buzz, Delete, and a few other unsuspecting bystanders who had merely come for a ride along the track, over the hills, veering over the constant, sudden curves.Buzz was cheering in amusement, but Delete was screaming at the top of his lungs, covering his eyes, trying to avoid the horrible nausea he felt every time they hit a curve. Oh well, he thought to himself as he brought one hand to his mouth to prevent himself from vomiting, Think of it this way. At least the kids are gonna show up soon enough.
Almost as if on cue, the pink portal opened just near the center of the midway, and the kids and Digit jumped out, this time landing neatly on the ground instead of landing on top of each other, like they normally did. Quickly regaining his balance, Matt straightened his sweater, then looked at the other three.
"Did Motherboard say what was wrong?" he asked, confused.
Inez shook her head. "No," she replied, "She just said to get to the midway at R-Fair City, and fast." She looked around at the shouting and gaping tourists around her, then sighed. "But what's going on here?"
Jackie looked up toward the direction of the roller coaster, the direction that the tourists were currently looking in, then gasped. "Oh man, I think I found the problem," she exclaimed; then, sure that she had caught Matt, Inez and Digit's attention, pointed up at one of the coaster's hills. "Look!"
Matt, Digit and Inez looked up, then spotted the coaster as it went over the hill and plummeted toward another curve, catching a glimpse of Buzz and Delete in the process. Matt glared. "Figures.we hear about trouble, and five minutes later, guess who we find?"
"Never mind that, they have to be stopped!" Jackie exclaimed, she then pushed through the tourists, trying to state her apologies for knocking them aside in the process, Matt and Inez trailing behind her, with Digit in flight over their heads. Upon reaching the front of the coaster, Inez and Digit ran over to help the stunned coaster operator to his feet, while Matt and Jackie eyed the coaster's lever, which, of course, was still broken.
"Oh, well this is just great," Jackie scoffed, staring down at the lever. "Now what?"
Matt looked up in the direction of the coaster again, then narrowed one eye, as if in thought. Finally he looked over at the others and said, "Jackie, Digit, find something to pull that lever with. I'll go handle those two." He pointed up toward Buzz and Delete, who were just coming down the last hill on the ride-that is, if the lever had actually been pulled at the time. As the coaster passed by them, even though it was going at least sixty miles per hour, Matt ran aside it and leapt into the last empty car.
"Matt!" Inez exclaimed as the coaster passed her. "Are you nuts!"
Without even thinking of what she was doing at the time, Inez ran behind the coaster and took a flying leap into the last car just as it started up the beginning of the hill again, this time going much slower, thank goodness. Jackie sighed as she watched the coaster head upward again, then shook her head.
"Why can't those two cause trouble at an ice skating rink?" she sighed, then turned to Digit. "Come on, Didge, we need to find something to shut off the lever before Matt goes and hurts himself."
"Well, that's Matt for ya," Digit replied, shrugging. "But yeah, let's go find something to fix the lever before anything serious happens."
Jackie nodded, and the two began searching for something, anything, to fix the lever and possibly shut off the coaster.which was currently taking its descent on the second hill. Buzz, pausing in his thrilled screaming to look behind him, spotted Matt at once, then narrowed his eyes and turned around, Delete still shrieking at the top of his lungs beside him, his hands clasped to his face very much like Home Alone. The stocky robot ignored him, however.
"Well, well, well," he smirked, putting one foot on the top seat of his coaster car. Of course, the roller coaster took a sharp turn at this point, and Buzz almost fell over, but he didn't seem to care. "Care for a ride, kids?"
"Not funny, Buzz," Matt replied angrily, bracing himself against the wind. "Now get over here before I make you."
Buzz scoffed and crossed his arms. "Fat chance."
Matt smirked, then, being what he was, replied sassily, "Yeah, well, that's easy for someone like you to say."
Buzz could be ignorant at times, but he knew when he was being insulted. Angrily gritting his teeth, he balled his hands into tight fists, but, knowing that he couldn't jump at the boy while they were still on the turn area, instead snatched up the bag of snacks he had from the bottom of the coaster and began throwing them at Matt. Inez sighed and rolled her eyes, then began to slowly and steadily climb toward their spot on the coaster.
Delete, who had previously been screaming but had stopped when he had heard Matt's voice, now turned around in time to see Inez climbing toward Matt on the coaster. His expression of nausea and dread now turning to one of happiness, he quickly turned around, then reached into his shirt and pulled out the mosquito, along with the controls.
"Perfect," he muttered to himself, knowing that no one else could possibly hear him over the roar of the wind. He gently switched the robot on, then took the controls in one hand, holding the bug with the other. "Now, let's do this."
They had come to the top of the second hill now, and were now going straight again. Buzz, having run out of snacks, for one thing, and now that he knew that he was within perfect leaping range he could actually carry out what he had meant to do in the first place. Emitting an angry screech, he leapt forward, jumping on Matt. Matt fell backward into the coaster, and the two began wrestling with each other, yelping, screaming, cursing (Buzz, anyway). This left all three of them-Inez included-fully distracted, so it was easy for Delete to manage to get the bug behind her, despite how quickly they were speeding along the roller coaster's track.
Buzz put up a pretty good fight with the boy, but Matt, being two feet taller and twenty pounds heavier, had the advantage in this case. Angrily, he grabbed hold of Buzz just as he was about to kick Matt, then the redhead slammed him down to the bottom of the coaster, pinning him down by both arms. Buzz growled and struggled, but Matt, panting harshly, refused to let go of him. Inez was still watching, wondering what Matt was to do, when the robot finally managed to land on the back of her neck. Grinning, Delete pressed the button in the center.
At this Inez suddenly let out a shriek of pain, then grabbed the back of her neck with both hands, thus allowing her to lose her grip and almost fall off the side of the coaster. In a panic, she successfully managed to grab one of the bars just as she had begun her descent to the ground below.
"Inez!" Matt cried; he then released his grip on Buzz and leapt to grab her, before she let go of the bar entirely. The mosquito, having finished taking its sample of her blood, then came back to Delete, and he quickly caught it and stuffed it and the remote back into his shirt before anyone came to notice.
It was then that two things happened: the roller coaster finally screeched to a halt, for one thing, and the Grim Wreaker flew overhead just after that. Apparently Hacker had finished his "shopping" and was now coming back to collect his two henchmen. Buzz, getting up from the bottom of the coaster and gingerly rubbing at his bruises, looked up, then jumped to the edge of the coaster.
"Come on, Deeds, time to go," he told his little brother. Delete nodded, then clambered onto the edge after him, as the Grim Wreaker lowered its tube and sucked the two robots up, before shooting off back into cyberspace. Matt watched them as they left, then groaned in frustration.
"Man, first a mud pit and now this," he sighed, shaking his head. "Talk about one of those days."
"Matt!" Inez shouted; she was still dangling from the bar of the roller coaster, Matt holding tightly onto her pink shirtsleeve. "Do you mind?"
"Oh," Matt replied, finally coming to his senses and looking down at her. He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that."
Inez sighed angrily, then allowed Matt to pull her up onto the coaster, just as Digit flew up as so to retrieve them both, while the coaster operator resumed his position and allowed the two to come down a few seconds later.
* * *
Back at the Northern Frontier, after the Grim Wreaker had been successfully parked, Hacker came into the main control room, laughing triumphantly. "Yes!" he exclaimed. "Those Cyber-brats were too busy to stop me. Now I can finish my invention, and when that's done I'll finally be rid of those brats for good!"
He then turned around and went back down the hallway-to his workshop, no doubt. Buzz, meanwhile, was still tending the bruises Matt had given him, and decided to go to the kitchen for some ice and perhaps a snack. Delete, knowing what he had to do, placed his hand to his shirt, sighed, then snuck off after Hacker, taking care not to make any noise in the process.
He stopped outside the door, in his usual spot, watching Hacker as he continued his process on the egg. All the time Delete was clutching his hand to his shirt, the area where the mosquito was hidden, every now and then grinning and sighing romantically, for what seemed like hours. Finally, Hacker threw his tools down on the table and grinned in satisfaction at what lay before him.
"Finally, it's completed," he said to himself, sounding rather pleased with his accomplishment. "Come tomorrow, now, those kids won't stand a chance. Cyberspace will finally be mine, and there's nothing that those meddlesome moppets can do about it."
He then began to head toward the doorway. Delete had to press against the wall again to avoid being seen as Hacker walked away, in a thoroughly smug mood. Delete sighed, then exhaled again and removed himself from the wall, looking in through the doorway at the egg in the process.
Looking around cautiously some more, he smiled, then walked into the lab, stopping in front of the table. Staring down at the egg for a few moments, he finally sighed, then wrapped his arms around it and gently picked it up. It was lighter than he thought; he looked at it, then, even though he hadn't completed the process just yet, hugged it lovingly to his chest.
"The boss may need you, but I need you more," he said to the egg, before turning around and quickly running out of the lab. Once he was in the hallway, he went down the opposite end of the hallway, which, considering the fact that these hallways were rarely explored, was still dark. He swallowed, he was just a tad afraid of the dark, then walked carefully down the hallway and finally entered the storage area.
This was where they stored a few supplies, along with other various, discarded items from eons ago. It was rare when anyone went down here to get something, thus he knew that this was a good place to conceal it. Looking around some more, he hugged the egg tighter, then bolted off and ducked down into a dark, rather large space between two absurdly large box crates.
"Yeah, this is a good spot," he told himself as he gently set the egg down on the tiled floor. "No one'll ever find it here.hopefully."
Looking over the egg, he finally found a button on the side. Wondering what this did, he reached out and pushed it, and, much to his surprise, one of the sides opened up. Inside it he could make out a few tubes, sockets, and various wires, along with a rather small computer screen. Now, as the egg opened, green letters flashed across the computer's monitor:
Insert DNA sample.
Delete nodded, then took the mosquito out from underneath his coat for seemingly the last time, then fiddled around with it, trying to figure out how it opened. As he was toying with it, he didn't notice that one of the seams on his shirtsleeve was coming loose. When he had seemingly gotten the mosquito open, he was about to remove the blood sample when it snapped shut onto the ripped seam of his shirt, slicing his wrist in the process.
It wasn't a bad cut, but it was a cut nonetheless. Delete yipped, then cursed under his breath and tried to get the mosquito off of his shirt. What he didn't notice was that the cut was currently beginning to lightly bleed, and as he managed to tear the mosquito from his seam a drop of it had fallen into the exposed side, mixing itself in with Inez's.
He sighed, then dumped the blood sample into the egg and pushed the button again. The egg closed shut, as the computer monitor flashed a few more words:
Scanning.DNA sample accepting.commence construction.
Delete gently sucked the wound on his wrist to rid it of the blood, then sat back against one of the crates, looking at the egg, which had remained completely silent.and still, now that the sample had been accepted. Delete didn't know what to think of this. Would it go through, or would it fail? He hoped that the latter wasn't what was to happen.
He yawned, then finally curled up next to the egg and quietly fell asleep, wondering what he would find when he woke up in the morning.