MY EVERYTHING
By Max Jordan and Grand High Idol
CHAPTER THREE
A few moments later Delete finally stirred. Lazily opening one eye, he suddenly bolted upright, then looked around him in complete shock, not to mention confusion. He was no longer lying on the floor in the storage room next to the egg anymore; instead he was lying next to a tree, and a rather large one, at that.
"Huh?" Delete said to himself as he looked around. "What's goin' on here? Where am I? Where's my egg?"
After some inspection of the area, he found himself to be in a forest- the exact same forest, in fact, that he and Buzz had gone to in order to find George. Wondering how in cyberspace he managed to end up here, he slowly got to his knees, then looked around some more and was about to get up and head off toward the trees to find if someone had just found him and thrown him out of the Wreaker.
That was when he heard a rather odd, far-off sound. Stopping, he listened for the noise again, and once more it came to him. It was low and continuous, as if something-or someone-was humming. Too curious to sit there any longer, he slowly got to his feet and walked off in the direction of the noise, taking cautious steps as so to not startle or offend the thing making the noise.
As soon as he turned the corner, he halted, drew back, then clapped his hands to his mouth and gasped in shock at what he was seeing. He had walked into a small clearing, complete with a very clean-looking pond in the center, and sitting by the pond, in a bright white maiden's dress and a flower wreath and humming absentmindedly to herself, was Inez.
When Delete saw that she didn't notice him, he relaxed, then took a few steps closer to where the girl was sitting. She had now picked a daisy from the ground and was pulling the petals off it gently, tossing them into the water and continuing her humming. Delete swallowed hard, then took another step forward and said, his voice sounding rather squeaky, "Inez?"
Inez stopped pulling the petals off of the flower and looked up in Delete's direction. As soon as she spotted the robot, instead of getting up or demanding what he was doing here, she instead smiled warmly, a smile that made Delete blush just a little.
"Delete, it's about time you got here," she told him, not sounding the least bit surprised to see him. "Where have you been? I've been waiting for hours."
Delete was even more confused now, if that was even possible. Inez had never asked him to wait for her near the forest.or had she? He didn't remember correctly.then again, he hardly remembered anything as it was. "Well, you see, I was just.um." He stopped, unable to think of anything to say. His palms were getting sweaty and he was pretty sure that his knees were beginning to knock together.
Inez sighed, then motioned him toward her. "Never mind that, it doesn't matter, just come sit down." She smiled again, but Delete was still nervous and still refused to move. "Just come on. Come sit down, baby."
Upon being called this pet name a nervous giggle escaped Delete's throat, and his cheeks were now entirely blue. Deciding that if this was what Inez had in mind, he decided that it would be just fine to do it. After all, Hacker and Buzz weren't here to stop him, were they?
"Uh, fine," he said, his voice sounding carried away, then he staggered over to where Inez was and sat down a few feet away from her. Inez looked at him, grinned, then scooted over to him, to the point where their shoulders were just an inch from touching. Delete looked out at the pond, his eyes huge, his cheeks turning a deeper shade, and perspiration beginning to trickle down the side of his head. He was feeling hotter and more nervous by the moment, but he had no idea what to do. He just prayed that he wouldn't get to the point where he actually might wet himself.
Inez didn't seem to notice his reaction, and instead looked out at the pond, still smiling. She picked up the stem of the daisy that she had been plucking at, then tossed it out onto the shimmering water, where it made a few small ripples before floating off slowly into the reeds.
"It's such a nice day, isn't it?" she asked him as she watched a few birds fly over their heads and disappear into some trees nearby. Delete swallowed hard; although he was sweating like mad his throat seemed to have run dry.
"Yeah, uh, yeah, it sure is," he replied, still shivering violently. He wondered if this ever happened between anyone else he knew.he'd never seen Hacker do this with Wicked before. Then again, he and Wicked didn't exactly have the best relationship, either.
Inez, meanwhile, appeared to be ignoring him, still, and she was now looking at a cluster of yellow flowers growing nearby. Choosing the one nearest her, she picked it, then held it in her hand, looking out at the pond again. She moved her other hand closer to Delete's, but Delete, still highly nervous, quickly drew his away.
Inez still seemed to be ignoring his nervous gestures; she was now looking down at the yellow flower in her hand. "Don't you just wish you could spend every day like this, hmm?"
Delete tried to settle it like an adult and speak his answer, but his answer lodged in his throat, and it seemed impossible for him to get it out. Instead he just sighed. Inez reached over, then brought one hand against his cheek to steady him and, with the other, placed the flower on his head, near his left antenna. Delete's head was spinning, and he was blushing so hard by now that his entire head had turned a different shade of teal.
Inez then lay back against a small sapling growing nearby, then quietly started humming her song again. Delete, now close to melting, finally sighed romantically and snuggled up against her side, placing his head on her lap. Inez didn't say a word; instead she moved one of her hands up against the side of his head and slowly began stroking it.
Delete sighed, then, forgetting everything else, slowly closed his eyes, warmly smiling, not wanting this to end.
He sighed again, then gently replied, "Inez, I love you." and finally opened his eyes. Abruptly looking around, he could now see that he was no longer near the pond, he was back in the storage room, between the two crates. He was no longer lying against Inez, he was lying against the egg. Looking at it groggily, he could tell that it was much bigger than when he had seen it last time.in fact, it appeared to have doubled in size.
Delete bolted upright, then looked down at the egg in shock. But his expression of shock quickly turned to one of joy. "Oh my gosh," he exclaimed, one hand to the side of his face, "this means that it must actually be working!"
He smiled, then nuzzled against it again and gently rubbed its surface with one hand, sighing to himself. The whole incident with Inez, that whole romantic moment he had shared.it must've been a dream. It had to. There was no possible way something like that could be true. At least, not for long in his case.
"Soon, it won't be a dream anymore," he sighed, his cheek against the side of the egg.
Unfortunately, this moment was abruptly interrupted by a scream, long and loud, tearing through the entire base. Delete's eyes widened, and he bolted upright, he had heard this scream many times before. And whenever he heard it, it usually didn't mean anything good in his case.
"Uh oh," he squeaked, and, knowing that the boss would want him, gave the egg one last pat before running out from between the crates, toward the source of the scream. As he exited the storage room and began to head for the entrance to Hacker's lab, he didn't look where he was going and thus smashed directly into Buzz in the process.
"OOWW!" Buzz complained, rubbing his head where it had hit Delete's torso. He then focused his attention on the entrance to the lab. "What was 'dat, do ya think?"
Delete shook his head nervously. "I dunno, Buzzie," he replied; he then jabbed his finger in the direction of the lab. "But it sounded like it came from in there."
Buzz was about to speak a response when a box came flying out the door, and the two yelped in surprise and darted out of the way as a few more appliances followed it. The two robots exchanged glances, then finally removed their hands from their head and cautiously peeked around the edge of the door, Delete resting his hands atop Buzz's head.
At first they were in complete shock, for Hacker's originally neat and organized lab was now torn entirely apart, tools there, other appliances scattered on the floor, some of the smaller lab tables overturned, and the drawers pulled out of the counters. Hacker was in the midst of the debris, digging through yet another drawer, muttering to himself absentmindedly and tossing things behind him without even bothering to look at what they were. The two cringed as a glass tube shattered behind him.
"No, it can't be, it has to be here somewhere," Hacker muttered to himself as he pulled a few more things out of the drawer, sounding highly panicked. "It can't have just gotten up and rolled away.even though it's thoroughly capable of rolling.blast it!" He heaved the drawer at one of the walls and yanked out another one.
Buzz shook his head nervously. "Ho boy, 'da boss is talkin' to himself.'dat cannot be a good sign." He looked up at Delete. "And would you mind getting your hands of my head?!"
Delete, much too nervous to talk, gulped and removed his hands from Buzz's head. Buzz sighed, then looked into the lab and rather reluctantly ordered, "Come on, Deeds, let's go."
With Buzz leading the way, the two quickly ran into the room, stepping over the scattered debris, then ducked as another array of tools and beakers went soaring over their heads. Buzz looked behind him at the mess, then quickly walked up to Hacker, who was now under the desk, searching through a pile of junk that he had thrown under there.
"Boss, what 'da heck are you doin'?" Buzz demanded, holding out his hands in shock. "You're completely tearin' 'da whole place apart."
Hacker stopped searching and whipped around, nearly hitting his head on the desk in the process, an enraged look on his face. Buzz swallowed and backed up a few steps; both he and Delete alike never liked to see that look on their boss's face. Whenever he did, it usually meant trouble.
"You dim-bulb duncebuckets, it's GONE!" he shrieked at them in rage. Delete, knowing exactly what he was referring to, felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, but tried to cover it up for fear of Hacker possibly finding out.
"Um, what's gone, boss?" he asked, trying to sound curious.
Hacker gritted his teeth. "My latest invention, the one that would have finally allowed me to put those pint-sized pests in their place," he snapped at him; he then jabbed his finger in the direction of the table the egg had once been sitting on. "It was right here last night. I came in this morning to admire it, and it was gone."
Buzz, afraid that Hacker might start another yelling fit, was drumming his fingers together nervously, quickly trying to think of a way to calm his boss down. Finally, he looked at Hacker and said, trying to sound innocent and placing his hands behind his back, "Uh, gee boss, can't you just make another one?"
Hacker snarled at him, and Buzz grinned sheepishly and backed up a few more steps. "No, you walking pile of spare parts, I can't. I created that device straight out of my head, thus I didn't have a chance to write up the blueprints." He took a deep breath, then continued, sounding a little more calm than he had before, "And even if I did, it wouldn't matter a night. I was only able to find ONE copy of a vital component yesterday; I don't have any more."
The two robots stared at him blankly, unsure of what to say; then Hacker finally glared at them. "Well, what are you two standing there for?! Start searching!"
"Searching for what, boss?" Delete asked, still trying his hardest to sound completely clueless. He suddenly felt very sick to his stomach after what he had heard his boss say.
"What do you think!" Hacker snapped. "My invention, you duncebucket! It has to be here somewhere. I don't care if you have to turn this whole base AND the Grim Wreaker upside down, just find it, and NOW!"
Buzz quickly saluted, then said nervously, his speech rather quickened, "Right, boss, we'll get on it right now. Don't worry about it."
He then turned around and ran off, glad to have some space between himself and his furious boss. Delete looked after him, then turned around and followed, placing both hands on his stomach in the process. He felt very sick now, and he wondered if he should go and take some aspirin for it before it got any worse. By the time he reached Buzz he had doubled over.
Buzz looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. "You okay, Dee-Dee?" he asked in concern.
Delete looked at him, then smiled weakly, not wanting to tell Buzz about the egg for the time being. "Yeah, yeah, I'm just.fine," he replied, his voice shaking.
* * *
For the next few hours the search went by, as all of them-Hacker, Buzz, and Delete-scoured the base, dumping out drawers, emptying closets, tossing things on the floor, hitting their heads on tables and desks, and of course making one of the biggest messes in possibly all of Cyberspacian history. Buzz, despite the fact that he hated having to search the whole ship, was very pleased that he could completely trash a room and not have to clean it up afterward-it reminded him of his old college days, he had said. Delete would've enjoyed it too, if he didn't keep reminding himself of what the mess would eventually lead to.
He had been frightened that Hacker might have made them start at the south end of the base, but thankfully he had made them start at the north end. But after a few hours and lots of throwing, tossing, and breaking, they had managed to get a fourth of the search done. It was only a matter of time, he knew, before they would eventually reach the end of the base- along with the storage room.
The search continued for a full day and night, and all the time they tore apart the base the egg grew steadily larger. By the next morning, the egg had reached the size of a rather large beach ball.
Buzz and Delete, meanwhile, had become exhausted and were sprawled out on their backs in the main control room, looking sleep-deprived, haggard, and thoroughly exhausted from their night of searching. Since everything-including the chairs-had been littered with all types of papers, tools, and other various junkets, the two had resorted to lying on the table and the panel. They had been resting for only a few moments when Hacker stormed in.
"What are you two doing, just laying around?" Hacker snapped at them, his hands at his sides. "You're supposed to be looking for my invention, you dimwitted duncebuckets!"
"But boss, we're tired, an' we've been lookin' all night," Delete whined.
Although this was a very bad thing to say to Hacker at the time, Delete was getting very nervous and very desperate about the egg. He had to stall. Anything to give himself time to think on how he should get the egg out of the base without Hacker noticing.but, judging by how obsessive Hacker was acting about it now, the prospects were fairly dismal.
"No excuses," Hacker told them angrily. "Now get up, and get to work. You're not going to stop until you find that egg, you hear?" He turned around and stormed off.
Buzz moaned, then shakily got to his feet. "Dis is moider!" he whined, jumping down from the table; he then sighed heavily and began to head toward one of the hallways. "Come on, Dee-Dee, let's go. Let's try lookin' in our room now."
"But Buzzie, didn't we already look in our room?" Delete sighed, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.
"Yeah, we did," Buzz replied, his voice sounding very groggy at this time. "But we're gonna look again. Let's start by lookin' in our beds."
Delete stared at him a moment, unsure of what he was getting at, then it finally clicked into place. Grinning, he nodded his head. "Oh, yeah, that's a good idea, Buzzy. We might have missed something the first time.so let's go look."
Buzz smirked, then walked off toward the hallway, while Delete simply stood there. He waited until Buzz was completely gone, then he sighed in relief. "Heh, who knew Buzz's laziness would come in handy some day?" he giggled to himself.
It was then that Buzz came back through the doorway, then looked at him, still as groggy as he had been before. "You say somethin'?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Delete jerked up in surprise, then quickly shook his head. "Uh, no, nothing, Buzz. I didn't say anything. Now let's go search in our beds for a couple of hours." He flashed his older brother a trusting smile.
"Now you're talkin', heh-heh," Buzz replied, crossing his arms. "Let's go."
* * *
Meanwhile, in the real world, Matt, Jackie and Inez were gathered around a table in a pizza parlor, sitting in a booth near the corner of the store. They had been quite grateful for the time off that Hacker's recent show of inactivity had provided, and now they had decided to take full advantage of it by going on a friendly outing. Inez sighed, then crossed her legs and leaned back against her booth, thoroughly content.
"Oh, boy, do I love a good day off," she told the others. "I feel great-in fact, I feel ten times better than I did before that incident in the jungle.and the coaster." She frowned at uncovering that memory again. Jackie looked at her, then scowled.
"I don't, that mud pit was the most disgusting thing that ever had to happen to me in my life," she told them angrily. "Bits of mud are still falling out of my hair every time I brush it. Oh, man!" She plopped her elbows against the table.
Matt sighed and looked up toward the ceiling of the parlor before turning his attention back on the two girls. "Whatever," he told them. "Now can we just order already? I'm starving. How about we get the supreme?"
Jackie made a face. "Ew, no way, Matt," she replied, sounding disgusted. "You know full well I don't eat half the stuff that's on that thing."
Matt rolled his eyes, then placed one arm on the table. "Not this again," he sighed. "Come on, Jacks, we never get any meat on our pizza. We haven't had meat once. I'm starting to feel like a rabbit or something." He brushed his red hair out of his face. "Can't we just order pepperoni for a change?"
"Just why are you so determined to get me to eat meat, huh?" Jackie replied, crossing her arms. "You know I'm a vegetarian, Matt. I don't eat meat."
"Aw, come on, pepperoni isn't meat," Matt laughed. Inez rolled her eyes and was about to mouth off her response, but considering the setting they were in decided that now wasn't the best time to do it.
"Can we just please order something, before we starve to death?" she replied instead. Matt and Jackie glared at her, then were about to speak their responses to her when they were interrupted by Motherboard's face appearing in the menu. Fortunately for them, however, there weren't many people in the parlor at the moment, and their waitress was still back in the kitchen. No one seemed to be paying any attention to the back booth.
"Are you there-cybermates?" Motherboard asked.
Matt rolled his eyes again and placed his chin in his hand. "Figures, just as our break was getting good," he muttered. "Hacker has to ruin everything, doesn't he?"
Jackie glared at Matt for a brief moment, then looked back down at Motherboard. "What's up, Mother B?" she asked, sounding highly curious.if Hacker hadn't attacked for quite a while, what could he have possibly done to make up for that loss of time? She wasn't sure she even wanted to know.
"I need you at Control Central-quickly," Motherboard responded. "There is something rather strange that I think-you must see."
Before the kids could reply, the portal opened up through the menu, and the kids were drawn in. Thankfully, no one noticed them and, before the waitress could come out of the kitchen in time to ask them for their order, they and the portal had disappeared, leaving her scratching the side of her head in wonder.
A moment later the portal opened up in the midst of Control Central, and the kids fell through, once again landing in a heap. Jackie, who had landed on top, picked herself up and began to straighten out her wrinkled skirt.
"Ugh," she muttered. "No offense, guys, but we have got to work on our landings."
It was then that Dr. Marbles came up, followed closely by Digit, his lips drawn in a tight line and a rather nervous twitch in his eye. Upon seeing the kids, however, his expression quickly changed to one of seriousness, and he stopped in front of them. "Thank goodness you're here," he exclaimed.
"What's wrong this time?" Matt asked, getting to his knees and hoisting himself up. "Is Hacker up to something?" He looked to the side and muttered "again?"
The Doctor shook his head. "No, in fact, we haven't heard anything from him since yesterday," he informed them.
"We know, that's why we decided to take the day off," Inez replied, nodding.
"But something's going on. Whenever Hacker is quiet this long, he's usually plotting something.and ninety percent of the time it's usually something drastic." He nervously straightened his glasses, then turned around to face the control panel and quickly punched in some numbers. "So I sent Digit in with a camera, and look at the results."
The kids looked up at the screen as Motherboard's face faded and a series of pictures came into view. All of them showed the base, which now appeared to have been ripped to shreds. There were boxes, papers, tools, broken glass, overturned furniture, and various other objects all over the place. Matt whistled.
"Whoo," he said, his eyes wide. "It looks like a tornado hit that place!"
Inez nodded. "Yeah, what gives?" she asked the Doctor. "From what we've seen of Hacker, he's usually so neat and clean!"
"I know, he hates messes even more than I do," Jackie agreed, looking over Matt's shoulder.
"Exactly," Dr. Marbles replied, his voice sounding rather grave. "That's why you were called in. Something isn't right over there. I want the three of you to exit to Hacker's lair, and find out just what's going on there."
"Right, we're on it," Matt sighed. "Why do these things always happen when we're so close to getting a pizza with meat on it for once?"
"Hey, I never agreed to that," Jackie shouted after him as they headed toward the direction of the Doc's cybercoupe.
* * *
Delete hadn't been able to sleep much.as a matter of fact, he hadn't even slept at all, much less even tried to. He had only pretended to be asleep as the two went to bed. Buzz, after a few seconds, now appeared to be asleep, he was lying on the bed in the most relaxed manner imaginable, and lightly snoring.
But since Buzz could be a light sleeper when he hadn't nodded off completely, Delete had to make sure. Slowly creeping over to Buzz's side of the bed, he reached one finger out to the sleeping robot, then quickly jabbed him in the side of the head, the method he had always used to wake Buzz up at night, when he needed a drink of water.
Buzz didn't respond; he didn't even stir. Instead he remained asleep, and Delete smiled to himself, but it was very brief. Now that he was sure Buzz was out cold, he quickly turned around, then began to head off toward the storage area, taking care not to disturb Hacker, who was now in the process of tearing apart his own room. Delete quietly snuck past him, then, as soon as he was sure that he was completely out of Hacker's hearing range, broke off into a run toward the storage room, weaving desperately through the hallways, not bothering to stop until he reached the room itself.
"Now's my chance," Delete panted, looking around. "I gotta get that egg outta here before the boss eventually comes back here an' finds it. Now, then."
He walked over to the space between the two crates, then, as soon as he reached the gap, clapped both of his hands to his mouth and gasped in shock-only he didn't know if it was anything good this time. The egg, which had apparently grown since the last time he had seen it, had now reached an enormous size, about the size of a cradle.
"Oh boy, this is bad," he whimpered, biting one of his nails nervously. "How am I gonna move that egg outta here now? I can't carry something that big out of the Wreaker without the boss noticing."
That was when something else caught his attention. Walking over to the egg, he could now see that a small computer monitor-closely resembling the one that he had seen when he had first put Inez's blood in-had appeared at the side. The following words were flashing across it, in bright green letters:
Construction process complete. Initiating activation.
Delete swallowed hard, then backed up against one of the crates, staring at the egg in a panic.
"Uh-oh," he finally squeaked.
By Max Jordan and Grand High Idol
CHAPTER THREE
A few moments later Delete finally stirred. Lazily opening one eye, he suddenly bolted upright, then looked around him in complete shock, not to mention confusion. He was no longer lying on the floor in the storage room next to the egg anymore; instead he was lying next to a tree, and a rather large one, at that.
"Huh?" Delete said to himself as he looked around. "What's goin' on here? Where am I? Where's my egg?"
After some inspection of the area, he found himself to be in a forest- the exact same forest, in fact, that he and Buzz had gone to in order to find George. Wondering how in cyberspace he managed to end up here, he slowly got to his knees, then looked around some more and was about to get up and head off toward the trees to find if someone had just found him and thrown him out of the Wreaker.
That was when he heard a rather odd, far-off sound. Stopping, he listened for the noise again, and once more it came to him. It was low and continuous, as if something-or someone-was humming. Too curious to sit there any longer, he slowly got to his feet and walked off in the direction of the noise, taking cautious steps as so to not startle or offend the thing making the noise.
As soon as he turned the corner, he halted, drew back, then clapped his hands to his mouth and gasped in shock at what he was seeing. He had walked into a small clearing, complete with a very clean-looking pond in the center, and sitting by the pond, in a bright white maiden's dress and a flower wreath and humming absentmindedly to herself, was Inez.
When Delete saw that she didn't notice him, he relaxed, then took a few steps closer to where the girl was sitting. She had now picked a daisy from the ground and was pulling the petals off it gently, tossing them into the water and continuing her humming. Delete swallowed hard, then took another step forward and said, his voice sounding rather squeaky, "Inez?"
Inez stopped pulling the petals off of the flower and looked up in Delete's direction. As soon as she spotted the robot, instead of getting up or demanding what he was doing here, she instead smiled warmly, a smile that made Delete blush just a little.
"Delete, it's about time you got here," she told him, not sounding the least bit surprised to see him. "Where have you been? I've been waiting for hours."
Delete was even more confused now, if that was even possible. Inez had never asked him to wait for her near the forest.or had she? He didn't remember correctly.then again, he hardly remembered anything as it was. "Well, you see, I was just.um." He stopped, unable to think of anything to say. His palms were getting sweaty and he was pretty sure that his knees were beginning to knock together.
Inez sighed, then motioned him toward her. "Never mind that, it doesn't matter, just come sit down." She smiled again, but Delete was still nervous and still refused to move. "Just come on. Come sit down, baby."
Upon being called this pet name a nervous giggle escaped Delete's throat, and his cheeks were now entirely blue. Deciding that if this was what Inez had in mind, he decided that it would be just fine to do it. After all, Hacker and Buzz weren't here to stop him, were they?
"Uh, fine," he said, his voice sounding carried away, then he staggered over to where Inez was and sat down a few feet away from her. Inez looked at him, grinned, then scooted over to him, to the point where their shoulders were just an inch from touching. Delete looked out at the pond, his eyes huge, his cheeks turning a deeper shade, and perspiration beginning to trickle down the side of his head. He was feeling hotter and more nervous by the moment, but he had no idea what to do. He just prayed that he wouldn't get to the point where he actually might wet himself.
Inez didn't seem to notice his reaction, and instead looked out at the pond, still smiling. She picked up the stem of the daisy that she had been plucking at, then tossed it out onto the shimmering water, where it made a few small ripples before floating off slowly into the reeds.
"It's such a nice day, isn't it?" she asked him as she watched a few birds fly over their heads and disappear into some trees nearby. Delete swallowed hard; although he was sweating like mad his throat seemed to have run dry.
"Yeah, uh, yeah, it sure is," he replied, still shivering violently. He wondered if this ever happened between anyone else he knew.he'd never seen Hacker do this with Wicked before. Then again, he and Wicked didn't exactly have the best relationship, either.
Inez, meanwhile, appeared to be ignoring him, still, and she was now looking at a cluster of yellow flowers growing nearby. Choosing the one nearest her, she picked it, then held it in her hand, looking out at the pond again. She moved her other hand closer to Delete's, but Delete, still highly nervous, quickly drew his away.
Inez still seemed to be ignoring his nervous gestures; she was now looking down at the yellow flower in her hand. "Don't you just wish you could spend every day like this, hmm?"
Delete tried to settle it like an adult and speak his answer, but his answer lodged in his throat, and it seemed impossible for him to get it out. Instead he just sighed. Inez reached over, then brought one hand against his cheek to steady him and, with the other, placed the flower on his head, near his left antenna. Delete's head was spinning, and he was blushing so hard by now that his entire head had turned a different shade of teal.
Inez then lay back against a small sapling growing nearby, then quietly started humming her song again. Delete, now close to melting, finally sighed romantically and snuggled up against her side, placing his head on her lap. Inez didn't say a word; instead she moved one of her hands up against the side of his head and slowly began stroking it.
Delete sighed, then, forgetting everything else, slowly closed his eyes, warmly smiling, not wanting this to end.
He sighed again, then gently replied, "Inez, I love you." and finally opened his eyes. Abruptly looking around, he could now see that he was no longer near the pond, he was back in the storage room, between the two crates. He was no longer lying against Inez, he was lying against the egg. Looking at it groggily, he could tell that it was much bigger than when he had seen it last time.in fact, it appeared to have doubled in size.
Delete bolted upright, then looked down at the egg in shock. But his expression of shock quickly turned to one of joy. "Oh my gosh," he exclaimed, one hand to the side of his face, "this means that it must actually be working!"
He smiled, then nuzzled against it again and gently rubbed its surface with one hand, sighing to himself. The whole incident with Inez, that whole romantic moment he had shared.it must've been a dream. It had to. There was no possible way something like that could be true. At least, not for long in his case.
"Soon, it won't be a dream anymore," he sighed, his cheek against the side of the egg.
Unfortunately, this moment was abruptly interrupted by a scream, long and loud, tearing through the entire base. Delete's eyes widened, and he bolted upright, he had heard this scream many times before. And whenever he heard it, it usually didn't mean anything good in his case.
"Uh oh," he squeaked, and, knowing that the boss would want him, gave the egg one last pat before running out from between the crates, toward the source of the scream. As he exited the storage room and began to head for the entrance to Hacker's lab, he didn't look where he was going and thus smashed directly into Buzz in the process.
"OOWW!" Buzz complained, rubbing his head where it had hit Delete's torso. He then focused his attention on the entrance to the lab. "What was 'dat, do ya think?"
Delete shook his head nervously. "I dunno, Buzzie," he replied; he then jabbed his finger in the direction of the lab. "But it sounded like it came from in there."
Buzz was about to speak a response when a box came flying out the door, and the two yelped in surprise and darted out of the way as a few more appliances followed it. The two robots exchanged glances, then finally removed their hands from their head and cautiously peeked around the edge of the door, Delete resting his hands atop Buzz's head.
At first they were in complete shock, for Hacker's originally neat and organized lab was now torn entirely apart, tools there, other appliances scattered on the floor, some of the smaller lab tables overturned, and the drawers pulled out of the counters. Hacker was in the midst of the debris, digging through yet another drawer, muttering to himself absentmindedly and tossing things behind him without even bothering to look at what they were. The two cringed as a glass tube shattered behind him.
"No, it can't be, it has to be here somewhere," Hacker muttered to himself as he pulled a few more things out of the drawer, sounding highly panicked. "It can't have just gotten up and rolled away.even though it's thoroughly capable of rolling.blast it!" He heaved the drawer at one of the walls and yanked out another one.
Buzz shook his head nervously. "Ho boy, 'da boss is talkin' to himself.'dat cannot be a good sign." He looked up at Delete. "And would you mind getting your hands of my head?!"
Delete, much too nervous to talk, gulped and removed his hands from Buzz's head. Buzz sighed, then looked into the lab and rather reluctantly ordered, "Come on, Deeds, let's go."
With Buzz leading the way, the two quickly ran into the room, stepping over the scattered debris, then ducked as another array of tools and beakers went soaring over their heads. Buzz looked behind him at the mess, then quickly walked up to Hacker, who was now under the desk, searching through a pile of junk that he had thrown under there.
"Boss, what 'da heck are you doin'?" Buzz demanded, holding out his hands in shock. "You're completely tearin' 'da whole place apart."
Hacker stopped searching and whipped around, nearly hitting his head on the desk in the process, an enraged look on his face. Buzz swallowed and backed up a few steps; both he and Delete alike never liked to see that look on their boss's face. Whenever he did, it usually meant trouble.
"You dim-bulb duncebuckets, it's GONE!" he shrieked at them in rage. Delete, knowing exactly what he was referring to, felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, but tried to cover it up for fear of Hacker possibly finding out.
"Um, what's gone, boss?" he asked, trying to sound curious.
Hacker gritted his teeth. "My latest invention, the one that would have finally allowed me to put those pint-sized pests in their place," he snapped at him; he then jabbed his finger in the direction of the table the egg had once been sitting on. "It was right here last night. I came in this morning to admire it, and it was gone."
Buzz, afraid that Hacker might start another yelling fit, was drumming his fingers together nervously, quickly trying to think of a way to calm his boss down. Finally, he looked at Hacker and said, trying to sound innocent and placing his hands behind his back, "Uh, gee boss, can't you just make another one?"
Hacker snarled at him, and Buzz grinned sheepishly and backed up a few more steps. "No, you walking pile of spare parts, I can't. I created that device straight out of my head, thus I didn't have a chance to write up the blueprints." He took a deep breath, then continued, sounding a little more calm than he had before, "And even if I did, it wouldn't matter a night. I was only able to find ONE copy of a vital component yesterday; I don't have any more."
The two robots stared at him blankly, unsure of what to say; then Hacker finally glared at them. "Well, what are you two standing there for?! Start searching!"
"Searching for what, boss?" Delete asked, still trying his hardest to sound completely clueless. He suddenly felt very sick to his stomach after what he had heard his boss say.
"What do you think!" Hacker snapped. "My invention, you duncebucket! It has to be here somewhere. I don't care if you have to turn this whole base AND the Grim Wreaker upside down, just find it, and NOW!"
Buzz quickly saluted, then said nervously, his speech rather quickened, "Right, boss, we'll get on it right now. Don't worry about it."
He then turned around and ran off, glad to have some space between himself and his furious boss. Delete looked after him, then turned around and followed, placing both hands on his stomach in the process. He felt very sick now, and he wondered if he should go and take some aspirin for it before it got any worse. By the time he reached Buzz he had doubled over.
Buzz looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. "You okay, Dee-Dee?" he asked in concern.
Delete looked at him, then smiled weakly, not wanting to tell Buzz about the egg for the time being. "Yeah, yeah, I'm just.fine," he replied, his voice shaking.
* * *
For the next few hours the search went by, as all of them-Hacker, Buzz, and Delete-scoured the base, dumping out drawers, emptying closets, tossing things on the floor, hitting their heads on tables and desks, and of course making one of the biggest messes in possibly all of Cyberspacian history. Buzz, despite the fact that he hated having to search the whole ship, was very pleased that he could completely trash a room and not have to clean it up afterward-it reminded him of his old college days, he had said. Delete would've enjoyed it too, if he didn't keep reminding himself of what the mess would eventually lead to.
He had been frightened that Hacker might have made them start at the south end of the base, but thankfully he had made them start at the north end. But after a few hours and lots of throwing, tossing, and breaking, they had managed to get a fourth of the search done. It was only a matter of time, he knew, before they would eventually reach the end of the base- along with the storage room.
The search continued for a full day and night, and all the time they tore apart the base the egg grew steadily larger. By the next morning, the egg had reached the size of a rather large beach ball.
Buzz and Delete, meanwhile, had become exhausted and were sprawled out on their backs in the main control room, looking sleep-deprived, haggard, and thoroughly exhausted from their night of searching. Since everything-including the chairs-had been littered with all types of papers, tools, and other various junkets, the two had resorted to lying on the table and the panel. They had been resting for only a few moments when Hacker stormed in.
"What are you two doing, just laying around?" Hacker snapped at them, his hands at his sides. "You're supposed to be looking for my invention, you dimwitted duncebuckets!"
"But boss, we're tired, an' we've been lookin' all night," Delete whined.
Although this was a very bad thing to say to Hacker at the time, Delete was getting very nervous and very desperate about the egg. He had to stall. Anything to give himself time to think on how he should get the egg out of the base without Hacker noticing.but, judging by how obsessive Hacker was acting about it now, the prospects were fairly dismal.
"No excuses," Hacker told them angrily. "Now get up, and get to work. You're not going to stop until you find that egg, you hear?" He turned around and stormed off.
Buzz moaned, then shakily got to his feet. "Dis is moider!" he whined, jumping down from the table; he then sighed heavily and began to head toward one of the hallways. "Come on, Dee-Dee, let's go. Let's try lookin' in our room now."
"But Buzzie, didn't we already look in our room?" Delete sighed, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.
"Yeah, we did," Buzz replied, his voice sounding very groggy at this time. "But we're gonna look again. Let's start by lookin' in our beds."
Delete stared at him a moment, unsure of what he was getting at, then it finally clicked into place. Grinning, he nodded his head. "Oh, yeah, that's a good idea, Buzzy. We might have missed something the first time.so let's go look."
Buzz smirked, then walked off toward the hallway, while Delete simply stood there. He waited until Buzz was completely gone, then he sighed in relief. "Heh, who knew Buzz's laziness would come in handy some day?" he giggled to himself.
It was then that Buzz came back through the doorway, then looked at him, still as groggy as he had been before. "You say somethin'?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Delete jerked up in surprise, then quickly shook his head. "Uh, no, nothing, Buzz. I didn't say anything. Now let's go search in our beds for a couple of hours." He flashed his older brother a trusting smile.
"Now you're talkin', heh-heh," Buzz replied, crossing his arms. "Let's go."
* * *
Meanwhile, in the real world, Matt, Jackie and Inez were gathered around a table in a pizza parlor, sitting in a booth near the corner of the store. They had been quite grateful for the time off that Hacker's recent show of inactivity had provided, and now they had decided to take full advantage of it by going on a friendly outing. Inez sighed, then crossed her legs and leaned back against her booth, thoroughly content.
"Oh, boy, do I love a good day off," she told the others. "I feel great-in fact, I feel ten times better than I did before that incident in the jungle.and the coaster." She frowned at uncovering that memory again. Jackie looked at her, then scowled.
"I don't, that mud pit was the most disgusting thing that ever had to happen to me in my life," she told them angrily. "Bits of mud are still falling out of my hair every time I brush it. Oh, man!" She plopped her elbows against the table.
Matt sighed and looked up toward the ceiling of the parlor before turning his attention back on the two girls. "Whatever," he told them. "Now can we just order already? I'm starving. How about we get the supreme?"
Jackie made a face. "Ew, no way, Matt," she replied, sounding disgusted. "You know full well I don't eat half the stuff that's on that thing."
Matt rolled his eyes, then placed one arm on the table. "Not this again," he sighed. "Come on, Jacks, we never get any meat on our pizza. We haven't had meat once. I'm starting to feel like a rabbit or something." He brushed his red hair out of his face. "Can't we just order pepperoni for a change?"
"Just why are you so determined to get me to eat meat, huh?" Jackie replied, crossing her arms. "You know I'm a vegetarian, Matt. I don't eat meat."
"Aw, come on, pepperoni isn't meat," Matt laughed. Inez rolled her eyes and was about to mouth off her response, but considering the setting they were in decided that now wasn't the best time to do it.
"Can we just please order something, before we starve to death?" she replied instead. Matt and Jackie glared at her, then were about to speak their responses to her when they were interrupted by Motherboard's face appearing in the menu. Fortunately for them, however, there weren't many people in the parlor at the moment, and their waitress was still back in the kitchen. No one seemed to be paying any attention to the back booth.
"Are you there-cybermates?" Motherboard asked.
Matt rolled his eyes again and placed his chin in his hand. "Figures, just as our break was getting good," he muttered. "Hacker has to ruin everything, doesn't he?"
Jackie glared at Matt for a brief moment, then looked back down at Motherboard. "What's up, Mother B?" she asked, sounding highly curious.if Hacker hadn't attacked for quite a while, what could he have possibly done to make up for that loss of time? She wasn't sure she even wanted to know.
"I need you at Control Central-quickly," Motherboard responded. "There is something rather strange that I think-you must see."
Before the kids could reply, the portal opened up through the menu, and the kids were drawn in. Thankfully, no one noticed them and, before the waitress could come out of the kitchen in time to ask them for their order, they and the portal had disappeared, leaving her scratching the side of her head in wonder.
A moment later the portal opened up in the midst of Control Central, and the kids fell through, once again landing in a heap. Jackie, who had landed on top, picked herself up and began to straighten out her wrinkled skirt.
"Ugh," she muttered. "No offense, guys, but we have got to work on our landings."
It was then that Dr. Marbles came up, followed closely by Digit, his lips drawn in a tight line and a rather nervous twitch in his eye. Upon seeing the kids, however, his expression quickly changed to one of seriousness, and he stopped in front of them. "Thank goodness you're here," he exclaimed.
"What's wrong this time?" Matt asked, getting to his knees and hoisting himself up. "Is Hacker up to something?" He looked to the side and muttered "again?"
The Doctor shook his head. "No, in fact, we haven't heard anything from him since yesterday," he informed them.
"We know, that's why we decided to take the day off," Inez replied, nodding.
"But something's going on. Whenever Hacker is quiet this long, he's usually plotting something.and ninety percent of the time it's usually something drastic." He nervously straightened his glasses, then turned around to face the control panel and quickly punched in some numbers. "So I sent Digit in with a camera, and look at the results."
The kids looked up at the screen as Motherboard's face faded and a series of pictures came into view. All of them showed the base, which now appeared to have been ripped to shreds. There were boxes, papers, tools, broken glass, overturned furniture, and various other objects all over the place. Matt whistled.
"Whoo," he said, his eyes wide. "It looks like a tornado hit that place!"
Inez nodded. "Yeah, what gives?" she asked the Doctor. "From what we've seen of Hacker, he's usually so neat and clean!"
"I know, he hates messes even more than I do," Jackie agreed, looking over Matt's shoulder.
"Exactly," Dr. Marbles replied, his voice sounding rather grave. "That's why you were called in. Something isn't right over there. I want the three of you to exit to Hacker's lair, and find out just what's going on there."
"Right, we're on it," Matt sighed. "Why do these things always happen when we're so close to getting a pizza with meat on it for once?"
"Hey, I never agreed to that," Jackie shouted after him as they headed toward the direction of the Doc's cybercoupe.
* * *
Delete hadn't been able to sleep much.as a matter of fact, he hadn't even slept at all, much less even tried to. He had only pretended to be asleep as the two went to bed. Buzz, after a few seconds, now appeared to be asleep, he was lying on the bed in the most relaxed manner imaginable, and lightly snoring.
But since Buzz could be a light sleeper when he hadn't nodded off completely, Delete had to make sure. Slowly creeping over to Buzz's side of the bed, he reached one finger out to the sleeping robot, then quickly jabbed him in the side of the head, the method he had always used to wake Buzz up at night, when he needed a drink of water.
Buzz didn't respond; he didn't even stir. Instead he remained asleep, and Delete smiled to himself, but it was very brief. Now that he was sure Buzz was out cold, he quickly turned around, then began to head off toward the storage area, taking care not to disturb Hacker, who was now in the process of tearing apart his own room. Delete quietly snuck past him, then, as soon as he was sure that he was completely out of Hacker's hearing range, broke off into a run toward the storage room, weaving desperately through the hallways, not bothering to stop until he reached the room itself.
"Now's my chance," Delete panted, looking around. "I gotta get that egg outta here before the boss eventually comes back here an' finds it. Now, then."
He walked over to the space between the two crates, then, as soon as he reached the gap, clapped both of his hands to his mouth and gasped in shock-only he didn't know if it was anything good this time. The egg, which had apparently grown since the last time he had seen it, had now reached an enormous size, about the size of a cradle.
"Oh boy, this is bad," he whimpered, biting one of his nails nervously. "How am I gonna move that egg outta here now? I can't carry something that big out of the Wreaker without the boss noticing."
That was when something else caught his attention. Walking over to the egg, he could now see that a small computer monitor-closely resembling the one that he had seen when he had first put Inez's blood in-had appeared at the side. The following words were flashing across it, in bright green letters:
Construction process complete. Initiating activation.
Delete swallowed hard, then backed up against one of the crates, staring at the egg in a panic.
"Uh-oh," he finally squeaked.