MY EVERYTHING
By Max Jordan and Grand High Idol
CHAPTER FIVE
Meanwhile, outside the Hacker's base, Digit was waiting for the kids out by the Coupe, and was now worriedly pacing back and forth, every now and then shooting a nervous glance back up at the base. He wondered what was taking them so long.they usually never took this long to find out what Hacker was up to. Being honest with himself, he decided that he was getting dreadfully concerned.
Digit shot another glance back up at the base, then let out a quick, nervous sigh. "Where are they?" he wondered aloud, shaking his head. Just as he turned around, however, he found Matt, Jackie and Inez approaching him.
"Oh, there you are!" Digit exclaimed, relieved. He then got down to business. "So, did you manage to find anything?"
Matt and Jackie exchanged glances, while Inez smiled weakly. "Uh, yeah," she replied, sounding rather nervous herself, now. "Digit, can you do us a favor and get Motherboard on the Squwak?"
"Sure," Digit replied, shrugging. He reached inside the open door of the Coupe, then picked up the Squwak pad and tossed it to Inez. Inez nodded in gratitude, then punched a few buttons. After a few seconds, Motherboard's face flickered onto the screen.
"Inez? Inez? Is that you?" Motherboard asked. "Are you-alright? Have you found-anything?"
Inez smiled sheepishly again. "Uh, yeah, Motherboard," she replied, then looked off to the side before continuing. "Uh, we have something to discuss with you. There's kinda been a.development, let me say."
"Development?" Motherboard repeated; she sounded thoroughly confused.
"Yeah," Inez replied. "Here, let me show you just what was happening over there." She walked over to one of the crates near the base, then reached behind it. "Come on," she coaxed the figure gently, as if trying to get it to come out. Digit stood there, not sure what to think of this, but his mouth dropped open the moment that Inez pulled Nezzie out from behind the crate, bringing her into full view. The child looked around nervously, her hand in her mouth.
"What the.?" Digit was aghast.
Motherboard looked rather surprised, too, if a supercomputer could manage that. "Inez, who is-this girl?" she asked, her voice covering up for her lack of expression. Inez patted Nezzie on the head, then looked back at Motherboard's image.
"It's kind of a long story," Inez told her. "If we can bring her to Control Central with us, we'll explain everything, I promise." She put an arm around the child's shoulder and brought her closer to her side.
Motherboard thought this over for a few moments. "Very well," she finally agreed, as Digit, still shocked, looked Nezzie over, then finally turned around, his eyes still wide, his expression still one of shock, and began to head back for the Coupe.
"That's it," he told himself weakly as he opened the door to the driver's side and slowly slipped in behind the controls. "I am never going to put oregano in my salad again."
* * *
".And so that's what happened," Inez finished, completing her explanation as to what happened back in the Grim Wreaker. Dr. Marbles was standing in front of her, a thoughtful expression on his face; despite his expression of seriousness, he seemed very impressed, not to mention unable to believe it at first.
"So, what you're saying to me is that Delete used Hacker's invention to create this girl?" the Doctor asked, gesturing toward the room adjacent to him. Jackie nodded.
"Looks like it," she replied.
The Cybersquad was currently in the main control room, along with Dr. Marbles, Digit, and Motherboard. Awhile ago Inez had sent Nezzie off to play with Widget in the other room, giving them time to discuss her without her constantly getting in the way. They had then tried to explain, with as much detail as possible, what happened with Nezzie and Delete. Motherboard had grown very concerned; it didn't take a computer genius to figure that out.
"Inez?" Motherboard finally asked.
Inez looked up at the supercomputer. "Yes?" she replied.
"From what you have told me, the girl is, in effect-" The tracking that Hacker's virus had caused then returned for a few moments before she returned to her normal state. "Your offspring?"
Inez looked down, rather disturbed now that she saw it this way, then finally nodded. "I guess she is," she finally said; she then placed one hand to the side of her head and shook it in disbelief. "I cannot believe I just said that."
"I understand," Motherboard replied, almost sympathetically. "You're still fairly young, and under the circumstances given you could hardly be prepared." She tracked again before once again returning to her normal state. "May I ask what you plan to do with-Nezzie?"
Inez groaned. "Out of all the names in the world, why did Delete have to name her that?" she complained. She then shook her head. "I have no idea what I'm going to do. I mean, I can't exactly take her home with me, if you know what I mean."
"There is another," Motherboard reminded her. "Delete must be- considered as well."
Matt looked up at her, confused, in a way. "What? Why?" he asked.
"Matt, come on," Jackie replied, crossing her arms. "I mean, I don't like it anymore than you do. But like it or not, Delete is her mother.or father, or whatever. He has a connection to her, and we just can't pretend that she doesn't."
"Okay, okay, let's not get in too deep, here," Digit told them, waving his wings. "Jackie, you are right, in a way. But there's a problem, here. If we do let Delete have contact with her, doesn't that usually mean putting her close to Hacker?" The others stared at him, thinking this over. The bird did have a good point, and they could clearly see that. "I can't speak for anyone else, but I personally do not like that idea one bit."
"Neither do I," Motherboard admitted, "But I am not willing to exclude Delete entirely from Nezzie's life. This-matter will take a great- deal of thought. In the meantime, we-must decide on what to-do with her."
Inez had now taken her seat on a nearby countertop and was now staring at the floor, very quietly. Jackie, sensing that something was wrong, walked up to her, then gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, Inez," she said. "You okay?"
Inez sighed, then told her, "I just found out that I may have a daughter with a person-er, robot, that I barely know, not to mention that he's working for the enemy." She leaned back against the counter, swinging her feet, now looking down at the floor. "Under the circumstances, the term 'okay' hardly applies to this." She shook her head in defeat. "What am I gonna do with her? I don't know anything about taking care of a kid." She sighed heavily and put her head in her hands.
Matt thought a moment, then finally an idea came to his head. "We could do it," he told the group. Everyone stopped what they were doing- which wasn't much, concerning the situation-and looked up at him.
"Um, excuse me?" Jackie asked, crossing her arms. "What did you just say?"
"I said that we could do it," Matt told her, shrugging a shoulder. "We could find her a room here, and we could take turns babysitting her and stuff. I mean, there's only one of her, and there are six of us. I'm pretty sure we can manage."
"A courageous suggestion, Matthew," Dr. Marbles replied, nodding his head, but his expression quickly became grave. "But Control Central is hardly an ideal place for a child, especially one so young as this."
"I know, Doc," Matt told him, "But we don't seem to have much of a choice."
"We will work something out," Motherboard encouraged. "But I must ask each of you, if you are-willing to help out in-this case."
"Well." Jackie thought for a moment, then smiled and nodded. "I've babysat before, and I know a few things about kids, so I guess that I can help out."
"I've never babysat before in my life, but I'm still in," Matt added, stepping forward next to Jackie. The girl looked over at him, then smiled.
"Count me in, too," Digit agreed, raising his wing. "I know I a ton of recipes that she's bound to like."
Dr. Marbles looked at them, then finally sighed and said, shaking his head, "I'm not entirely sure of this, but I suppose there's no alternative."
Inez smiled weakly. "Thanks, guys," she sighed, reaching out to pat Digit on the shoulder. "Some days I just don't know what I'd do without you."
"I know that," Digit replied confidently, grinning. There was a pause in the room for a few seconds before one of them decided to speak again.
"Well, I.guess we should go find her a room," Jackie suggested. "Oh, and she's gonna need some furniture, too." She looked up toward the ceiling again. "Oh, man, but I just don't know where to get some."
"We've got some old furniture in our attic," Matt offered. "It used to be mine, but I outgrew it, you know? I'm sure my mom and dad won't miss it, and by the looks of it I don't think that they're planning on having any more kids anytime soon." He looked off to the side, rather uneasy. "At least, I hope not."
No sooner had he mentioned the furniture than had Jackie started snickering to herself. Matt looked over at her, then narrowed one eye and turned on her, placing his hands at his sides. "Hey, what's so funny?" he demanded.
"Oh, nothing," Jackie replied innocently; before Matt could reply she abruptly changed the subject. "Anyway, I've got some old clothes tucked away that don't fit me anymore, but they're still in good shape. Maybe she could use those."
"I may be capable of inventing some toys for her," Dr. Marbles suggested.
The kids all nodded in agreement, grinning hugely; then they set to work. As they did, however, not one of them noticed the small robot mosquito plugged onto the top of the ceiling. And, of course, that meant that none of them knew Hacker had fixed it and had plugged the thing's remote into a larger console, so that he could see everything that the kids and the Doc were doing at the moment.
"Perfect, perfect," the green cyborg exclaimed gleefully, as he made a few more adjustments to the screen. "Now we can get a bug's eye view of the whole thing."
Hacker, Buzz, and Delete were now back in the main control room; Buzz and Delete had managed to move a couch directly in front of Hacker's wall- sized computer screen, so that they could watch everything as it happened. Hacker was sitting on one side, Delete was slumped against the other, a depressed look on his face, staring down at the floor. Buzz walked up with a bowl of popcorn.
"Heh, heh, 'dis is gonna be sweet, who wants popcorn?" he offered. Hacker and Delete both ignored him, so he shrugged, smirked to himself, then jumped up onto the couch between Hacker and Delete, setting the bowl of popcorn next to him. "All 'da more for me, 'den," he said to himself, pulling out a handful.
Within just a few hours the three had managed to get a montage of clips from Control Central, and now they sat in front of the computer monitor, watching the whole thing.all except Delete, who continued to stare down at the floor, tracing circles on the couch with his index finger as Hacker and Buzz watched the scenario before them, obviously enjoying themselves.
The first clip was with Digit, showing Nezzie how to hand-toss pizza dough. The little cyborg girl was standing on a stool watching him, and as she leaned forward to get a closer look at what he was doing she lost her balance and began to fall off. Digit looked over in time to see her about to fall, and, in a panic, quickly reached out and caught her...just as the pizza dough he had tossed up earlier landed directly atop his head.
Hacker laughed, while Buzz snickered to himself, almost snorting out his popcorn. "Oh, yeah, 'dis kid's a natural, all right," he declared. Delete looked over at him, then looked back at the floor without saying anything.
The next clip was of Nezzie with Jackie, this time. Jackie was currently seated on a stool in Nezzie's room, trying to teach her about the basics of makeup. Nezzie picked up a compact full of face powder, then sniffed it once and immediately sneezed into the powder, provoking a rather large dust cloud. When it cleared, both she and Jackie were splotched with white powder. Jackie yelped and began trying to get it out of her hair, while Nezzie blinked, then stared down at the compact, a cautious look now on her face.
The third was of Nezzie with Matt. Matt had taken her on an outing to R-Fair City, and was now riding with her on the carousel. Both apparently seemed to be having a good time, especially Nezzie, who was laughing and waving her hands in the air. However, as she passed the control panel, she accidentally hit the lever, and the ride sped up to its maximum speed, throwing a few other kids off in the process.
The attendant, realizing what was going on, quickly dropped the magazine that he was reading and lunged for the lever, pushing it back and bringing the ride to a stop. Nezzie got off, laughing and clapping her hands in delight, while Matt staggered off his horse, looking dizzy, then his face paled and he held his stomach. He then fell over, flat on his face.
And the fourth. This time Nezzie was with her "father", Inez, and the Latino was trying to show her how to bounce a ball. She demonstrated it for the cyborg girl, then handed the ball to her. Nezzie looked at the ball, then at the wall, then finally bounced it against the wall with all the force she had. As it came back for her, she tried to catch it, but missed, and the ball bounced around the room until it finally rebounded and smacked her in the back of the head, knocking off her glasses and sending her to the floor.
By now both Hacker and Buzz were roaring with laughter, so hard, in fact, that tears were rolling down both their faces. "Oh man-boss-did you see that?" Buzz managed to say between laughing fits. "Hee-hee-hee-she's a natural-oh geez-oh man-" He fell over on the side of the couch, clutching his stomach, then paused to pick up some popcorn, cramming it into his mouth while trying to laugh at the same time. "Oh man-oh-AAACCCK!"
Apparently this hadn't worked out; the popcorn had gone down the wrong tube. Buzz bolted upright, then coughed and gagged, trying to dislodge the popcorn from his throat. When he finally managed to do so, he wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes, then turned to look over at Delete. "Hey, Dee-Dee, are youse enjoying 'da-"
He stopped dead, however, when he noticed that Delete was crying.and not with laughter, unlike he and Hacker were. He was sniffling to himself, his face almost completely hidden in one hand, the tears staining the couch. Buzz looked at him concernedly, then reached out and tried to place his hand on his shoulder, but the taller robot drew away.
Buzz grunted. "What's wrong with you?" he asked.
"Huh?" Delete stopped and, suddenly self-conscious now, quickly wiped the tears from his eyes and looked over at him. "Oh, nothin'. I was just.thinkin' about things, is all."
Buzz knew very well what he was thinking about, but he decided not to care. "Whatever," he replied, rolling his eyes; he then went back to watching the remainder of the clips. Hacker was still laughing like mad; apparently this was a real treat compared to what he had to go through earlier in the hallway.
* * *
Later that night-much later, in fact; Hacker and Buzz had consumed much of their evening watching those clips-the three finally retired to their rooms for the night. Buzz, being what he was, was already out cold, his mouth partly open, drooling. Delete was lying in the bed next to him, turned over on his side, but he, on the other hand, could not sleep. While Hacker and Buzz had thought of those clips as a special version of "Cyberspace's Funniest Home Videos", Delete had thought of it as personal torture.
Unable to get himself to sleep, he sat up and, looking over at Buzz, who was still sleeping heavily, sighed and, slowly getting out of the bed, tiptoed out of the room, then slunk along the hallways until he reached the main control room. The couch was still there; he headed past it and out the main doors, managing to climb his way up the remainder of the Wreaker onto the roof. He then lay down and stared up through the large opening in the ceiling, staring up at the stars for awhile. He sighed, then rolled over onto his side and slowly sat up.
"Well, at least they're takin' good care of her," he sighed to himself. "But I only got to see her once.and I know I may never see her again." He looked back up at the stars, then finally, softly, began to sing, trying to remember the lyrics the way he had heard them:
"We got it together didn't we,
"Nobody but you and me,
"We got it together baby.
"My first, my last, my everything
"And the answer to all my dreams
"You're my sun, my moon, my guiding star
"My kind of wonderful, that's what you are.
"I know there's only, only one like you
"There's no way they could have made two
"You're, you're all I'm living for
"Your love I'll keep forever more.
"You're the first, my last, my everything,
"In you I've found so many things
"A love so new only you could bring
"Can't you see if you, you'll make me feel this way
"You're like a first morning dew on a brand new day.
"I see so many ways that I can love you 'till the day I die.
"You're my reality, yet I'm lost in a dream
"You're the first, my last, my everything
"I know there's only, only one like you "There's no way they could have made two "Girl you're my reality
"But I'm lost in a dream.
"You're the first, you're the last, my everything." Finishing up his song, Delete sadly picked himself up, then, dragging his feet, began to make his way back to the inside of the Wreaker before Hacker or Buzz woke up, wondering what in cyberspace that racket was about.
By Max Jordan and Grand High Idol
CHAPTER FIVE
Meanwhile, outside the Hacker's base, Digit was waiting for the kids out by the Coupe, and was now worriedly pacing back and forth, every now and then shooting a nervous glance back up at the base. He wondered what was taking them so long.they usually never took this long to find out what Hacker was up to. Being honest with himself, he decided that he was getting dreadfully concerned.
Digit shot another glance back up at the base, then let out a quick, nervous sigh. "Where are they?" he wondered aloud, shaking his head. Just as he turned around, however, he found Matt, Jackie and Inez approaching him.
"Oh, there you are!" Digit exclaimed, relieved. He then got down to business. "So, did you manage to find anything?"
Matt and Jackie exchanged glances, while Inez smiled weakly. "Uh, yeah," she replied, sounding rather nervous herself, now. "Digit, can you do us a favor and get Motherboard on the Squwak?"
"Sure," Digit replied, shrugging. He reached inside the open door of the Coupe, then picked up the Squwak pad and tossed it to Inez. Inez nodded in gratitude, then punched a few buttons. After a few seconds, Motherboard's face flickered onto the screen.
"Inez? Inez? Is that you?" Motherboard asked. "Are you-alright? Have you found-anything?"
Inez smiled sheepishly again. "Uh, yeah, Motherboard," she replied, then looked off to the side before continuing. "Uh, we have something to discuss with you. There's kinda been a.development, let me say."
"Development?" Motherboard repeated; she sounded thoroughly confused.
"Yeah," Inez replied. "Here, let me show you just what was happening over there." She walked over to one of the crates near the base, then reached behind it. "Come on," she coaxed the figure gently, as if trying to get it to come out. Digit stood there, not sure what to think of this, but his mouth dropped open the moment that Inez pulled Nezzie out from behind the crate, bringing her into full view. The child looked around nervously, her hand in her mouth.
"What the.?" Digit was aghast.
Motherboard looked rather surprised, too, if a supercomputer could manage that. "Inez, who is-this girl?" she asked, her voice covering up for her lack of expression. Inez patted Nezzie on the head, then looked back at Motherboard's image.
"It's kind of a long story," Inez told her. "If we can bring her to Control Central with us, we'll explain everything, I promise." She put an arm around the child's shoulder and brought her closer to her side.
Motherboard thought this over for a few moments. "Very well," she finally agreed, as Digit, still shocked, looked Nezzie over, then finally turned around, his eyes still wide, his expression still one of shock, and began to head back for the Coupe.
"That's it," he told himself weakly as he opened the door to the driver's side and slowly slipped in behind the controls. "I am never going to put oregano in my salad again."
* * *
".And so that's what happened," Inez finished, completing her explanation as to what happened back in the Grim Wreaker. Dr. Marbles was standing in front of her, a thoughtful expression on his face; despite his expression of seriousness, he seemed very impressed, not to mention unable to believe it at first.
"So, what you're saying to me is that Delete used Hacker's invention to create this girl?" the Doctor asked, gesturing toward the room adjacent to him. Jackie nodded.
"Looks like it," she replied.
The Cybersquad was currently in the main control room, along with Dr. Marbles, Digit, and Motherboard. Awhile ago Inez had sent Nezzie off to play with Widget in the other room, giving them time to discuss her without her constantly getting in the way. They had then tried to explain, with as much detail as possible, what happened with Nezzie and Delete. Motherboard had grown very concerned; it didn't take a computer genius to figure that out.
"Inez?" Motherboard finally asked.
Inez looked up at the supercomputer. "Yes?" she replied.
"From what you have told me, the girl is, in effect-" The tracking that Hacker's virus had caused then returned for a few moments before she returned to her normal state. "Your offspring?"
Inez looked down, rather disturbed now that she saw it this way, then finally nodded. "I guess she is," she finally said; she then placed one hand to the side of her head and shook it in disbelief. "I cannot believe I just said that."
"I understand," Motherboard replied, almost sympathetically. "You're still fairly young, and under the circumstances given you could hardly be prepared." She tracked again before once again returning to her normal state. "May I ask what you plan to do with-Nezzie?"
Inez groaned. "Out of all the names in the world, why did Delete have to name her that?" she complained. She then shook her head. "I have no idea what I'm going to do. I mean, I can't exactly take her home with me, if you know what I mean."
"There is another," Motherboard reminded her. "Delete must be- considered as well."
Matt looked up at her, confused, in a way. "What? Why?" he asked.
"Matt, come on," Jackie replied, crossing her arms. "I mean, I don't like it anymore than you do. But like it or not, Delete is her mother.or father, or whatever. He has a connection to her, and we just can't pretend that she doesn't."
"Okay, okay, let's not get in too deep, here," Digit told them, waving his wings. "Jackie, you are right, in a way. But there's a problem, here. If we do let Delete have contact with her, doesn't that usually mean putting her close to Hacker?" The others stared at him, thinking this over. The bird did have a good point, and they could clearly see that. "I can't speak for anyone else, but I personally do not like that idea one bit."
"Neither do I," Motherboard admitted, "But I am not willing to exclude Delete entirely from Nezzie's life. This-matter will take a great- deal of thought. In the meantime, we-must decide on what to-do with her."
Inez had now taken her seat on a nearby countertop and was now staring at the floor, very quietly. Jackie, sensing that something was wrong, walked up to her, then gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, Inez," she said. "You okay?"
Inez sighed, then told her, "I just found out that I may have a daughter with a person-er, robot, that I barely know, not to mention that he's working for the enemy." She leaned back against the counter, swinging her feet, now looking down at the floor. "Under the circumstances, the term 'okay' hardly applies to this." She shook her head in defeat. "What am I gonna do with her? I don't know anything about taking care of a kid." She sighed heavily and put her head in her hands.
Matt thought a moment, then finally an idea came to his head. "We could do it," he told the group. Everyone stopped what they were doing- which wasn't much, concerning the situation-and looked up at him.
"Um, excuse me?" Jackie asked, crossing her arms. "What did you just say?"
"I said that we could do it," Matt told her, shrugging a shoulder. "We could find her a room here, and we could take turns babysitting her and stuff. I mean, there's only one of her, and there are six of us. I'm pretty sure we can manage."
"A courageous suggestion, Matthew," Dr. Marbles replied, nodding his head, but his expression quickly became grave. "But Control Central is hardly an ideal place for a child, especially one so young as this."
"I know, Doc," Matt told him, "But we don't seem to have much of a choice."
"We will work something out," Motherboard encouraged. "But I must ask each of you, if you are-willing to help out in-this case."
"Well." Jackie thought for a moment, then smiled and nodded. "I've babysat before, and I know a few things about kids, so I guess that I can help out."
"I've never babysat before in my life, but I'm still in," Matt added, stepping forward next to Jackie. The girl looked over at him, then smiled.
"Count me in, too," Digit agreed, raising his wing. "I know I a ton of recipes that she's bound to like."
Dr. Marbles looked at them, then finally sighed and said, shaking his head, "I'm not entirely sure of this, but I suppose there's no alternative."
Inez smiled weakly. "Thanks, guys," she sighed, reaching out to pat Digit on the shoulder. "Some days I just don't know what I'd do without you."
"I know that," Digit replied confidently, grinning. There was a pause in the room for a few seconds before one of them decided to speak again.
"Well, I.guess we should go find her a room," Jackie suggested. "Oh, and she's gonna need some furniture, too." She looked up toward the ceiling again. "Oh, man, but I just don't know where to get some."
"We've got some old furniture in our attic," Matt offered. "It used to be mine, but I outgrew it, you know? I'm sure my mom and dad won't miss it, and by the looks of it I don't think that they're planning on having any more kids anytime soon." He looked off to the side, rather uneasy. "At least, I hope not."
No sooner had he mentioned the furniture than had Jackie started snickering to herself. Matt looked over at her, then narrowed one eye and turned on her, placing his hands at his sides. "Hey, what's so funny?" he demanded.
"Oh, nothing," Jackie replied innocently; before Matt could reply she abruptly changed the subject. "Anyway, I've got some old clothes tucked away that don't fit me anymore, but they're still in good shape. Maybe she could use those."
"I may be capable of inventing some toys for her," Dr. Marbles suggested.
The kids all nodded in agreement, grinning hugely; then they set to work. As they did, however, not one of them noticed the small robot mosquito plugged onto the top of the ceiling. And, of course, that meant that none of them knew Hacker had fixed it and had plugged the thing's remote into a larger console, so that he could see everything that the kids and the Doc were doing at the moment.
"Perfect, perfect," the green cyborg exclaimed gleefully, as he made a few more adjustments to the screen. "Now we can get a bug's eye view of the whole thing."
Hacker, Buzz, and Delete were now back in the main control room; Buzz and Delete had managed to move a couch directly in front of Hacker's wall- sized computer screen, so that they could watch everything as it happened. Hacker was sitting on one side, Delete was slumped against the other, a depressed look on his face, staring down at the floor. Buzz walked up with a bowl of popcorn.
"Heh, heh, 'dis is gonna be sweet, who wants popcorn?" he offered. Hacker and Delete both ignored him, so he shrugged, smirked to himself, then jumped up onto the couch between Hacker and Delete, setting the bowl of popcorn next to him. "All 'da more for me, 'den," he said to himself, pulling out a handful.
Within just a few hours the three had managed to get a montage of clips from Control Central, and now they sat in front of the computer monitor, watching the whole thing.all except Delete, who continued to stare down at the floor, tracing circles on the couch with his index finger as Hacker and Buzz watched the scenario before them, obviously enjoying themselves.
The first clip was with Digit, showing Nezzie how to hand-toss pizza dough. The little cyborg girl was standing on a stool watching him, and as she leaned forward to get a closer look at what he was doing she lost her balance and began to fall off. Digit looked over in time to see her about to fall, and, in a panic, quickly reached out and caught her...just as the pizza dough he had tossed up earlier landed directly atop his head.
Hacker laughed, while Buzz snickered to himself, almost snorting out his popcorn. "Oh, yeah, 'dis kid's a natural, all right," he declared. Delete looked over at him, then looked back at the floor without saying anything.
The next clip was of Nezzie with Jackie, this time. Jackie was currently seated on a stool in Nezzie's room, trying to teach her about the basics of makeup. Nezzie picked up a compact full of face powder, then sniffed it once and immediately sneezed into the powder, provoking a rather large dust cloud. When it cleared, both she and Jackie were splotched with white powder. Jackie yelped and began trying to get it out of her hair, while Nezzie blinked, then stared down at the compact, a cautious look now on her face.
The third was of Nezzie with Matt. Matt had taken her on an outing to R-Fair City, and was now riding with her on the carousel. Both apparently seemed to be having a good time, especially Nezzie, who was laughing and waving her hands in the air. However, as she passed the control panel, she accidentally hit the lever, and the ride sped up to its maximum speed, throwing a few other kids off in the process.
The attendant, realizing what was going on, quickly dropped the magazine that he was reading and lunged for the lever, pushing it back and bringing the ride to a stop. Nezzie got off, laughing and clapping her hands in delight, while Matt staggered off his horse, looking dizzy, then his face paled and he held his stomach. He then fell over, flat on his face.
And the fourth. This time Nezzie was with her "father", Inez, and the Latino was trying to show her how to bounce a ball. She demonstrated it for the cyborg girl, then handed the ball to her. Nezzie looked at the ball, then at the wall, then finally bounced it against the wall with all the force she had. As it came back for her, she tried to catch it, but missed, and the ball bounced around the room until it finally rebounded and smacked her in the back of the head, knocking off her glasses and sending her to the floor.
By now both Hacker and Buzz were roaring with laughter, so hard, in fact, that tears were rolling down both their faces. "Oh man-boss-did you see that?" Buzz managed to say between laughing fits. "Hee-hee-hee-she's a natural-oh geez-oh man-" He fell over on the side of the couch, clutching his stomach, then paused to pick up some popcorn, cramming it into his mouth while trying to laugh at the same time. "Oh man-oh-AAACCCK!"
Apparently this hadn't worked out; the popcorn had gone down the wrong tube. Buzz bolted upright, then coughed and gagged, trying to dislodge the popcorn from his throat. When he finally managed to do so, he wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes, then turned to look over at Delete. "Hey, Dee-Dee, are youse enjoying 'da-"
He stopped dead, however, when he noticed that Delete was crying.and not with laughter, unlike he and Hacker were. He was sniffling to himself, his face almost completely hidden in one hand, the tears staining the couch. Buzz looked at him concernedly, then reached out and tried to place his hand on his shoulder, but the taller robot drew away.
Buzz grunted. "What's wrong with you?" he asked.
"Huh?" Delete stopped and, suddenly self-conscious now, quickly wiped the tears from his eyes and looked over at him. "Oh, nothin'. I was just.thinkin' about things, is all."
Buzz knew very well what he was thinking about, but he decided not to care. "Whatever," he replied, rolling his eyes; he then went back to watching the remainder of the clips. Hacker was still laughing like mad; apparently this was a real treat compared to what he had to go through earlier in the hallway.
* * *
Later that night-much later, in fact; Hacker and Buzz had consumed much of their evening watching those clips-the three finally retired to their rooms for the night. Buzz, being what he was, was already out cold, his mouth partly open, drooling. Delete was lying in the bed next to him, turned over on his side, but he, on the other hand, could not sleep. While Hacker and Buzz had thought of those clips as a special version of "Cyberspace's Funniest Home Videos", Delete had thought of it as personal torture.
Unable to get himself to sleep, he sat up and, looking over at Buzz, who was still sleeping heavily, sighed and, slowly getting out of the bed, tiptoed out of the room, then slunk along the hallways until he reached the main control room. The couch was still there; he headed past it and out the main doors, managing to climb his way up the remainder of the Wreaker onto the roof. He then lay down and stared up through the large opening in the ceiling, staring up at the stars for awhile. He sighed, then rolled over onto his side and slowly sat up.
"Well, at least they're takin' good care of her," he sighed to himself. "But I only got to see her once.and I know I may never see her again." He looked back up at the stars, then finally, softly, began to sing, trying to remember the lyrics the way he had heard them:
"We got it together didn't we,
"Nobody but you and me,
"We got it together baby.
"My first, my last, my everything
"And the answer to all my dreams
"You're my sun, my moon, my guiding star
"My kind of wonderful, that's what you are.
"I know there's only, only one like you
"There's no way they could have made two
"You're, you're all I'm living for
"Your love I'll keep forever more.
"You're the first, my last, my everything,
"In you I've found so many things
"A love so new only you could bring
"Can't you see if you, you'll make me feel this way
"You're like a first morning dew on a brand new day.
"I see so many ways that I can love you 'till the day I die.
"You're my reality, yet I'm lost in a dream
"You're the first, my last, my everything
"I know there's only, only one like you "There's no way they could have made two "Girl you're my reality
"But I'm lost in a dream.
"You're the first, you're the last, my everything." Finishing up his song, Delete sadly picked himself up, then, dragging his feet, began to make his way back to the inside of the Wreaker before Hacker or Buzz woke up, wondering what in cyberspace that racket was about.