Disclaimer: I do not own Cyberchase.
Genre: Action/Adventure/Romance/Suspense/Angst… A bit of everything, really.
Summary: Will the returned Crimson Blade, as evil and twisted as ever, achieve his ultimate goal? Who will become tangled in his dark designs? And, most of all, who will survive his vicious onslaught? New allies, new threats, and old enemies combine to make the Cybersquad's desperate fight against Crimson harder than ever…
Rating: PG-13 (minimal gore, death, violence)
Author's Note/s: Crimson has a new goal: to team up with Hacker and destroy the people - other than the Cybersquad - who caused him suffering.
Re-edit: Hmm, not really much to edit here. Perhaps just a couple of word changes, but that's it.
Chapter 5: Wake Up
The
very air seemed to shiver with the passing of two disembodied red,
glowing eyes. As the shimmer in the air shot past houses in the
cybersite of Sensible Flats, the people cringed without knowing why;
a sense of cold and fear seemed to wash over them without reason.
Little did they know that the cause was a thing of pure evil passing them.
Mentally satiated by the death of his mortal enemy, Blade hurtled towards the one place where he could achieve the rest of his goals, the most common source of evil in Cyberspace: The Northern Frontier.
The idea had occurred to him not long ago. After he had tampered with the kids' portal, it occurred to him that Matt wasn't the only one who had caused him suffering. What about the citizens of Cyberspace? Hadn't that raven-turned-prince helped the kids, therefore causing them to destroy him? Who had guarded the Eye of Rom, which Hacker took and so he was then crushed by a pyramid? What about Cy Clone, who had destroyed one of the only decent lives he had had by capturing him?
The chance he had of taking his revenge out on these people was by joining forces with the most evil being – other than himself, of course – in Cyberspace: The Hacker. His assistants, however, were of no use to Blade, as the creature simply thought them to be bumbling idiots.
Together, they would crush these people – then Crimson had one more task to complete after that. It remained as a scrap, a trace of a thought in his mind, but slowly blossomed into a full idea as he arrived at the Northern Frontier.
Grinning evilly, Crimson gathered himself together and shot towards the Grim Wreaker, aiming for the main control room, where the evil genius was most likely to be.
-
The first thing he heard was the sound of someone crying softly. He could feel the slight touch of a hand on his that – although cold – seemed strangely familiar to him.
He took a breath, then choked. It was painful to breathe, let alone move any part of his body; he struggled to open his eyes, eventually succeeded, but even then, his vision was blurry.
There was a gasp of fear above him; he wondered what was wrong. Maybe he had ended up in the wrong place – hadn't he died so very long ago? It seemed like a lifetime.
His ears detected frantic whispering, and still all he could see were blurs of colour. Then a voice rang loudly in his ears, seemingly discordant after the long silence:
"Matt? Matt!"
He groaned, and finally managed to focus his eyes; his vision was slightly distorted, but he didn't care, because there in front of him was the last thing he had expected to see.
"I… Inez…?" It was difficult to talk; his throat burned like fire. "I'm… not dead?"
"You wouldn't be looking at me if that was true…"
"Right…" Carefully, the boy pushed himself up on his elbows. "Where's… C-Crimson?"
His friend frowned. "I – I don't know," she replied, in a trembling voice. "But that doesn't matter. You're alive…" She shook her head, eyes shining with fresh tears, barely able to believe it. Then Matt heard a screech of delight, and was hit by two people at once. He choked again; someone's arms were drawn tightly around his neck.
"Hey – get – off!" he spluttered, disentangling Jackie from his throat and removing Digit from his waist. Then he looked into both their faces, confused for a moment. "What happened to you…?"
Jackie's hair was straggly and coming out of its normally neat bun, her face tear-streaked; Digit looked a little pale and his wings were dirty from trying to reboot Motherboard.
"Ugh, please don't remind me," the African-American remarked, flicking away the strands of hair and wiping her face in an attempt to tidy herself up a little. "Ew! Look at me! I need a shower…" she moaned.
Dr Marbles came to stand next to Inez. "I'm glad to see you awake," he said, smiling. "We all thought you were-" He stopped, and looked awkward.
"Dead," Matt finished. "Well, I'm not, so could you please inform me of what happened after I passed out?" He glanced at each of them in turn, questioning.
Dr Marbles nodded, and he explained what Crimson Blade had done. "We were lucky to get out," he said thoughtfully. "If it wasn't for Inez, I don't think we would have survived."
Inez flushed slightly. "It was nothing, Doc."
Matt interrupted them both. "So you don't know where Crimson Blade has gone?" he asked. "Because when I find him, I'm going to - " and he made an extremely obscene gesture.
"Matt!" Inez said, shocked, staring incredulously at him. "That's… that's not nice…" she finished lamely.
He gave an embarrassed grin. "He'll deserve it, after what he's done to us." The red-haired boy then sighed.
"Um… can you help me get up? My legs are still a bit numb…"
-
Half an hour later, the Cybersquad were sitting in front of Motherboard's monitor, discussing a report that had just come in.
"Could you please play that recording again, Motherboard?" Dr Marbles requested. The supercomputer nodded. "Of – course."
A
face flickered on-screen: a citizen from Sensible Flats.
"Motherboard? You there? I thought it might be important… not two
minutes ago, I saw two red eyes go streaking past me on the main
road… I know it sounds crazy, but I swear on my mother's grave I
didn't hallucinate. It was heading in the direction - " he
swallowed,
" – of the Northern Frontier."
The image then dissolved into static. Sighing, Dr Marbles turned back to the kids. "Well?"
"I think the only solution is to go check it out," Matt said, glancing around at his friends. "I think it was Crimson Blade that that citizen saw, judging by the description, and we have to stop him, no questions asked."
"I agree," Jackie responded. "This is our only lead, and it's the only way we can make sure where he's headed now. We may not be able to fight him, but we need to know what he's doing."
"What if Blade is really at the Northern Frontier? He may be seeking to join with Hacker," suggested Dr Marbles concernedly, leaning back against the panel.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," said Inez firmly. She stood up with the other three and came to stand next to the Doc.
"We'll be okay, Doc," Digit assured him. "We're the Cybersquad, remember?" The cybird glanced at Jackie when he said this, and she grinned sheepishly.
"Very well." Dr Marbles closed his eyes and opened them again. "I only hope that nothing happens to you." Then he turned to the controls and told Motherboard, "We need a portal."
As the pink, sparkling portal appeared, Inez turned to Dr Marbles. "We'll call you on the Squwak Pad if we need assistance." She smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder.
Then the Cybersquad were sucked in, and the portal vanished without a trace. Sighing heavily once more and laying his head on Motherboard's massive hard drive, Dr Marbles closed his eyes and fervently prayed with all his soul that no one would get injured or even murdered.
Because he would feel responsible if such a thing came to pass.