Final Destinations
By Final Fantasy GX (GothicXpress)
Disclaimer: I do not own Cyberchase.
Author's Note/s: Yeah...this chapter is quite random, but I'd count it as one of the better ones. Delete and Buzz meet Crimson Blade, much to their horror, and the Cybersquad...well, you'll see.
Chapter 6: Stranger
"Aww, boss..." whined Delete in protest. "Do we have to?"
"It has to be done, duncebucket, and besides, I have better things to do," snapped Hacker in smart reply. "When I tell you to do something, you're supposed to do it without question." He glared at the tall android, and gestured with a green-skinned hand at the computer controls. "Get on with it."
It was a fairly regular day at the Northern Frontier in the Grim Wreaker: Hacker was ordering Buzz and Delete to organize the files in the computer system – which neither of them had any motive to do so, considering it was, well, boring.
As Hacker stalked out of the room without further comment, Delete turned to his shorter brother. "I guess we'd better do it then," he said resignedly. Buzz rolled his eyes. "Stop complaining, Dee Dee," he remarked, hopping up onto the panel and folding his arms. "It's better 'dan cleaning 'da entire ship."
Both robots shuddered at the memory; the last time Hacker had made them do so, it had taken three whole days to get the Grim Wreaker clean, and they had been unspeakably exhausted, dirty and sore for a long time afterwards. Frankly, neither of them particularly wanted to experience that again.
At length Delete sighed. "You're right, Buzzy." The younger android then pulled a chair up to the monitor, and plopped down in it. Tongue sticking out slightly, he raised a finger and pressed a couple of buttons on the controls. At this prompt a list of all the files in the system came up. As far as he could tell, there were well over one hundred, which was a lot more than he had hoped.
"Over one hundred..." he muttered sulkily to himself. Though he didn't mean to make the comment audible, Buzz heard it anyway and snorted.
"Deeds, if you had some idea 'dat a computer system needed less than one hundred files ta' keep it running, you're more dim than I thought."
"Hey!" his younger brother protested. "How was I 'posed to know?" He slouched back in his chair and assumed a sulky expression.
The stocky android slapped his face. "Delete, considerin' you're a robot, you should know 'dese things."
"Well, I don't!"
"Well, you should!"
"But I don't!"
"Delete, shut up!"
Annoyed, Delete reached out and whacked Buzz hard on the head with a clenched fist; the stocky android, once regaining his senses, growled and shoved his brother so that he almost fell out of the chair. "Hey -"
Upon finding his balance again, Delete pushed Buzz back as hard as he could, provoking the shorter android into falling backwards onto one of the controls. "Whoa -"
Immediately, the Grim Wreaker's indoor sprinkler system turned on, spraying the room with icy water. Puddles of the stuff pooled on the floor, and Buzz, once he had managed to get himself to his feet again, began shouting at Delete in a fury.
"Delete, you idiot - !" Unfortunately, before he could finish, as he stepped forwards his foot landed in a puddle of water and the short robot went crashing down onto his backside again.
Water dripping off his antenna and trickling down into his eyes, Delete pointed at the button behind Buzz and spluttered, "Turn – it - off!"
Through the hiss and splash of the water, Buzz could barely hear his younger brother. "What?" he hollered, sitting up and almost choking on the liquid that went streaming off him and into his mouth.
"I said, TURN IT OFF!" Delete yelled back in full lung power, and Buzz, finally hearing the request and seeing where the rangy android was pointing, quickly reached out and slammed his hand down on it.
With that, the sprinklers slowed to a trickle and finally turned off, leaving the entire room dripping with water. A couple of sparks flew from the control panels; Delete ran for the hallway. Swearing under his breath, Buzz ran for a cupboard and pulled out some towels and threw them onto the sparking regulators.
"Crap, crap, crap," he muttered. "Let's just hope 'dat the controls aren't broken after 'dat little incident." Working as fast as he could, the undersized robot mopped up the water that lay on the control panels. Delete re-appeared from the next room, carrying a mop and bucket, and began to dry the floor.
"That was your fault," was the first thing he said to Buzz, squeezing the water into the metal bucket.
Bristling with anger, Buzz wheeled around and shouted, "DELETE! You were 'da one who pushed me onto 'da controls! Don't blame ME for something YOU did!"
His brother wasted no time in replying. "You said I was stupid!" Floor now dry, the tallish robot poured the bucket's contents out the window and set it and the mop aside. Grabbing one of the towels, Delete started to clean off the furniture.
"No, I didn't!" Buzz finished off, also threw the now sopping towels out the window (without noticing what he was doing), jumped up on the dry control panel, and turned to face Delete, hands on hips.
"Yes, you did!" the taller android responded, irritated, pausing in his drying to give Buzz a small glare.
"No, I said you were dim, not stupid!" Buzz folded his arms again and stared pointedly at his younger brother.
"They're the same thing!"
"No, they're not!"
"Yes, they are!"
That was how, as they continued to argue loudly, the pair failed to notice Crimson Blade materialise in the doorway, hidden in shadow. Buzz had just opened his mouth to explain the differences when both of them were interrupted.
"Stop right there." The cold, horribly calm voice spoke. Frightened out of his wits, Delete dropped the towel, turned to face the person who had spoken and whimpered in fear. Buzz, on the other hand, merely looked surprised as he saw the being. The androids completely forgot about their argument in the face of the situation.
"Who are you?" he demanded arrogantly, in an attempt to sound brave. Not really wanting to jump off the controls and therefore look extremely short (more than he currently was, anyway), the robot waited for an answer, not daring to take his eyes off the apparition. He couldn't see any of its features - only the faint outline, which seemed strangely misshapen - except for two glowing, red eyes.
"My name is Crimson. Crimson Blade," responded the figure coolly, and inclined his head in the slightest courtesy possible (to show this, the eyes dipped a little). "I seek The Hacker." He glanced over at Delete, who was frozen in place, terrified beyond belief. "I see that both of you have not changed from since I last saw you."
Buzz was instantly confused. Of all the people he had met, he couldn't recall ever meeting someone who had that same chilling voice and crimson eyes. One thing was for sure: he had never met this Crimson Blade, whoever he – or she, he had no idea which – was; so how could he have made their acquaintance before? Desperately, he racked his brain for something to say, the puzzled expression still on his face.
Reading his thoughts through the confused look, Crimson Blade grinned at this sudden show of weakness and revealed himself, stepping out of the shadows into full sight.
Buzz nearly fell off the control panel as he glimpsed Blade's mismatched body: Delete let out a sob and covered his face with his hands, too frightened to move or say anything, half-hiding behind the table. Buzz was just about as afraid, though he hardly dared to admit it.
"Uh – um – "he stammered, sweating profusely under the insane, piercing gaze of the horrific creature. "I –"
It was then that Hacker walked back into the room, scowling deeply. Delete shook all the more when he saw that the green cyborg was dripping wet, and had a towel draped across his head. Buzz almost fainted at the sight of him; whether it was from relief or fear, he wasn't sure.
"BUZZ! DELETE!" Hacker yelled, marching forwards. "What in the name of evil were you doing up here? And why the heck did you pour water out of the window, drenching me, as well as throw this towel right onto my handsome head?"
The evil genius, as he yanked the towel off his head, stopped short as he saw Crimson Blade. In one glance he saw Delete hunched up and trembling behind the table and Buzz pressed back against the wall on the control panel. Then he looked back at Blade, and immediately went pale.
"Who in all of Cyberspace are you?" he demanded, taking in the various features of the creature; his eyes widened at the sight of the Blackjack arm, parts of the Cybersquad, and his own hair (wig, whatever.). He also completely forgot the towel incident at the sight of the abomination.
"Crimson Blade, at your service," Blade responded in that same composed voice, a tinge of sarcasm in his tone. "I have a proposal to put forwards."
"Really..." the green cyborg wasn't sure whether to trust this strange being or not; it was made up out of the people he knew, after all. "Would the results be in my favour?"
"Of course," Blade snapped, scarlet eyes narrowing. "Why would I even bother to come here if it wasn't?"
Hacker flinched mentally, but didn't show it on the outside. This creature was obviously very intelligent, and seemed strong enough to hold his own, or, indeed, he wouldn't have come here in the first place. He chose his next words carefully.
"And what would be in it for you?"
For the first time since he had arrived, Crimson Blade's composure shattered. The twisted creature hissed and drew himself up, his eyes burning into Hacker's. Fists clenching, eyes twitching slightly in the passion of his words, he replied in a low, angry voice: "I seek only to bring revenge upon the ones who have caused me suffering, and give them what they deserve."
At these words Hacker frowned slightly. I'm not going to trust him, not for a minute. But as long he helps me to further my own means, so be it, he thought to himself. "Where did you come from?" he asked, finally. "And what is this 'proposal' you speak of?"
"Let's just say I'm the 'answer to your prayers'," the evil creature replied, smiling slightly, which made both Buzz and Delete shudder in unison. He paused for a moment.
"How would you like to get rid of a few people in Cyberspace?"
The sun beat down upon the barren lands of the Northern Frontier: brown, desolate, silenced.
Except for a single noise: the sound of someone yelling. It came closer, and closer, until finally a bright pink portal appeared and dumped a group of people on the ground below, vanishing again within a few seconds.
Thump.
"Ow..." Digit winced as he rubbed his sore behind. "That wasn't too enjoyable..." Looking around, he saw that he had reached his destination, at least. Beside him, the kids were heaving themselves up off the ground, brushing dust off their clothing and tending to their particular afflictions. In this case, Matt was examining his arm, while Jackie was patting her hair and Inez was picking up her glasses from where they lay. "All right, earthlies?"
"Yeah...I think so..." Matt muttered, lowering his arm and shrugging his shoulder a couple of times; as he did so, Digit caught sight of the ugly bruises that covered his neck. Feeling sympathetic for the boy, the cybird turned to Inez and Jackie. "I guess we'd better get going..."
"Hmm..." Inez squinted. "There's the Grim Wreaker...Matt, what if Crimson Blade really is here?"
"We'll keep out of sight, and if we see him, we'll alert Dr Marbles. He'll know what to do." Despite his confident words, Matt's voice trembled on the word 'him'. The others all tried not to notice this, though they all were thinking the same thing: Matt was feeling very much afraid of Crimson. And personally, none of them blamed him.
Setting off in the direction of the Grim Wreaker, the Cybersquad discussed different ideas on how they were going to stop Crimson Blade. Unfortunately, every one of them came to a dead end, and now they were all in silence.
Suddenly, Inez stopped, at about the centre of the cybersite, which was quite near to the Grim Wreaker, and held up her hand to signal the others to do so. "Do any of you hear voices?" She frowned.
Upon the slow-moving wind, soft voices reached her ears, and even then she could only just catch the sound. The others, straining their hearing to the very limit, eventually heard them, too.
"They don't sound as if they're over where Hacker lives," Jackie said. "More like they're...." She paused, still listening.
"Underground..." Digit whispered. "Sounds as if it's underground..."
"That can't be possible," Matt protested. "How can the voices - if they are voices - be coming from down there?" He pointed at the ground.
"No, Didge is right, Matt," his companion confirmed, adjusting her black glasses. "They are coming from underneath the cybersite. I know it sounds crazy, but it's the truth. Listen to them properly; they don't sound as if they're coming from the surface, that's for sure."
"Someday we'll check it out, but for now we have to find Crimson Blade." Jackie shrugged and brushed off her skirt for the umpteenth time since they had arrived. "He's the one we have to stop."
"But what if the voices are related to what he's doing, if he is here?" Inez suggested, folding her arms. "We can't let that pass."
She was surprised to see Matt slump, and the light go out of his eyes. "It's no use anyway," the red-haired boy said bitterly. "He's too strong and can't be defeated. I killed him once – by his mind, many times - and he came back." Unconsciously he reached his hand up to his neck and touched the bruises gingerly. "You can't kill something that is already dead."
"Don't lose hope, Matt," Jackie replied, stepping into the shade of a tall rock. "I don't think he's dead, anyway. His strength is much too great for that."
(Well, that's a help, the redhead thought sarcastically, but decided to keep it to himself for his friends' sake.)
"Yeah...maybe..." Matt attempted to put on a brave expression. "I think we should forget about the voices for now. We have to find out where Crimson is, otherwise who knows what'll happen." He smiled at the others, more for his benefit than theirs, and leaned against the rock. He had just opened his mouth to say something more when -
"Whoa, what the -" With a yelp, the red-haired boy fell sideways as the rock slid across smoothly, as if driven by some kind of mechanism, and revealed a large, round hole. Inside, nothing whatsoever could be seen, only pitch-black darkness.
And it was into that darkness that Matt fell.