Chapter 5: The Night Out

On Sunday evening, Matt was busy at home getting ready for his outing with Inez, blissfully unaware of what Hacker had been up to that day. He spent the later part of the afternoon getting showered and shaved, not that he needed to do much of the latter. He was a ways off from having a full beard. He may have been on the tall side, and his chin may have been a bit more square than it used to be, but as much as he may have wished it weren't the case, he still definitely looked like a high schooler. Hopefully this wouldn't deter Inez from possibly liking him though.

Once he was all cleaned up, he picked out one of his better shirts and pairs of pants. It may not have been an actual date at an expensive restaurant, but he still felt it was a good idea to appear decent tonight. Thankfully the rain had already dried up, so he wouldn't have to worry about getting anything muddy. Not even his truck, though this was mostly because it was already caked with mud, as it had been for awhile. He planned to take it to a car wash and rinse it off once he was in the city again.

Soon it was 5:30, and Matt decided he'd have to get going if he wanted to make good time and not be late. He said goodbye to his parents and walked out to the truck. The engine sputtered a bit before coming to life, as usual. "God, this thing is old," he muttered to himself before turning around and heading down the long driveway leading to the main road. His dad used to use it for farm work, but he had given it to Matt when he began learning how to drive, deciding he needed a new truck for work anyway. It had hung on so far, but Matt could tell it was on its last legs. Thankfully his parents had hinted at possibly getting him a new car before he went off to college as a graduation gift. For now though, it would have to do.

After making the drive into town, Matt pulled into a gas station and ran the truck through the car wash. He also decided to fill up the tank, since he had a little time on his hands. When he stepped out to do so, he looked over the thing for a moment with satisfaction. It hadn't looked this clean in months.

He then pulled out of the station and made the drive to Inez's apartment building further into the city. Once there, he parked his car along the curb and made his way inside, eventually reaching the correct door to the apartment he had visited so many times before. He rapped on the door and stood with his hands in his pockets.

"Coming!" Inez called from inside. Moments later she reached the door and poked her head out, smiling when she saw who had knocked. "Hey, Matt! Just a second," she greeted before turning her head back. "I'm leaving now, abuela! I'll be back soon!" With that, she stepped out into the hallway and locked the door behind her, allowing Matt to get a better look at her outfit - a summery sundress covered only by her jacket, while showing a decent amount of leg. Nothing wrong with that as far as Matt was concerned.

"Your abuela, huh?" he asked as he met her eyes.

"Yeah, she's been with us more and more frequently as of late," Inez explained as they walked down the hallway towards the front entrance.

"She doing okay?" Matt wondered.

"Not too great, actually," Inez replied with a slight frown. "Her health has slowly been getting worse the past couple years. She hasn't been able to do as much on her own. Unless my parents offer for her to stay with us, she's gonna need some sort of assisted living in the near future."

"Man, that sucks for her," Matt replied sadly. He had met Maria a few times, and he knew she was a very nice lady. "Think she might be able to get any better?"

"No, not really," Inez denied, shaking her head as they reached the door, which Matt held open for her. She thanked him briefly before getting back to her answer. "Once you start down that road, there's really no going back, it seems. At least her mind is still sharp though."

"Well that's good, at least," Matt said, unlocking the truck. "Oh hey, see I finally got around to washing this old rustbucket?"

Inez looked and noticed that Matt was indeed correct. "Hey, yeah, you did - Wanted to get it cleaned up for the occasion, huh?" she joked.

"Well, it needed it pretty badly," Matt remarked as he began driving off. "This thing has done a lot for us. I should really do that more often."

The two continued to make harmless chit chat until they reached the restaurant. Once they were inside the doors, a perky waitress greeted them almost immediately and led them to a booth next to a window. They were given their drinks and had their orders taken before they were finally left alone once more.

"So why DID you want to go out tonight, Matt?" Inez asked, stirring her soda with her straw. "And why not bring Jackie along too?"

Matt stiffened up a bit. He hadn't been expecting the question, and he wasn't ready to fully admit everything yet. "Oh, um, no real reason…" he said, coughing and tugging at his shirt collar a bit. "I just know you and Jackie go and do stuff together a lot, and I thought it was about time just the two of us did something together." That sounds plausible, right? Nothing unusual about two friends going out to dinner, even if one's a boy and the other's a girl.

"Well it was a nice idea," Inez said, glancing around the inside of the restaurant, honestly a little disappointed he hadn't told her he wanted to go out with her, but she decided not to dwell on it. "I'm surprised it's not more busy here. I've heard a few people talk about it."

"Eh, maybe it's because it's Sunday night and people have work and school tomorrow," Matt said with a shrug. "I'm glad it worked out. Hardly any other people here at all."

Inez glanced out the window and across the street. "Doesn't look like you can say the same for that place," Inez remarked.

Matt looked over to the building Inez was talking about. It was a little blue and red building with a sign reading "Sugar Bowl" over the top of it. "Oh yeah, I've been there a few times. You've never been?"

"Nah. It's always pretty busy, and I never got around to it."

"It's a pretty good place, from what I remember. A lot of people from school seem to go there."

"Anyone we know?"

"Not really, but I recognized some of them… I know I've seen that Muffy Crosswire girl there. The one whose dad has that car dealership and lives in that mansion uptown?"

Inez frowned upon hearing the girl's name. "Yeah, I know who she is. I have to tell you, I don't like her very much. She's a bit of a you-know-what."

"Seems a bit harsh," Matt replied, scratching nervously at his neck. "She's not THAT bad, is she?"

"Well, I mean, I guess she's at least tolerable for the most part. I just hate how she flaunts how rich she is. I mean, it's not like she's the one that earned it, right?"

Matt shrugged. "Well, what can you do, you know?"

It was then that the waitress returned with their bowls of stir fry noodles, and they quickly realized they had made a good choice coming here after taking their first bites. They were about halfway through their bowls when Matt remembered why they had come here in the first place. Come on, Matt, just do it already. There's nothing to lose. You've wanted to for so long! Making up his mind, he swallowed and looked across the table. "So Inez… there actually was a bit of a reason for asking you here tonight."

Inez looked up from her bowl and met eyes with him. "What was it?" she asked hopefully.

"Well, you see, Inez… I… I wanted to tell you-" Unfortunately, Matt heard a beeping sound coming from his pocket. Rrgh!, he thought to himself. I was so close! He reached into his pocket and realized that the beeping was coming from his skwak pad, not his phone. "It's a call from Motherboard!" he informed Inez, causing her to jolt her attention to the screen of the device. Matt answered it and spoke, "Hey, Mother B. What's going on?"

"Cybermates - Come to the Northern Frontier. A strange device has been found there," Motherboard informed them.

Matt and Inez glanced up at each other. So Hacker was far from giving up, apparently. "We're on our way, Motherboard," Inez said. "We'll just head outside and go through a portal there." She looked back up at Matt and added, "Guess we'll have to call it quits here. Sorry about that, Matt."

"No big deal," Matt said as nonchalantly as possible, despite the significant disappointment he felt. "We gotta do what we gotta do. Let's go." They then stood up from the booth, left a tip, and quickly rushed to the counter to pay the check before high tailing it out of the restaurant and into the alley. There they had Motherboard open up the portal and they jumped in, curious to see what Hacker could possibly be up to now.

…

The two Cybersquad members had been largely unaware of the two girls sitting in the booth directly behind Inez, who had arrived not long before they came in. As a result, the girls' ears had caught bits and pieces of Matt and Inez's conversation, and they also noticed how soon they got up and sped out as if they suddenly had to get somewhere.

"Those two must have been in a hurry to leave," Becky remarked, returning to her bowl of noodles.

"They must have," Fern agreed, taking a sip of the hot tea she had gotten. "Did you hear the thing they said about Muffy Crosswire?"

"I don't think so," Becky answered. "But you're sitting closer to where they were than me."

"Well, I heard the girl say something about how she didn't like her, or how she flaunted her money."

"To be fair, she definitely doesn't try to hide the fact that her family is pretty well-off."

"I guess not, but she's really not so bad," Fern said in defense of the rich girl. "I've known her for quite a while. She was in my class in third grade. She may be a bit stuck up, but she's not a bad person. She just forgets what's really important sometimes."

"Are you friends?"

Fern shook her head slightly. "Not really. I mean, I've talked to her once in awhile and I wouldn't say she's ever been mean to me. Honestly, her friend Francine bothers me more, though she's better now than she used to be."

"Is she that one really sporty girl she hangs around with?"

Fern nodded, placing her chin in her hand. "M-hm. I honestly felt like she was kind of a bully in the past. She even picked on me a couple times and made me cry."

Becky frowned sadly. "Aw, I'm sorry…"

"It's okay, it was a long time ago and we made up, even if I still didn't love her after that."

"I just can't stand the thought of someone picking on you is all. Why on earth would anyone want to do that to you?"

"Are you kidding? Look at me. I'm quiet, unpopular, dorky - perfect fodder for bullies."

"Well it wouldn't make picking on you any more okay… but still, if anyone ever makes you cry again, I'll be sure to tell them off. And I wouldn't bop them in the nose or anything, but I'm sure I'd want to."

Fern giggled, appreciating the sweetness in Becky's statement. No one had ever said anything like that to her before. "Well thanks, Becky. I appreciate it," she said, placing her hand back down on the table.

"It's nothing. I'd do it for any friend of mine," Becky replied, placing her own hand down and rapping her fingers. Of course, after doing this a couple times, she realized she was actually doing it on top of Fern's hand. She stopped sharply once she saw this, leaving her hand there as she locked eyed with the girl across from her. A strong wave of embarrassment hit her like a ton of bricks, and her face went red as she pulled it back. "Oh! I, um… sorry about that…"

"No, i-it's okay…" Fern replied, pulling her own hand back and tucking it away, her own face turning red to match Becky's. A very weird feeling had hit her when their eyes had met. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before. She barely knew how to describe it. All she could say was that she instantly felt more nervous and her pulse had picked up speed, as if her heart was going to beat out of her chest… and she was enjoying it for some reason. A million questions began racing around in her head. Is this what it feels like when… Could it be possible that… I don't really… No, I couldn't… Could I?

Becky had experienced the same thing, and felt just as confused about it as Fern did. Whoa… she thought to herself. I haven't felt anything like this ever since the time I really liked Scoops… Oh god. Is this really happening? She was the first one to realize how long the two of them had been silent, and she decided she needed to work up the nerve to say something, anything. "So, um… thanks for meeting up to study with me today," she finally spoke up.

Fern was pulled out of her own stupor as Becky spoke. "Oh, uh, well, thank you for suggesting it… It was nice to study with someone else for once." She glanced to the edge of the table and noticed the check sitting there in its little black tray. She began to move her hand towards it to grab it. "Here, why don't we figure out the check…"

Becky reached for the receipt herself once she saw Fern going to grab it. Their hands brushed against each other again momentarily, and both girls mentally panicked once more. Neither could believe the feelings they were having at that moment, and neither was aware that the other was acting the same as themselves as a result. "No no, here, let me pay for it," Becky spoke up, moving to the edge of her seat to stand up, placing a couple bills on the table for the waitress to pick up.

"What? Oh Becky, you don't have to pay for it," Fern said, moving to stand up herself. She was almost surprised she managed to do so, as her legs were beginning to feel like jelly.

"It's okay, Fern," Becky assured as they began moving forward. "I'm the one who offered for us to come here. It'll be my treat, don't worry about it."

"Well gosh, t-thank you…" Fern said, absentmindedly fiddling with the bow on her head. "That's really nice of you."

Becky told Fern once more that it was no trouble before paying the girl at the counter and walking outside. They had walked there from each of their houses, so they both began the trip back to their respective houses together. Nighttime was beginning to settle in, a few stars showing up in the dark sky, which turned pink as it reached the horizon near where the sun had set.

After a few blocks, Becky finally broke the silence that had set in between them. "Well, this is where I need to break off," she said, pointing down the street that led to her house. "I had a nice time, Fern. We should do this again."

Fern smiled a little and nodded. "Yeah, we should. I had a nice time too, even if a lot of it was spent doing math…"

Becky giggled. "Well, being with you makes it a lot more enjoyable."

Fern blushed and looked down at her feet as her smile grew. "I feel the same way with you…"

Becky smiled in return and stepped closer to wrap Fern in a small hug. "Thanks, Fern. I appreciate it."

Fern hugged Becky back for a couple seconds before they finally broke their embrace. They simply looked at each other for a couple seconds, after which Becky began turning around. "I'll see you in class tomorrow, okay?"

"...Okay," Fern replied, turning to where she needed to go as well. "See you, Becky."

On that note, both girls began the last stretch of each of their walks home. Neither one could believe what they had just experienced. In Fern's case, she had always wanted to have that feeling before, but she never thought she would feel it in relation to another girl. And as for Becky, she hadn't felt such a feeling in a long time, and it had been long enough since she'd felt it last that it may as well have been new to her, especially considering it was with a girl this time. Both their messy, complicated strings of thoughts could really be summed up in one much simpler one:

Oh my god. Am I getting a crush on a girl?!

…

While Becky and Fern were dealing with their newfound feelings for each other, Matt and Inez and arrived at the Northern Frontier where Jackie and Digit were waiting for them.

"Hey guys," Matt greeted after hopping out of the portal with Inez. "So what's the deal?"

"I would tell you if I knew for sure, Earthlies, but I don't have much of an idea," Digit spoke, pointing his wing. "Take a look."

Matt and Inez turned their heads too see the massive statue of Hacker, stood a bit of a distance away from the shelter.

"Whoa! Hacker hasn't built a statue that big in awhile," Inez remarked in surprise, having to crane her neck a bit to see towards the top of it.

"I know, right? That's what I thought when I saw it," Jackie concurred. "I wonder what he's using this one for."

"That's what we're here to try and find out," Digit spoke, adjusting his cap.

"Hmm… Looks to me like it's about the size of the Grim Wreaker," Matt observed, looking back and forth between the statue and the shelter.

"You think so? It's so hard to tell when there's nothing to compare it to," Jackie replied.

"There's the shelter over there," Matt pointed out.

"Let's check it out," Inez suggested, turning to look down at their feathered teammate. "Digit, do you have any tape measure?"

"I do believe I do," Digit replied, rooting around in his chest compartment before finding pulling out a roll of tape measure. "Ta-da! Here ya go," he exclaimed, presenting it in his outstretched wing.

"Thanks, Didge," Inez said. She grabbed it, pulled it out a bit, took the tip of it, and placed it on the ground against the statue. "Now go ahead and fly up to the top and see how tall it is."

"Righto!" Digit nodded, taking back the body of the measuring tape and flying up to the top, Inez keeping her finger on it at the bottom to hold it steady. Once Digit read off the height, they then made the short walk to the shelter and repeated the process. The new measurement was only a couple feet off from the statue, but it was close.

"So they ARE about the same size," Jackie remarked, pacing around a bit. "You guys think that has anything to do with anything?"

"Maybe?..." Inez supposed, scratching her chin in thought. She pulled off her glasses and cleaned them before giving the statue another look. "You know… it kind of reminds me of those statues Hacker placed on all those different Cybersites that time, so he could use portals to get to and from each one more quickly."

"You think this is another one of those?" Matt wondered, giving it another look himself. "It DOES look pretty similar."

"But if it DOES make portals, then where does this one go?" Digit asked. "The Wreaker isn't here, so I'm guessing they've used it and gone somewhere else, if that's the case."

"I'm not sure, Didge," Jackie answered, shaking her head. "And I don't really see any way we could find out."

"I think the best thing to do is wait a bit. I mean, Hacker has to come back eventually, right? Once he does, we can come back and do a little snooping around. Maybe we'll overhear something that tells us what this is all about," Inez explained.

"Sounds alright to me. I don't have any better ideas," Matt said with a shrug.

"Well thanks for trying anyway, Eartlies," Digit said gratefully. "We'll keep an eye on them up at Control Central, and we'll call you when Hacker comes back, or if we find out anything else."

"Great. Thanks, Didge. We'll keep in touch," Matt said before calling Motherboard to summon a portal for him and Inez to get back where they were, while Jackie got her own. They all hopped through them and waved goodbye to their friend, and Digit was alone once more. He stepped over to the side of the shelter where he had left his vehicle that he'd used to get there. Ugh, that Hacker, he thought to himself as he began taking off. Always making us guess what he could possibly be up to. If he's already tried this before with a whole bunch of statues, what good could do to only have one?

…

After they arrived back on Earth, Matt drove Inez back home and they said their goodbyes for the night. They had both enjoyed the outing, even if it had been cut short, and it hadn't happened quite the way they'd wanted it to. Matt was kicking himself on the drive home for not having the guts to come out with it sooner, but he eventually let it go. He would just try again another time, he decided. At least they had gotten an update on Hacker, if nothing else.

The next day went alright for everybody, despite it being a Monday and no one being thrilled to be back at school. Fern had taken to sitting with Becky and her friends at lunch now, and had brought along her friend George that day to introduce him to Becky. He had liked her, and it didn't take long for him to realize why she and Fern got along as well as they did. Becky liked George as well, and she insisted on seeing him do some ventriloquism sometime after he mentioned it was a hobby of his.

Despite lunch being as pleasant as it was, though, Becky and Fern were both aware of a weird feeling hanging between the two of them, though neither was aware that the other felt it as well. They wanted to talk about what they were feeling, but neither wanted to risk ruining their quickly strengthening friendship. However, they both wished to talk to someone about these new feelings, and each decided to try and find the time to talk to their friends at some point, as soon as they could work up the nerve to do so.

Becky had unfortunately been forced to take off in the middle of that lunch break to go fight Tobey McCallister, who had also decided to use his own lunch break to unleash a new batch of robots upon the city. She put a stop to it though, and the rest of the day went by with little to speak of.

On the contrary, this was not the case for Hacker that day. After spending the morning keeping an eye on the city with Buzz and Delete's assistance, his attention was quickly drawn to the sight of a commotion taking place downtown. It appeared that a handful of robots the size of buildings were rampaging through the streets. Hacker chuckled upon seeing such glorious chaos, and was pleased to see that there were apparently Earthlings that enjoyed causing it as well. He made a mental note of the boy perched atop the shoulders of one of the robots, who appeared to be the one controlling them.

What truly surprised Hacker, though, was seeing a red streak zooming by, only to come to a stop right in front of the boy. Once it did, Hacker was able to get a good look and realize it appeared to be a human girl in a red and yellow superhero outfit, who looked about as old as the three Earthlings he knew of.

"Whoa! Boss! That girl was flying!" Delete cried in shock. "I didn't know Earthlings could fly!"

"Let's not jump to conclusions now," Hacker said, holding up a finger to his lips, gesturing for the robot to keep quiet. "Motherboard's little nuisances can't fly. I think we're missing a piece of the puzzle. Just be quiet and watch for now."

They all continued to observe the two teenagers have a brief battle. As they did so, Hacker quickly discovered that the girl also possessed other superpowers consisting of super strength, super speed… and a vast knowledge of vocabulary, of all things.

Once the battle was finally over and the girl had taken off in a blur, Hacker had a deeply set grimace on his face. He should have figured it wouldn't be so easy to fly in and take over, and he was glad he had chosen to avoid doing so too quickly. This girl was definitely a superhero, without a doubt, and she posed a serious threat to his plans.

He stood up silently and slowly trudged to the back of the cockpit where he paused, facing away from his minions and holding his arms behind his back. He appeared to be deep in thought, and Buzz and Delete silently waited for him to do or say something.

After several moments of utter silence, Hacker finally spoke up in a low tone. "It appears that we have an unexpected road bump to hurdle, you two… I'd even be willing to say that she's more of a threat than Motherboard's kids. Not that we won't deal with them once we find them, of course. I've underestimated them too many times before, and they need to be eliminated if I'm going to succeed. But now we have another bug to squash…"

He went silent again before turning back around to face the robots, his cape swirling about as he did so. "Buzz, Delete, I need you to find out everything you can about this girl, and relate it back to me. Go into town in disguise if you have to. I want to know all I can possibly know about her if I want to have any chance of getting rid of her efficiently. While you do that, I'm going to begin attempting to track her down, and I won't rest until I manage to do so. After all, if she's anything like other superheroes… then we know she has to have a secret identity."