Chapter 12: Aboard the Wreaker

Hacker had woken up not long before his ship was being infiltrated, figuring he would need an early start considering everything he had planned. He was seated in front of the mirror in his bathroom while wearing his nightshirt, getting himself prepped. He wanted to look his best for such a special occasion as taking over the world, after all.

As he covered his face in exfoliating cream, he ran through the main aspects of his plan once more: First he would call Control Central again and ask if WordGirl and the Cybersquad had made their decision. If they agreed, he would let Fern go and take them and the encryptor ship in return. If they denied, he would go through with the invasion and kill her off when he got the chance. He hoped they would pick the former option, of course. This way they would all be out of the way sooner rather than later. On the other hand, he did have a backup plan if they failed to take his offer. He planned to let Fern live as he attacked the city and once again extend WordGirl the opportunity to surrender at any time until he was confident he had Earth in his grasp, thereby still increasing his chances of not having to deal with her as he carried on with his mission.

He also allowed himself to daydream a bit, fantasizing about all he would do after the fact. He could picture it now - massive, glorious statues of himself dotted all around the globe, his face carved into mountains and painted on walls in each and every country, the entire population serving him either directly or indirectly, and best of all, those pesky brats finally off his back for good. He even chuckled as he thought about WordGirl's plight. Whichever option she ended up choosing, her girlfriend wouldn't end up in a positive situation. She would either be killed if they stood their ground, or become one of his many slaves if they surrendered. A tiny part of him almost felt sorry for her, but he didn't care. He would do it a thousand times over again if that's what it took to accomplish his goals.

As he was getting ready to wipe the cream from his face and begin gelling his wig up, Buzz burst into the room unexpectedly. Hacker let out a startled shout, sharply turning his head and glaring at the shorter of his two minions.

"Boss! Boss! I need to tell you somethin'!"

"Buzz! Can't you see I'm busy, you thick-headed numskull?"

"But it's important! I just checked the cell, and that girl's gone!"

Hacker's face remained unmoving for several seconds as he was informed of this. He then closed his eyes and forced a toothy smile. "I'm awfully sorry… but… could you be so kind as to repeat that? My ears must be mistaken."

"Um… no, I think you heard right, boss. The girl isn't there anymore," Buzz repeated, furrowing his brow.

Hacker chuckled and stood up from his seat and began walking towards Buzz, taking slow and deliberate steps. "I see… Any other bit of news you'd care to share with me, hmm?"

"Well, I… I was also gonna say I haven't seen Delete anywhere either. He wasn't in his bed asleep where he usually is in the morning, he wasn't guarding the cell door, and I couldn't find him anywhere," Buzz added hesitantly.

"M-hm, m-hm…" Hacker replied with a few quick nods, holding his hands together in front of his face and twiddling his fingers, taking deep and slightly shaky breaths. "...Well, Buzzy my friend, it appears we're certainly in a bit of a pickle, aren't we?"

"Uh, y-yeah… I guess so…" Buzz responded, scratching his head. Hacker was reacting much more calmly than he had expected him to. "What should we do?..."

"Well, I'll tell you," Hacker said, crouching down closer to eye level with Buzz. "YOU are going to search every nook and cranny of this ship, just in case they happen to be here somewhere. If you find either of those two, I want you to take them to me… SO I CAN WRING THEIR SCRAWNY LITTLE NECKS!" he hollered straight into Buzz's face, suddenly fuming beyond belief.

Buzz stumbled backwards, taken by complete surprise by the outburst. "But, but wait, boss! Delete?! Why?!"

"Isn't it obvious, you bucket of bolts?! The girl escapes, and suddenly Delete isn't here?! You do the math! He must have helped her escape! He's a traitor! And don't even THINK about resting until you're absolutely certain they're not on this ship! Although I must admit, my hopes of you finding them on here are unfortunately quite low. If I had to guess, it seems more likely that they've escaped to try and meet up with the Cybersquad. I believe they're probably going to try and fight back."

"Well… can't we just find another hostage, boss?" Buzz suggested. "We can find one of WordGirl's family members and use THEM to threaten her with, right?"

Hacker shook his head. "As much as that would theoretically work, I unfortunately don't think WordGirl is that stupid. She's probably already taken them somewhere we won't find them. I see no point in trying to sniff them out, wherever they might be."

Buzz was at a loss for words. Not only was Hacker's plan in serious jeopardy, he wanted him to find Delete and bring him back so Hacker could eliminate him, someone Buzz had always considered a brother to him. Even if he was a traitor, the idea of him basically being executed for it was almost too much to bare… but he knew he couldn't disobey Hacker's orders.

There was a long silence before Buzz spoke again. "So… What ARE you going to do, boss? You're not just going to give up, are you?"

"Hardly. I've spent too long on this operation to simply give up now. It looks as if we might just have to fight WordGirl the old-fashioned way and hopefully wear her out. I'm not surrendering just yet, Buzz. If I have to fight tooth and nail to earn my place at the throne, ruling over the Earth, then so be it. Now go away. I need to look absolutely dazzling for today."

Buzz obeyed, quietly stepping back into the hallway and closing the bathroom door behind him.

Hacker glared bitterly as his reflection as he returned to what Buzz had interrupted him in the middle of, and began wiping his green face clean. "I hope you're ready for a fight, you little brats," he mumbled to himself under his breath, "because I'll be unleashing unrelenting war on you yet. When I'm done with you, you'll be wishing more than ever that you never got in my way in the first place."

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the Wreaker, everyone had now climbed inside through the hatch in the roof and were walking through one of many of its dimly lit metal hallways filled with blinking lights. They were all huddled close together as they walked, keeping their eyes peeled for potential danger in all directions.

"Delete, are you sure you don't have any idea where the battery might be?" Jackie asked in a low tone. "The Wreaker is so big, and there are so many places to look that it could take forever to find it."

"Hmm…" Delete put on his thinking cap, racking his brain for any place where the battery might be. "I guess we could try the boiler room. A lot of the parts that keep the ship running are in there. It's pretty far down though, near the bottom."

Inez sighed. "I guess it's a start. It'll have to do."

"You don't think we'll get lost, do you?" Fern asked concernedly.

"Pssh, no way," Delete huffed. "I know this thing in and out."

"Not enough to know where the battery is, apparently," Digit grumbled under his breath.

"I heard that!" Delete protested, glaring back at Digit. "Nobody's perfect, you know!"

"You got that right," Digit retorted.

"Come on, guys, quit bickering," Inez scolded. "Fighting isn't going to help us find the battery."

Digit grunted and sighed. "You're right… Sorry, Nezzie."

Inez shook her head. "Don't worry about it, Didge… and when are you people going to quit calling me Nezzie?!" she snapped.

"Right, right, sorry. Let's just go already."

"Amen. Lead the way, Delete," Jackie instructed.

Delete obliged, and he began leading everyone towards the nearest staircase. Matt and Jackie followed directly behind him, followed by Fern and Inez, and lastly Digit brought up the rear, periodically glancing behind them.

"'Nezzie,' huh?" Fern asked Inez.

Inez sighed. "Yeah, I've been stuck with that nickname for a long time. Matt's actually the one who started it, and I guess it clicked."

Fern chuckled. "Don't worry about it, I think it's cute. If it makes you feel better, my parents are always calling me Fernie."

Jackie chuckled and looked back at them. "Maybe WE should start calling you that. That way Inez won't be totally alone anymore in having a nickname she doesn't want."

Fern blushed and looked down as they reached the stairs. "Oh! Well, I, um… never mind. I take it back. Forget I said anything."

"Aw, no need to be shy, Fernie. We're just teasing you. We're all friends here," Matt assured, slipping in the nickname without a moment's hesitation.

"Oh Matt, quit it. She's been through enough," Inez chided.

"No, it's okay," Fern assured. "I don't want to seem oversensitive or anything… I just… really hate feeling like I'm being picked on is all… I haven't dealt with that feeling well in the past…"

The rest all shared concerned glances before looking back at Fern as the reached the bottom of the flight of stairs and Delete began leading them to the next one. "Oh… We're sorry, Fern. We don't do it again if you feel that strongly about it." Matt apologized, his instincts telling him he didn't like how Fern had said that.

Fern shook her head. "No, really, it's not a big deal or anything. Maybe I could use it. I should grow a bit more of a backbone anyway… So tell me about this encryptor chip thing. Why did Hacker want it?" she asked, figuring some more chatting would help kill time while Delete searched.

Jackie spoke up, grateful for the change in topic. "Do you want the long version or the short version?"

"The short version, I guess," Fern replied as they reached more stairs.

"Well a few years back, Hacker infected Motherboard with a virus which kept her from functioning properly. The encryptor chip is what was needed to cure her, but it took forever for us to find."

"And whenever we DID manage to find it, we would always end up losing it again. That or one of these bozos would always steal it," Matt interjected, pointing towards Delete.

"Yeah… sorry about that," Delete apologized.

Matt shrugged. "But anyway, one time we did finally manage to get the chip. We brought it back to Control Central and put it in, but it turns out it had been tampered with. Hacker actually used it to get into Motherboard's system and override her. For a while there, we were really worried she'd be gone for good. Thank god Dr. Marbles was there to help."

"Dr. Marbles?" Fern repeated, puzzled as they reached the next floor.

"He's a friend of ours from Cyberspace who also works for Motherboard," Inez explained. "He was able to override the chip and bring Motherboard back, but it was destroyed in the process."

"So how do you have it now?"

"Well, some time after that, Marbles decided to try and recreate it from memory," Digit said, continuing the story. "I helped him out once in awhile, though I mostly just help these guys on their missions against Hacker. And just recently he finally managed to do it! It took a lot of trial and error, but he recreated it and cured Motherboard!"

"Wow… No wonder Hacker wanted it," Fern remarked.

"Right? Thank goodness we don't have to worry about that now, though," Jackie said with relief as they approached yet another flight of steps. "Now that we have you back, Hacker doesn't have leverage against us anymore, so ha!"

"Hey, everyone," Delete spoke up from the front. "We're getting close to the boiler room now, and we can start looking for where the battery might be."

Everyone sighed in relief as they heard this. They had made it all the way through the ship without being heard or spotted.

Delete stopped at one of the doors in the dark hallway and turned its knob, revealing a rather ugly room, the centerpiece of which being a massive boiler. No doubt the Wreaker needed a big one, seeing how large it was.

"Alright, everyone - start looking!" Digit declared. "Who knows how much time we might have before Hacker takes off." With that, all six of them began scrambling around the room, trying to look for any sign of the battery. Fern was at a disadvantage here, as she had never seen one before, but the others described it for her as best as they could as they looked.

A few minutes after beginning their search, Matt and Fern were close by each other on one side of the room, while everyone else was towards the other side. As they stood and looked through all the different panels on the wall and contraptions in the middle of the room, Matt turned to Fern and said, "It's lucky Delete got you out of here before. Must've been nice getting to talk with Becky about how you feel about each other, huh?"

Fern nodded. "It was. I'd been waiting for days to tell her that."

Matt was silent a moment before speaking again. "Say… What Becky said to you… was that what you would have really wanted to hear her say? All that stuff about how much she cares about you and wants to keep you safe?"

"Of course," Fern replied earnestly. "Knowing she cares so much about my safety is one of the best things I've ever felt… Why do you ask?"

Matt brushed back a couple loose strands of red hair and wiped his forehead, partially because of how hot it was in that room, and partially because of being a bit nervous to admit what he was about to. "Well… I'll be honest with you. I've wanted to tell a girl I like her for a long time now. I'm kind of jealous of you and Becky and how soon after meeting you admitted your feelings to each other."

Fern perked up, her interest growing. "Who is it?" she questioned before glancing back over her shoulder. "Is it one of them?" she asked in a more hushed tone.

Matt sighed and nodded. "Inez. I've liked her a long time now, and I just want to tell her already. But I want to say the right thing, you know? So I just asked to figure out if what Becky said to you is like what I should say to Inez."

Fern nodded, totally getting where Matt was coming from. "Well…" she spoke up after a moment of deliberation, "I'd be lying if I said it isn't a nice idea to have planned something really romantic to say. But I think you also shouldn't overthink it. I think planning only helps so much. A lot of times it kind of has to be spontaneous, if that makes sense. But hey, I hardly wrote the book on relationships."

"No, I think I get what you mean," Matt assured. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Fern."

"You're welcome," Fern replied with a smile. "It's okay if you want to call me Fernie, though. I can handle it."

"Good to know," Matt said with a firm nod. He was definitely growing to like Fern. She almost reminded him of Inez a bit, what with how clearly intelligent and thoughtful she was. He could see why Becky liked her.

Everyone continued searching a while longer, until they were interrupted by the sound of someone shushing them. They all stopped what they were doing and realized the shushing had come from Delete. "Everybody, be quiet and listen!" he ordered in nearly a whisper.

They all did as he asked and listened carefully, soon picking up on what sounded like footsteps and someone calling, "Deedee! Deedee! You here? Where are ya?"

Delete gasped. "Oh no! It's Buzzy! Quick, everyone, get into the closet!" he instructed, pointing towards a small broom closet in the corner of the room.

Everyone jumped up and quietly ran over to it, looking inside. "But it's so tiny! We'll barely fit!" Jackie fretted, glancing back. The footsteps were definitely getting louder.

"No time to worry about that! Get in!" Inez cried. They all squeezed in as best as they could save for Delete, feeling like a tightly packed can of sardines.

"Stay right there! I'll open it up when it's safe!" Delete promised, shutting the door behind them and turning around just in time to see Buzz enter the room.

"Deedee! There you are!" Buzz greeted, relieved to see his fellow robot henchman. "What're you doing down here? I've been looking everywhere for ya!"

"Oh! Well, I, um… I thought I heard a weird noise down here, so I went to check it out, but I guess my ears were playing tricks on me, hehehe…" Delete lied nervously.

"Yeah, well we've got problems. The girl escaped from her cell, and the boss thinks you helped her!"

"What? Pfff, no way!" Delete denied, shaking his head and grinding the ball of his foot against the floor with his arms behind his back. "I'd never do that!"

"Oh. Well that's good to hear," Buzz replied with a relieved smile. "The boss will be glad to hear that. But she still escaped under your watch, so he won't be THAT happy."

"Uh, y-yeah, I guess not…"

Inside the dark closet, the kids and Digit were all doing their best to remain quiet and not be detected by Buzz. "Ugh, it's so dusty and gross in here!" Jackie whined. "Ew, ew, and double ew!"

"Oh Jacks, it's not that bad," Matt argued, squirming against the wall, trying to make more room.

"Well, I can barely breathe!" Fern complained, coughing through the clouds of dust, hanging thick in the musty air.

Suddenly Digit gasped and moaned, "Uh-oh…"

"What is it, Didge?" Inez asked with slight dread.

"I just realized where the booster battery might be…"

"Where's that?" Matt asked.

"Under a panel on the outside of the ship… That's where it is on mine…"

Everyone emitted sounds of despair. "Fantastic! Delete led us inside when we maybe didn't even have to be here in the first place! He probably misled us on purpose, that little weasel!" Jackie accused.

"Come on, Jackie, don't be so hard on him," Fern protested. "I'm sure he just forgot."

"Yeah, well I…" Jackie began, but she soon lost her balance and fell against the closet door, causing the others to lose their own balance as well.

Back outside the closet, Delete had finished telling Buzz his excuse for not being at his post. "Well come on then, let's go!" Buzz ordered, motioning for Delete to follow. "We've got work to do!"

"Okay, just a minute. I-I have to do something. I'll be with ya in a minute…" Delete replied. Before he could continue, though, the closet door burst open and its occupants spilled out onto the floor in a heap, bringing a mop and broom with them. Delete saw this go down and turned back towards Buzz, who was now staring in wide-eyed shock, his jaw slack. He giggled nervously and said shakily, "Oh, um… oh my! Would ya look at that, Buzzy! She was with the Cybersquad down here this entire time!... Hehehe… he…"

Buzz simply looked up at Delete and glared at him as the kids and Digit got to their feet. "You WERE helping them! I should have known from how weird you've been acting recently! I can't believe you, Deedee!"

"But.. but Buzzy, I… I couldn't… I couldn't just, I…" Delete stammered. Buzz had never been so mad at him before.

"Shut it! You DID help her escape! You were probably planning an ambush or something!"

"But! But!... But Buzzy!" Delete pleaded, his eyes beginning to well up.

"I don't want to hear it! I'm going to get the boss!" Buzz declared through his anger, turning back towards the door.

"No! No, Buzzy! Please!" Delete pleaded, running after him, with the kids and Digit following suit in a panic to reach the door. Digit flew ahead of Delete and was almost able to reach it, but Buzz slammed the door behind himself and locked it, and Digit's wing got slammed into it in the process.

"YEEOUCH!" Digit hollered, falling to the floor in agony and holding his injured wing.

"DIGIT!" the kids cried. Everyone knelt down next to him.

"Didge, buddy! Are you alright?" Matt asked, picking him up and examining his wing.

"Y-yeah… I'm fi-OUCH!" Digit cried as Matt lightly brushed his hand along his wing.

"Oops! Sorry," Matt apologized.

"Oh Digit, we're so sorry!" Inez apologized.

"It's okay, Eartlies. It's not your fault," Digit insisted. "I was just trying to stop the door."

Fern gasped and stood up. "The door! I heard Buzz lock it!" She turned and ran back towards it, desperately turning and pulling on the knob with all her might, but to no avail. "Oh god! Oh god! We're trapped! No, this can't be happening again! Please!" She banged on the door and wailed through the keyhole as she began sobbing, "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP US! LET US OUT!" She began hyperventilating through her tears, tugging on the knob again. "BECKY! BECKY, HELP ME!"

Matt and Delete stood up and pulled Fern away from the door as Jackie and Inez stayed with Digit, watching Fern with sympathetic pity. "FERN! GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF!" Matt shouted. "Everything is going to be fine! You'll be okay! We made a promise that we wouldn't let Hacker get you again, and we're gonna keep it!"

So there they all remained, not knowing for certain what would happen to them. Inez looked around at the awful scene before her. Digit was hurt, Fern was in a complete panic, Delete had been found out as a traitor by his best friend, and they were all locked in a boiler room with no escape apparent to them. She bit her lip put her hand to her forehead. "This is not good… This is not good at all…"