Chapter Seven. It's a little long but there was a lot in there. Footnotes are there just like before. enjoy.

I don't own Cyberchase. Max is mine.

Chapter Seven
Return of a Demon

Three weeks had passed since Hacker's banishment. Since that time, Control Central had turned into a relatively quiet domain; all because Mathias Marbles dropped into a depressive slump. A slump which concerned Max, Digit, and Motherboard, but they could understand why.

All Mathias' life, he had been taught to only make things that would make life in Cyberspace better for the citizens there. Mathias had devoted his life only to protecting and caring for Motherboard and for one of his creations to try to destroy her, he didn't know how useful he was anymore.

While Max felt relieved that Hacker was now gone and she didn't have to yell and scream at him to stay away from her, she was sad for her father who had created the monster and had refrained from telling her father "I told you so" because she knew this situation was not the least bit funny. Her father was depressed. Sentient life was a difficult thing to control because of the free-will program installed in everyone's hard drive. Mathias knew the risks when he created Max and Hacker. He knew there was a chance one or both of his creations would rebel against their purposes – rebellion was a common occurrence in borgs, some borgs were accepting of their purposes and others wanted something other than what they were supposed to be.

"Look at it this way, Dad." Max said over dinner four nights after Hacker's betrayal and banishment. "Something good came out of Hacker's existence."

Mathias looked up at her. "Message error." he said.

Max pointed to the cyboid next to her. "Digit."

That got a smile out of her father. It was no secret Mathias liked Digit. The kookie, klutzy cyboid was easy to love because of his kindness and willing to help.

"You're observation has been confirmed, Max. But we must terminate this discussion for another time." Mathias said, his smile gone.

Max nodded. "Okay. Sorry for bringing it up, Dad." she said, returning to the pot roast Digit had prepared.

The conversation had been a little too soon to discuss to begin with. Then again, perhaps Mathias would never have been willing to discuss it.

While Mathias' behavior shook Max and Digit up, Motherboard's own reaction to Hacker's betrayal was even more disturbing. The all-seeing computer amped up security on her domain and no visitors were allowed to enter the control room without having a passkey on them to prove they were supposed to be there. Digit and the two borgs had to tell Motherboard where they were going to be at all times so a sudden burst of energy in a part of Control Central wouldn't freak Motherboard out. Thankfully, Max had a routine schedule she stuck to in the morning so even power fluctuations in the Holo-dome became expected.

Because Mathias was missing an extra hand in Motherboard's repairs, Max had to cut her training time in half and resorted to doing only two levels of two training exercises for twenty-minutes at a time so she would finish in time to help her father. Digit even jumped in to help which was wonderful because Digit could fit inside the most narrow of places.

Apart from their conversation at the dinner table, a request for a certain tool or part, and Mathias' request for more help, Mathias said little to nothing at all. Max loved her father but she hated the silence and she wished he would get over Hacker's betrayal. Yeah, it happened. So what? Mathias just didn't know how to deal with it knowing he had created something that almost destroyed Motherboard. She didn't want to seem insensitive about her father's feelings, but she couldn't help but feel Mathias had taken the betrayal a little too hard.

While Max was relieved Hacker was gone, she still wasn't sure if letting him go was really the best decision her father ever made. She couldn't help but think back to what Hacker said before his departure:

"Someday . . . somehow . . . I will return. And I'll take over all of Cyberspace. And when I do, you will pay. Especially you. I'll make you pay double for what you've done to me."

Normally Max didn't put much stock in threats. It was her experience that the most likely person to make a threat was usually the kind of person who was least likely to carry it out. Max usually saved her breath when it came to making threats, because she refused to make them if she wasn't going to carry them out.

Two weeks after Hacker's betrayal, Max received a message on her SQWACK Pad. She had been leaving the SQWACK out just in case anyone out in Cyberspace – including Master Pi or anyone on Shangri-La – needed her to come to the rescue. She heard the ring tone sound in her bedroom while she was taking a shower but couldn't get to it in time to find out who it was. She dried off, changed her clothes, and wandered back into her room only to find the screen flashing at her.

1 missed call. 1 message. Receive now? The SQWACK asked.

Max punched in "1" for yes and listened to the recorded voice message.

"Seven days."1

That was it. Two words. No name. No face. No number. Just a deep voice growling into the microphone.

Seven days.

Seven days 'til what?

For some reason, that message sent shivers down her spine. She didn't like how those two words sounded on her SQWACK and she definitely didn't like how they were said.

Max slipped the SQWACK into the back of her belt and left the room. She didn't know who said it and, quite frankly, she didn't care. She didn't bother asking her father, Digit, or Motherboard if they had received similar messages. But she did not know she should have heeded the message better. Because seven days after she received the message, she received a surprise visit from an unwanted visitor.

1

Max didn't know what woke her up. It couldn't have been Digit, because her dear little cyboid friend was resting easier beside her than ever since Hacker's betrayal. But Max's touchy sleep-mode suddenly ended and she couldn't help but think something bad was about to happen.

Max eased her arm out from underneath Digit – over the past few weeks, Max had started holding Digit closer to her while they slept and slowly easing him away night after night. So far, he slept without much of a problem but there had been occasions when he woke Max up at the slightest noise in the night. Tonight, he slept without making even the smallest noise and Max moved without waking him. She sat up and crossed her arms over her knees; listening intently to anything out of the ordinary. Other than the hum of the generators in the basement of Control Central, Max heard nothing. She barely even heard her father's faint snores in the room down the hall.

She sighed. Well, whatever it was, it's nothing to worry about now. she thought.

As she laid back she suddenly became aware of thirst and got up to get a drink of water from her private bathroom. She poured herself a glass, took a few long pulls, then returned to her room with the remainder.

"Max!"

Max's head came up. She had been so tired she hadn't even noticed someone else was in the room until Digit's voice grabbed her attention. A nightstand light clicked on, bathing the three of them in a warm, yellow light. Max's glass clattered to the floor, spilling water across the linoleum, when she saw Hacker standing by her bed; Digit held snug to his chest in what could only be described as a choke-hold, Hacker's other hand on the cyboid's head.

Hacker grinned at her. "Hello, Max."

"Hacker!" Max said with a snarl.

"Did you miss me?" he asked.

"Not even a little." she said.

His grinned slackened a little but not enough. It was still there, curving at the edges right above the long, pointy chin. "Aw. That hurt, Max. Is that any way to greet your big brother?"

"You're not my big brother. You weren't even supposed to be my brother. So don't even use that word." Max said.

He was garbed in a long, purple cape over a white shirt and black pants and boots. He appeared to have gained some weight which was by no means flattering on him. It gave his chest a funnel-like appearance and made his feet look even smaller. Hacker's cape swirled as he edged closer to Max. Max didn't have any of her tools on her, but she didn't really need them. She had also practiced weaponless sparring techniques in the Holo-dome. If she wanted to, she could wipe the floor with him using only the striking and grappling techniques.

Apparently Hacker knew what Max was thinking about and gave Digit's head a forceful tug which caused the cyboid to whimper.

"Don't even think about it. One false move, Max, and I'll break his neck. Don't think I won't." he said.

Max relaxed. She didn't have a good enough shot at Hacker anyway. She could go for the itty-bitty legs, but chances were Digit would be smothered under Hacker's considerable weight.

"What do you want, Hacker?" she asked.

"What do you think I want? I want to be ruler of Cyberspace and I would have been ruler of Cyberspace if you hadn't stopped me."

"That was a service I was happy to provide." Max said.

"I'm sure you were." Hacker said. "But you shouldn't have intervened. If you had just let it go, I probably would have spared you."

"Spared me from what?"

"From a lot of things. I have a lot of plans for you, Max. No, I'm not going to delete you. At least not yet. I have too much planned for you ahead of time. But by the time I'm through with you, you'll wish Marbles had never charged your batteries and activated you."

"I'm a Warrior of Shangri-La, Hacker. You want to go toe-to-toe with me, be prepared to take the pain."

"Which is precisely why I've targeted you now. You can't get to your weapons and you can't attack me without hurting your friend." For emphasis, he pulled at Digit's head, again and the cyboid hissed. "See?"

"I still don't understand what you want." Max said.

"I already told you that. I want to be Supreme Ruler of Cyberspace. But, since I can't have that yet, I'll settle on you. Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Which would you prefer?"

"I thought you weren't just going to target me. What happened to making my father pay?"

"Oh, I'm going to make him pay, too. If there's anything I understand at all about Dr. Mathias Marbles, it's that he values you over everyone else in Cyberspace – even over Motherboard. You mean a lot to him. So, I figure that if I take you, your father would have to live with the knowledge of never knowing if he would ever see you again – alive or dead. He would have to live out the rest of his warranty without you. For now, that is punishment enough for him."

"So what now? You have to know I won't willingly come with you."

"I've already thought of that. See Max, I was given the brain of a genius. I already possessed the ability to think ahead. I've spent these last few months studying you and Mathias. I know you care a lot about your father and you care a lot about this supercilious Cyber-turkey – for whatever reason. I knew that you wouldn't willingly come with me. I would need some leverage and you gave it to me.

"So, here's your choice: come with me now, silently, or I will kill this ridiculous-looking excuse for a chicken. If you continue to refuse, your father will be the next to go."

Max listened to Hacker's voice. Then, she suddenly thought about the "seven days" message.

"Wait. The message on my SQWACK . . . that was you, wasn't it?"

Hacker grinned. "You just now figured that out?"

"You've been planning this a long time, haven't you?"

"It's all I've thought about since you foiled my plan for complete domination."

"So, you're obsessive. I had no idea that was a quality Dad possessed, either."

"You're stalling, Max. And in doing so you're also wasting time for Digit to remain alive. So, which is it? Do you want me to kill him or are you going to come with me?"

Max stared at him. She knew he wasn't kidding. He would eliminate Digit and Mathias if he wanted to. He would take away everything Max ever cared about, and he would do it without hesitating.

"Which is it?" Hacker repeated.

"Max. Don't give in to him. Forget about me. I'm not worth it." Digit said, straining past Hacker's ever-tightening arm around his neck.

"He might not be worth it, but what about your father? Are you going to sacrifice him as well?" Hacker put in. "Well, are you?"

Another tug at Digit's head – this one harder than the last ones – made Max's mind up for her.

"Stop! Let him go! I'll come with you! Just leave my dad and my friend alone!" she said.

"Good girl. I was hoping you'd make the right choice." Hacker said, tossing Digit back on the bed. He pulled something out of his pocket. "Now, come here."

"What are you going to do?"

"You may have given yourself up to me, but I still don't trust you. You are a Warrior after all, the will to survive runs deep within you. Now, come here or say good-bye to your friend." Hacker said.

Max glared at him. "You're an asshole, you know that?" she said.

"Name calling is not going to make the situation any better." Hacker said. He leveled a rod at Digit who was still trembling on Max's covers. "One last time. Get over here."

Max approached, her bare feet gently scraping across the surface of the linoleum. She kept walking until he told her to stop. When he told her to turn around and kneel, she did as was instructed. Hacker pushed her head down and pressed the rod against her neck. Max gave a gasp, then collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"You monster! What did you do to her?" Digit asked.

Hacker transferred the rod back to his cloak and pulled out another one. "Don't worry your stupid little head about it. She's only in stand-by mode, nothing more. It's the same way it's going to go for you."

"For me? What do you mean?" Digit asked.

"I created you. Therefore, you belong to me and because you belong to me, I can do what I like with you. But, like your miserable little friend here, I can't trust you not to try to escape. So I'm going to temporarily immobilize you." Hacker said.

"After this, are you going to leave Control Central? Are you going to leave Motherboard and the doc unharmed?"

"For now." Hacker said.

Before Digit could come up with more excuses, Hacker thrust the rod at him and Digit collapsed in a heap on the blankets. Hacker placed the rod back in his cape and pulled out a length of rope and a sack with a drawstring tie. He stuffed Digit in the sack, then tied Max's hands in front of her body and hefted her to his back with her wrists at his throat. With Max riding piggy-back style and Digit in his hand, Hacker left Control Central; making a mental note to return very soon.

0

The next morning, Dr. Mathias Marbles awoke to something he was unprepared to find. He found Max and Digit both missing and he knew who had done the deed. Now, he wished he had never made that monster at all.

1"Seven days." - Samara in the Ring