The cybersquad sat in silence, staring at Matt like he said he was going away.

"What?" Inez said.

"Last night I was playing around with the old SWKAK pak and my laptop screen started glowing. Dr. Marbles was calling for help." He continued.

"Why were you messing around with the SWKAK pak first of all?" Slyder grimaced.

"I've been doing that for a while actually...see I could get a signal."

"And if you did get in contact with anyone from Cyberspace, you were going to keep it a secret?" Inez said. Jackie stepped in as she saw a hurt look in Inez's eyes.

"Guys calm down. Matt, continue" Jackie insisted.

Matt breathed, trying to remember what he saw. "It was a wreck...the whole place. Floating debris and lightning everywhere...The control center was practically in ruins. But I ran into Dr. Marbles and he took me to a hideout. He seemed like he was running...from the Hacker."

"Wait a second, Hacker is-"

"I know. Dead. Not exactly Slyder." Matt continued as Jackie's brows furrowed.

"Are you saying that Hacker faked his death?" Inez emphasized.

"Yeah, pretty much." Matt grimaced. "He set everyone up; and I'm betting he was planning to blackmail Motherboard."

"How could he? When Mother B pretty much controlled everything?" Slyder asked.

"Not anymore." Matt told them. And that pretty much said it all. The atmosphere around the cybersquad sunk to bitter sadness, as they knew Motherboard was lost, and that there was nothing they could do to prevent it.

"Dr. Marbles wanted to give Slyder this." As Matt reached into the brown duffel and take out the floppy disk. He noticed a crack; feeling a sinking guilt. Slyder saw it as well and took it to examine it.

"I'm sorry...Max must've cracked it when he shoved past me." He inwardly kicked himself for being so careless.

"I could probably repair it. It's going to take a couple weeks though." Slyder nodded lifting up the floppy.

"That's not all." Matt opened the duffel bag completely to reveal the new watches he brought back. The squad's eyes gleamed with a sudden, nostalgic determination as they seemed to know exactly what they were. One by one they reached for a cyan tech watch and it automatically strapped to their wrist.

"SWKAK...watches?" Inez named. Matt shrugged.

"They do seem new...do you know what they do yet Matt?" Jackie asked.

Matt shook his head, "Not exactly. We should test them out afterschool." He turned to Inez, "Your house?"

Inez swallowed, taking some amount of time to think. She wasn't exactly sure if her room was clean, and so forth...

"Inezzz", Jackie called, shaking her out of a daydream. Inez flinched and nervously shifted her feet.

"Sure. It's fine." She said tight-lipped. Matt knew something was eating at her. But before he could speak up, the bell rang and students started swarming out of the classrooms to around the school. Though, the hallway they sat at was always bare. The squad sat there a few moments longer before Slyder left first following Jackie. Inez and Matt both stood up and walked side-by-side to class; knowing that things can get a little bit awkward again and that it'll become a normal routine soon enough.

/

By the end of day, Matt knew something definitely wrong with Inez. She refused to answer anymore questions after messing up an on-board exercise. Matt didn't know how to really start a talk with her, but went ahead and asked what was wrong as they worked together on the English assignment.

"So Inez, wanna tell me what it is?" He asked as he started on the short essay. He could feel Inez looking as she watched him write. She closed her eyes tightly, a twinge of guilt and nervousness tied all together.

"What's what?" She said. Matt stopped writing glancing at her. She flinched.

"You think I wouldn't notice you being off? You're practically sweating. You had to ask the teachers to repeat every other question or phrase. And oh, you've been scribbling all over your notes." Matt listed raising a red brow.

Inez scoffed after seeing her doodles all over her notes, "I'm not perfect."

"Yeah, but almost." He murmured lowly under his breath.

"What?" Inez raised a brow not catching Matt's murmuring. He averted his eyes back to the essay nearly done.

"Nothin 'Nez. Just relax." Matt encouraged as he wrapped up his last sentence and handed it to the English teacher before the bell rang. He walked Inez to her locker, lingering for a few more minutes.

"Do you want me to tell Jacks' and Sly' that we should just meet at my house? We can order takeout." Matt offered. Inez shook her head at the thought of back-to-back takeout conflicting on her diet. She closed the locker and locked eyes with Matt.

"I'm fine, really Matt." She lied. "I'll see you later." Inez walked past, brushing into him. Matt's glance at Inez walking away lingered for a few more seconds as he headed to his locker, keeping an eye on Max and his goons as they stood in the distance watching him as well.

Matt never took eyes off of them until he was downstairs and getting on his bike. He took the more open trail and took ten more minutes to get to Inez place.

/

Matt arrived at her place at 3:50 PM, being the last one to come. Jackie and Slyder were just about done with their homework as Inez was already finished. Matt parked in the garage that Inez opened for him and opened the door to inside the house. Inez changed into house attire; with her hair now up. Matt averted his glanced to avoid blushing as he walked past her, sneaking a glance at her torso.

Matt walked in stripping off his jacket and placing his bag on the couch. Jackie and Slyder handed notes and homework to him as he diligently but cleverly copied most of the homework. Sure, cheating was bad, but they were all smart, and besides; they had different priorities and homework was the least. He returned the books and the squad sat in a square.

"So?" Matt started. "Where should we start?"