Back on Earth, a slightly sleep-deprived Matt sat throughout the day staring at his laptop; ever blinking. He meant to sleep; wanting to get better and see Inez quickly.
But the more he watched these clips, the more he felt a bond with Cyberspace. The sympathy for some of the villains he use to loathe; and pain for those who suffered. He could remember the little droid that just yapping his mouth off. But he was no foe; just talkative. It felt good that there were still good civilians on there despite of Hacker's men out to kill him and the squad as well as the untrustworthy acquaintance Max.
But he could careless. He wanted to absorb more from these clips because he needed to know where his stepping-stones were in this game. But more importantly how he was going to play out his pieces.
Max clicked on the last video; clip037.
/
Matt stood face to face with the Hacker. He was no more than thirteen at the time; displaying the final battle between him and his foe. It was mere wrestling; as Hacker dominated Matt with the upper body strength, Matt was more clever by bringing out his basic skills of jiu-jitsu to pin the Hacker.
But overtime, it grew more intense and violent. The video kept skipping, but the more it went on, the more it showed the aggressive blows the two rivals gave. Soon they were wounded with scratches, blood, and bruises. Hacker, on the other hand, suffered mild glitches and shots aimed for his weak spots. Felix/Hacker stood on his knee glaring at the boy.
"You imbecile being." He growled. "You think you can get away trying to defeat me?" Hacker pressed a button as 13 year-old Matt began to jerk around, holding his head and groaning. While this occurred, Hacker took the time to place a foot on his chest and adjust the temperature of his body so it could heal quicker.
"Wakey wakey, little boy." Hacker gripped the unconscious Matt by the neck collar. He growled.
"I said, WAKE UP!" Hacker roared as the eyes of Matt flew open; revealing red pupils that starred directly at the villain as it overpowered his strength. Realizing the power of the mind control, Hacker quickly stood up and caught a breath.
"I order you to stay!" Hacker pointed. Matt stood still staring down at the ground. He had his hands clenched, but he didn't breathe at all.
"Good. This is working...this is working great." Hacker thought as he realized he dominated the earthlings for once with the ability to overpower Matt with mind control. He cackled and laughed with madness. He won; he has finally won.
With victory blinding him, he ordered the boy by whispering a few inaudible words as the video cut between scenes of the zombified boy tossing Hacker over the cliff. The video's last scene showed Matt staring at the camera man, approaching him with a hand out and cutting off the video with a violent static noise.
/
Matt gasped at this as he closed out the window and slammed his laptop shut.
So it was Hacker's fault. He did try to frame me after all. He did install a Trojan that made Motherboard evil and create destruction throughout Cyberspace. When the people were convinced by Hacker that Motherboard was a faulty program, she was uninstalled by Hacker himself; and the chip was forever destroyed.
This angered Matt. With a violent shove; he pushed his books and papers off the desk; pacing the room irritably. He...he wanted to wring the guy's neck. He wanted to spit every single profane and utterly offensive words that would burn through him and kill him the best way possible; to his satisfaction.
But Matt couldn't. He couldn't be evil as that. He couldn't follow the footsteps as Hacker and Max. He needed to do this the more justice way. He needed the gang to help him think besides the worn, vintage yo-yo.
He collapsed on the bed; shortly falling asleep after his mind trailed off and began to put his body to rest.
/
Max took no time to find and arrive at Slyder's garage. It was apparently untouched and vacant; moss and stone camouflaging it. When the ship landed, the gang hopped out; followed by Max.
"Hacker must've forgotten about this place..." Slyder stared at his intact garage. He turned on the switch and the door opened. Inside was his old blue and green ship and his 8-year old skateboard. He awed as he picked the old board up.
"I miss this old thing.." He embrace the nostalgia. Max rolled his eyes.
Jackie placed Digit on the workbench, surrounded by wrenches and other tools. Inez sighed, wondering.
Max watched as the boy Slyder was now occupied with examining the damage on Digit. He contemplated carefully pacing.
"What are you thinking Slyder?" Jackie asked as she sat on a stool. Inez stood outside, deciding to keep watch and think with a clearer head.
"About what would be best for Digit. You see, my first idea was to just repair the broken parts and reboot his system...but that would mean he would be more vulnerable to Hacker like before. it would be harder to support him on old parts." He scratched his head.
"You aren't really thinking about how hard it is going to fix him...you're thinking how hard it's going to be whether he should go promo." Max said with folded arms. Slyder glanced at the android.
"How did you know?" Slyder asked.
"You're a mechanic...probably the second smartest earthly mechanic in Cyberspace. To your father at least." Max tapped his metallic temple, "When I scanned you; I picked up the background of your whole family history."
Slyder glared, "Mind keeping it private will you? I don't need to be reminded I don't have any parents." As Slyder busied himself in the other room, leaving the android alone with Jackie. She raised a brow, displeased.
"What?" Max asked.
"You're an asshole." Jackie stood up, shoving past Max, pissed off. Max didn't so much cared what the earthlings thought of him. He only told the truth.
They're too difficult to comprehend.