Jackie awaited the arrival of Inez and Matt shortly after the conversation. She was puffy-eyed and gripping a handful of tissues with her ivory hair in a mess. Matt collapsed on the ground, suffering mildly from a nose bleed and Inez shortly behind with a throbbing headache.
"Oh man." Inez glanced back and forth between her best friend and her boyfriend. "Who first?"
Matt weakly chuckled as he pointed to the drama queen. Such a sweet heart. Inez engulfed Jackie in a hug as she cried, and minutes later finally sucking up her tears and started to tell Inez and Matt the situation.
"Slyder needs to stay?" Inez raised a brow. Jackie nodded.
"Well that's going to be a bit problematic." Inez scowled. "We need someone who can manage the laptop when we want to go from here to Cyberspace."
"It looks like,...we're stuck here then." Jackie sniffed. She wanted to cry, but she held herself together because she wanted to be strong for Slyder. She wanted him to be successful and if fixing Digit is what makes him happy...
"Slyder is so unfair doing that to you, Jacks'." Inez began to get angry. Aside from her, Matt rolled on his back as he slept on the floor.
"So selfish, I mean...Digit is important, but, you're suppose to be his beacon; his most important thing. You're supposed to be his happiness." Inez pointed out. Jackie stared at Inez, unable to grasp the fact that she was telling her about romance and jazz.
"All grown up Inez. You have learned much from the master." Jackie smirked.
"Ughh..." Inez shook her head in disgust, catching herself.
"I'll be alright." Jackie sniffled her last, "We should be looking out for each other." Her glances averting to Matt's direction. At the angle they were sitting at on the bed, Matt looked like a corpse. Inez knelt beside him dabbing a wet cloth on his nose as she wiped the remaining blood. With the help of Jackie, they transported his dead weight to the bed, ignoring the snoring of the Irish boy.
"I hate to admit it Jacks;, but we're going to be needing a lot of Max's help." Inez grimaced. Jackie, at that moment, groaned.
"Really Inez?!" Jackie scowled. "He's a deadbeat-no-good-two-faced bastard! I do not want anything else to do with him! Ever!"
"I know he is." Inez went along, "But he's good with favors. And now we're missing a certain somebody that helped a lot in getting us back to Cyberspace, it's now a matter of one extra person to stay behind as we go look for more missing pieces. I don't want to endanger Matt for a while. And I believe he's kinda sick still. So, I would like you to stay here with him and take care of things."
Jackie's jaw literally dropped, "Inez, you are goddamn crazy if you think that's going to work!" Jackie began to roar and pace and panic. Inez grabbed her neck collar before she went pacing again.
"This, is the only way. It's not going to be long. I'm going to see him and negotiate. He'll have no choice to agree because we had a truce of assisting one another. Trust me Jacks', it's for the better good." Inez tried to get Jackie to see through her; to see she needed to do this.
"God dammit." Jackie sighed, wiping her cheek, "I hate how we're split up. And I hate that guy! If anything happens I swear-"
"Nothing will." Inez smiled. It was clearly a lie, "I promise."
/
Max checked his tracker on the earthlings, seeing that they were all gone.
Except for one. His curiosity drew the best of him. So he left the desert and transported to Slyder's garage. It was also evening in Earthtime. Hasn't he been out here long enough? What about those others?
Max walked up to the door of the garage and knelt to get in. Slyder sat back on the chair, clearly asleep holding something in his hand. Max's curiosity grew; realizing it wasn't the wrench he tried to throw at him. He walked closer and saw a gold chain. His memories flashed.
He saw the dark-skinned girl named Jackie in his memories as she wore the gold chain with a key. And when there was a key; there was a lock.
Reaching over, he carefully unfolded the fist of Slyder's to reveal a necklace. And for a moment, Max understood a little bit more about humans.
"It's not the tool that drives you to fix the lost one...it's the heart you keep, mortal." Max whispered as he clenched the fist of the sleeping boy and backed away. He left the garage, more anxious on learning more about humans.
Because, in a way, they knew more than he never actually knew.
/
That night, Hacker did not sleep. He was certain that he had those earthlings under his nose and he had them in a trap. They got away; too easily. There was a trick.
"Number 274, where is Atreides?" Hacker growled. His assistant drone tracked the whereabouts of Atreides as he appeared unconscious on the big screen. Hacker felt his circuits go haywire.
"ATREIDES!" Hacker growled. The cyber whirled as it let out a more animal-like yelp. He cleared his throat and tunnel his way out of the piles of debris. He crawled on the ground, trying to gain his strength. His charge level was drained to 17%.
"What happened Atreides?" He demanded. The cyborg tried to regain his thoughts; circuits sparked and made his wince.
"Cannot...identify...previously...obtained data...storage system...damaged." Atreides tried to tell Hacker. He grimaced. He didn't want to lose his second best man by him due to a few glitches in his memories. If it was possible, he could restore the memories.
"Report back here. You will be well taken care of by the medbots." Hacker sighed. "As for now, rest."
Atreides nodded before the screen had cut off.
"Sir?" Drone 274 asked. Hacker inserted four rechargeable batteries in his coat pocket; gaining a boost in strength and confidence. Electricity, batteries; he needed them. He needed them to stay sane and focused.
"When Atreides return, be sure he doesn't try to get up for a while. I need to reconsider my strategies." As he went to consult CYRUS.
"CYRUS?" Hacker called the motherboard. The sinister face with demonic features appeared in front of the black screen.
"It's been a while, creator." CYRUS greeted his creator. Hacker smirked.
"Yes, because you are my key to finally ruling this dreaded place. And also, if plans proceed, you will be as well as Earth." Hacker said.
"Earth?" CYRUS asked. "What is Earth?"
Hacker flinched, recalling that CYRUS was not programmed yet to obtain Earth data. "Nevermind that. For now, you are now at the front lines. I want you operating the drones 24/7, I want ever single region on the look out for four suspicious lifeforms known as earthlings! Those VILE, SNEAKY, little BASTARDS!"
CYRUS responded, "Sir I will not only do the previous commands you have stated, but also upgrade the security system and began a lock-down procedure that will surely make the civilians forfeit anyone who knows their whereabouts. That will sure to single them out soon enough."
"Excellent my beautiful, genuine invention!" Hacker wanted to embrace his new motherboard. He created it as smart as him, but able to do tasks greater and even better than Hacker imagined. He was perfect.