By third period, Matt would usually be unaware or indifferent around Max; despite before his death glares and threats. But sitting in his Physics class he was fully aware of the clone sitting four columns from him, yet he wasn't even looking at him. This drew Matt's suspicions.
At lunch, the remaining squad Jackie, Inez, and Matt filed at their usual lunch spot at the abandoned staircase. Aware that usually the conversation would start with Inez breaking Jackie and Slyder apart from their intimate session; it was now a solid atmosphere.
"I met with Max early this morning." Matt began. The two girls looked at him.
"What did he want?" Jackie folded her arms.
"He wants an insight on our plan." Matt shook his head burying his hands in his hair. "He's warning us we don't have much time now. But we all know we really don't plan on facing Hacker with an army of...what?"
"Nothing. We only want prevent Hacker from carrying out his plans." Inez said. "What allies do we have that will help us?"
The squad fell silent. It was hard to think of all the ways they could stop Hacker when all this time they haven't gotten close to any of his defenses or his plans. They needed to go deeper. They needed more time.
"Improvise." Jackie said with a stale face. "Hopefully he'll buys that."
"Or think it's apeshit." Matt growled. "But whatever."
"How many more days are we talking about here?" Inez asked. Matt flinched, unprepared for the sudden wave of sicken emotions that reminded him of his bad fate. Matt pretty much saw his own future and the days alone seem to count the many hours he had left as well it seemed.
"Six. Six Earth days." Matt said coldly. "Tomorrow we'll see Slyder. And we're going on a quest on looking for any civilians anywhere. We haven't seen one except for Kraken and his helpers back in the mountains." Matt glanced at Inez. Her glance fell.
"They probably got taken too..." Inez bit back the guilt. It was her fault the others got caught by Hacker. They left a trail...so stupid.
"I don't care anymore about being incognito in Cyberspace!" Jackie stood up; fired up. "I'm sick of running in circles and hiding! I want to show that ugly green goblin a piece of my damn mind! So what if we don't have a plan now? We still got enough time to think about other things! It's our job to find and make sure the safety of the civilians. We we're chosen to do that; not just fight a war!"
Matt and Inez smiled, agreeing with the fired up Jackie. "Right."
They filed in putting their hands in the middle as they adjourned the meeting shortly before the bell rang.
/
Max returned to Cyberspace briefly during his lunch period, aware that time went by quicker there than it did on Earth. He once again was called by the infamous witch Wicked by his hideout at the clocktower. With the countdown staring down him, he grew more anxious. Then he heard a chuckle.
Looking over he saw Jenna sitting too formally on her broomstick as it levitated in mid-air. She tipped her hat at Max as her emerald eyes met his piercing blues. He slowly walked over to her.
"Maxie~" Jenna squealed as she broke the formal attitude and engulfed the android in a fierce hug. He winced at the closure and the tightness.
"Jen'-lay up." Max groaned. She let go as he stepped back; shaking himself and reforming his thoughts. That was too overwhelming.
"I'm sorry Maxxxie!~ It's been quite a while since we last met." As she gave Max the puppy-dog glance. He rolled his eyes and exhaled.
"It has. I suspect you have more for me?" Max asked.
Jenna thought, her broomstick beginning to circle around Max until she regained her thoughts. "A bit I do actually."
She got off her broomstick gracefully as she landed on her feet; wearing knee-high black boots and a deep violet dress that stopped mid-thigh. This complimented her witch hat that had a tail zig-zagging to her mid-back and a brim wider than a sombrero.
"Quite scandalous Jenna." Max raised a brow. She scowled at him.
"Hackie-poo is quite the softie. He's giving me a good insight on everything inside his ship. All the pesky civilians he captured, his army, microchips, and...oh, you do know about his new pets?"
"I believe I met one." Max smiled hardly.
"Oh, you and Atreides will get along soon." Jenna kidded. Max highly doubt this. And wanting to speed the process to keep track of Earth time; he began to scan Wicked and for all the info she had obtained. He picked up a lot on Jenna's background, family, her "relationship" with Hacker, and so forth. He was interested in going through the memories like a movie for then next few days, yet suddenly aware of the pet Atreides. He knew he would come back and hunt them down, but more importantly, he would try to kill Max. Which was impossible.
For now.
"Always a pleasure Jenna." Max hardly smiled as he pecked the witch's ringed finger. Wicked drew back and got on her broom, tipping her hat again.
"I'm very anxious to greet the earthlings again!" Then there was a sneer, "In the pits."
"Calm Jenna." Max smiled. "Old grudges hard to shake?"
She sighed, "Hackie-poo brushed off on me a bit. And...once upon a time I hated those little brats." She started to fly away. "Stay out of trouble Maxie!~ Next time we meet it'll be a date."
Max's systems shivered as he wished he had a gag reflex, "How about never?" He growled lowly as he turned and teleported back to school.
/
Kenneth McKane stared intensely at the monitor screen as he waited for a signal to try and call him again. It was urgent. He needed to contact his son. He was smart enough to know almost about everything that was going on outside his concealed lab. As he stood in the dark with only the dim blue monitor boring into his eyes through the goggles, he could feel the sweat trail down his temple and neck. He wiped it and tried the call again by typing many codes.
"Motherboard 1.2, connect me to operator." Kenneth said. A pixellated version of Motherboard appeared on the monitor as a small dialogue balloon floated reading please hold...
Kenneth wiped his mouth as he awaited the call to connect him to the operator. A minute later, he was able to speak to an operator from Earth.
"Hello operator?" Kenneth stared back at his years worth of creations, reminded that there will be a chance to make a difference. "I need to speak to Matthew McCane."