Note: I don't own any of the characters or ideas based on this show, save for Ivy… which surprises me, because she's just so gosh darn cute!! How I managed to fathom the idea of her creation…I will never know.

And now, on with Part II!!

My One and Only: A Cyberchase Story

By Dramaqueen-8.0

Chapter 5: The Truth Comes Out

Part II

In the kitchen, Wicked was currently working on putting away the groceries that she'd brought with her that day. She thought it best if she did the shopping, rather than Hacker, as he didn't know the first thing about healthy foods…being the brilliant person that he claimed to be.

However, Wicked was actually surprised at the progress Hacker had made. She never would have believed it if she hadn't seen it for herself; Hacker…a father. Not only was she surprised at this, but she was also impressed…proud even, at the fact that he actually wasn't too shabby at being a dad!

She sang aloud to herself softly while she walked around the room. Normally, she didn't sing in front of others. But she hadn't seen anyone the entire morning, save for Ivy, as she followed up on the routine she'd developed over the past few weeks, which consisted of minor chores here and there, or just anything that she might have missed in her determination to make Ivy's new home livable.

She opened a drawer to her left, pulling out a small towel. She ran warm water over it, rang it out, then started wiping down the counter in front of her, facing away from the door. While doing so, she began to day dream about things. Mainly the piece of information she had given Ivy.

Wicked grinned somewhat evilly as she remembered the pink parchment that she had given the girl earlier, saying that she should show it to her "daddy". She couldn't even imagine the look on Hacker's face when he would read through it . . .

'Hopefully priceless,' she thought, as she continued her light singing, still grinning at the thought while she proceeded to clean the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Hacker stomped through the ship, in search of The Wicked Witch, grumbling the entire time, determined on starting an argument with her about this flyer. He'd looked through most of the cybercraft already, and was now on his way to the kitchen.

However, upon reaching the entrance, he pauses, listening to the room's occupant as she sings. As it was obviously her, this baffled him. He had never heard her sing before. There was that one time on Happily Ever After, when he had tried to break through the large, glass "sky wall" covering the site. But that didn't count, as he'd found this type of singing to be much more enjoyable. To be honest, she actually wasn't half bad!

Hacker leaned forward, peering into the kitchen. He could see Wicked's back was turned, facing away from him. He slowly stepped into the room, staying by the door in silence as he listened. He was trying to decide if he should interrupt her and complain about the flyer she had given Ivy, or just stand out of site, waiting for her to finish whatever she was doing.

He decided to be a bit daring, taking a few more steps so he was further into the room. He now stood just a few feet away from her. Hacker leaned up against the wall, folding his arms, forgetting about his complaint he'd had in mind, if just for a moment, instead continuing to listen to Wicked's singing.

No sooner had he made himself comfortable, Wicked turned abruptly into his direction. Upon seeing him she jumps, accidentally flinging the damp rag at him out of reflex, hitting him square in the face.

Upon recognizing him, she relaxes, putting her hand to her chest. She glares at him. "What is WRONG with you!?"

Hacker reaches up to remove the rag. Unfortunately, she had beaten him to it. She swiped it off of him, spinning back around to throw it in the sink as she mutters, "sneaking up on me like that…you've got some nerve."

He looks on at her, taken aback. He finally shakes his head, coming back to reality. "Me? What about you!?" He points a finger at her while using the other hand to wipe access water from his face. "You didn't have to react like that! For once, I wasn't even doing anything wrong!" He waves the flyer in front of her. "Naturally, I can't say the same for you."

She gives the colored paper a quick glance before resuming her angry stare. "It's just something I got along with the rest of my junk mail. I thought she might get a kick out of it."

"Get a kick out of it?" He repeats roughly. "She's expecting me to actually take her to this thing!"

"So, why would she?" Wicked asked, going to the sink to put away some already washed dishes. "I told her not to get her hopes up."

Hacker remained silent, causing the witch to look over at him skeptically. She raises an eyebrow. "Why would she think that, Hacker?" She asked sternly.

The cyborg coughed, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Well, because…I said, we could go."

Wicked stared blankly, wondering if she'd heard right. "You're kidding."

"No, I'm not. Thanks to you." He flung the pink paper onto the table. "You know very well I can't say no to her. She's obviously inherited my manipulative traits. But, since this is your fault," he says smugly, tapping on the flyer. "You're taking her to this. Not me."

Wicked gave an agitated sigh. "And why is that?" She asked, knowing full well the answer.

He shakes his head, pointing an accusing finger at her. "Don't you dare play innocent with me, Witch. You know damn well why I can't."

She rolls her eyes. "Is it really so horrible for you to be seen with her in public. And since when are we on a last name basis?"

"It's not me I'm worried about. It's her. I could be risking a lot brining her out into the open now." He shakes his head. "There's no telling what would happen."

"Oh, Like what!?" she asks brashly. "No, wait, don't tell me. Let me guess." She gasps sarcastically, putting a hand to her mouth. "What if she gets cotton candy on your cape? Or worse…you spend all your money to win her a carnival prize worth one fourth of what you spent?"

"I have enemy's, Wicked! Don't think I don't know people have it in for me." He rubs the back of his neck, the conversation starting to get to him. "I can't risk that."

"It's a family amusement park, Hacker! Not a convention center for villains and cyber citizens that hate you!" She places her hands on her hips. "True, you don't have the best reputation on that particular site…but that's not her fault, now is it?"

Hacker turns slowly to face her, giving her a skeptical look. He eventually laughs halfheartedly. "Oh, now, I get it…this is a revenge thing for you isn't it?"

She looks on at him blankly for a moment before crossing her arms defiantly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Uh-huh." He raises an eyebrow, catching on to her plans. "Like you don't want me to humiliate myself in a public place, just so you can get back at me for Pompadoria…right?"

"You, are so childish!" she growls, resisting the urge to hit him in the jaw. "How infantile do you think I'd have to be to use your own daughter, a five year old child, to get back at you for something that doesn't even involve her?!"

Hacker shrugs mockingly, pretending to sound just as surprised. "Gee, I don't know! It's not like you'd be over exaggerating about something that might of happened between us, or anything like that!" He laughs again, crossing his arms again while he turns away from her. "Then again, I suppose you do overact about the smallest of things…you're famous for that."

"What!?" She turned to face him, furious at his comment. "Okay, you wanna talk about 'overreacting'? Fine," she says bitterly, ready to vent her bottled up anger from Pompadoria.

"As I recall, Hacker, you were the one who decided so many odd years ago that you wanted to become the supposed king of Cyberspace." She rolls her eyes as she says king. "And why? Who knows! But it's probably a stupid reason anyway!"

"There's nothing wrong with setting goals for one's future. Besides, I'd be able to run things a lot better than Motherboard and that bubble-headed twit ever could!" He glances at her over his shoulder. "You just wait."

"Ya know," she begins heatedly, ready to sock him right in the back of the head. "For someone who doesn't want his daughter to know that he's The Bad Guy, you sure aren't taking a path in the right direction any time soon."

Hacker whirls around to face her. She had apparently struck a nerve. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means." She takes a step forward. "Face it, Hacker. You're not going to change, even if it was for Ivy. There's no way you can!"

He narrows his eyes at her. "How would you know? You've never had a child! You'd be surprised what a parent would do for their kid!"

"You just now admitted to it, Hacker!" She throws her arms up into the air, aggravated. "You just now said how you could do a better job at rulling Cyberspace than anyone else!" It's her turn to glare. "Old habits die hard."

"Now you listen to me!" Hacker takes a step towards her, putting just inches between the two of them. He points a finger at her again, angry. "I'd said that I didn't want her to turn out like me. I never said that I was going to give up on taking over Cyberspace!"

Wicked gives another agitated growl, crossing her arms as she turns away from him. "Sometimes, I just can't understand what makes you act like this, Hacker!"

She glares at the cyborg over her shoulder. "I bet you wouldn't understand, either," she says through gritted teeth. "Not if you could see it for yourself…maybe then you'd actually wise up a little."

She laughs harshly, turning to face him again. "Ya know, that's not a bad idea! Maybe you should have cameras installed around here, or something. Maybe then you could actually get an idea as to what causes your 'diabolical plans' to fail so badly!"

"As a matter of fact," he responds smugly. "There already are cameras in the Grim Wreaker. I had them installed after those earth brats first tried to break in here."

"Really." Wicked gives him a dull, yet stern look, not surprised at this. Despite her anger, she enjoyed the fact that Hacker had just unknowingly made fun of himself by bringing up the cameras. Although, she continues to not be amused.

"Yes." He begins to count on his right hand, while pacing heatedly. "There's one in here…the main control room…all the hallways…even my laboratory is under surveillance-"

Hacker stops. "The lab?"

Wicked sees this. She laughs at him yet again. "Oh, what's the matter, Hacker? Too many cameras to remember? An evil genius that can't count…now that's rich!"

He shakes his head slowly, not really listening to her anymore, as something had dawned on him "There's a camera in my lab."

The witch raises an eyebrow at him. "Um, yeah, I know…you just said there was."

"No!" He says quickly. "Don't you understand?" He goes over to her, grasping her by the arms, forgetting all about their argument. "There's a camera in my laboratory!"

"Yes! There is!" Wicked answers, taken aback by his sudden enthusiasm. "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing!" he laughs. "Nothing at all! Not any more!" He lets her go, heading towards the door.

He then stops, going over to her again. Without warning, he gives her a quick kiss on the mouth. "Wicked, you're a genius!" He then leaves the room as quickly as possible, heading in the direction of his lab.

Wicked is left alone in the kitchen, confused beyond all forms of explanation. She tried to understand what had just happened; They'd gone from screaming at one another, one ready to strangle the other…to Hacker kissing her? What was going on?!

She shook her head, looking at the doorway. "Um…thank, thank you?" she manages to say, despite the loss of feeling in her brain from what had just happened. "Wait…what?!" She runs out of the kitchen, catching up to him. "Hacker, what's-"

"You know how paranoid I've been about how it was that I ended up with Ivy instead of what I had originally planned?" Hacker asked her without stopping to look back at her.

"Uh-huh?" She skipped a few times, trying to keep up with the overly excited cyborg.

"Well, if I can play back the footage from the camera in my lab…from about a month ago…then maybe it will tell me what might have happened during those three days that she was in that pod!"

Hacker rushes through the open doorway of his laboratory, heading straight for the computer consol displaying the same controls used to operate the pod resulting in Ivy's exsistance. Upon reaching his chair, he whirls it around, plopping himself down onto it and turning to face the computer. He then proceeds to type furiously on the keyboard in front of him.

Wicked comes up behind him, watching him type over his shoulder. She still expresses a look of confusion.

Without looking up from his task, Hacker continues to speak out loud, more to himself than to Wicked. "For weeks I've been going about this all wrong! I kept thinking that perhaps my plans had failed because there had been a flaw in my equations…but I know for a fact that this plan, aside from many others that I've come up with, was absolutely full proof! It was practically years in the making."

Wicked looks on at the computer, trying to read whatever commands he might be typing. "But I don't understand how a camera ties into all this."

Hacker chortled. "That, my dear Wicked Witch, is why I am the evil genius."

She glared at the back of his head, about to respond when the words on the screen are suddenly replaced by that of a picture. It displays the lab itself, occupied by only the two of them standing in front of the consol. Seeing this, Wicked turns, looking in all directions, trying to spot the source of the camera. She spots the barely noticeable device in one of the far corners of the room. She then faces Hacker again.

"What now?" she asks.

"Well," he answers distractedly, focusing even more on the screen in front of him. "Now I just need to type in the date that I wish to observe…," he enters some more numbers using the keypad, "and hope that I can find something useful."

"Like what?"

"Perhaps Ivy's birth had nothing to do with something that I might have done…but rather the machine itself."

He continues typing. "I can use the surveillance camera hidden in the lab to see if something might have gone wrong with it while I was out of the room."

Wicked gives a light 'ha', muttering, "after all this time, you're just now thinking of this?"

He pretends not to hear this, but rather concentrating on the task at hand.

The screen goes blank for a moment, as the large machine omits light clicking and whirring sounds as it tries to find what its creator has requested to see. A few seconds of silence go by between the two, the computer being the only source of noise in the room, when suddenly another picture is now shown on the screen. This time, it's that of Hacker, Buzz and Delete. Hacker is showing them the pod, trying to explain its purpose. No sounds can be heard as the picture is set on pause.

"Here we go…" Hacker then uses a large nob in front of him to fast forward the image just a little more. Once the desired image can be seen, he reaches out and presses the play button. The two then sit back and watch as the Hacker on the screen inputs his instructions into the computer, once in a while yelling at Buzz and Delete.

"Find anything?" she asks, peering over his shoulder.

He shakes his head. "No, not yet. But I'll try moving ahead a few days, see if something happens."

He does so, occasionally rewinding or fast forwarding through some things, stopping to listen to his recorded image banter on about world domination;

'And with my heir at my side, I'll be ruling over Cyberspace with the iron fist that I've desired for so long! With him at my side, Motherboard and those little brats of hers will finally fall, and I, The Hacker, will have ultimate control for many years to come!'

Hacker frowns, turning to face Wicked. "Do I really sound like that?"

Wicked almost lets out a snort of laughter, but manages to cover for it by clearing her throat and coughing a few times. "Well, ya know…on some occasions, you do tend to, sort of…over do it." She quickly adds, "but only a little!"

It had been about fifteen minutes since Hacker had first sat down at his computer, still playing with the many controls in front of him, making sure not to miss anything, until finally he comes across something that he did not expect…yet on some level, he didn't find it all that surprising;

Delete is now on the screen, sleepwalking into the lab and over to the control panel, pressing a blue button, causing the glow of the pod in the background to increase. He then proceeds to press a green button, making even more changes to the computer as his metallic hand grazes over the keyboard, hitting keys here and there. And finally, so as to save whatever changes had been made, the sleeping form of Delete unknowingly moves on to press the large yellow button. He then wakes up, not noticing what he has just done, leaving the lab to no doubt go back to bed.

Once Delete is off camera, Hacker reaches out a numb hand, pausing the video. He then continues to just sit…sit and stare at the monitor in front of him, unable to believe what he had just witnessed. Wicked, on the other hand is trying very hard to stifle her laughter again, and close to failing.

"Well," she finally says shakily. "Looks like you were right…it wasn't your fault after all."

"Huh," he mutters, still facing the screen. There was the answer he'd been looking for. This whole time he'd thought Ivy's birth was his doing, resulting from mistakes he might have made on some equations, to now find that it had only been Delete.

Wicked, not expecting this reaction, looks down at the cyborg with concern. "Hacker? Are you alright?"

When he doesn't answer, she places a hand on his shoulder. "Hacker?"

"Hmm?" He looks up at her as if noticing her for the first time. "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking that, uh…well," he laughs dryly. "Actually, I have no idea what to think, to be honest with you." He faces the monitor again. "I really don't."

"Okay," she says slowly, eyebrow raised. She, too, looks at the monitor. "So…do you want to do it, or should I?"

"Do what?" He rubs in between his eyes. It's been a very long few weeks.

"Give them the usual thrashing they normally get when they've messed up your plans."

"Oh," he coughs, "that." He turns slightly in his chair, arms folded. "No, Wicked. I hate to say it, but…I think I can let them off, just this once. After all," he looks up at her with that notorious grin of his. "She's not that bad of a mistake, now is she?"

Wicked sighs, glad that he's taking this news so well. "No…no she's not."

Hacker chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. He then sighed. "At least I don't have to worry about this gnawing away at my brain anymore." He reaches over to the keyboard, pressing a few buttons here and there, untill the screen is replaced by that of the lab's present interior, the camera now watching the two of them.

Wicked shakes her head. "Do you really have cameras in all of the rooms?" she asks, out of curiosity.

"Of course," he waves a hand at her. "But mainly just in areas that contain the most activity. For instance…"

He goes to work on the keyboard again, having the monitor display the kitchen just moments before. It shows Hacker and Wicked at each others throats, argueing heatedly. "I'd call that rather active, wouldn't you?" He grins up at her.

"You started that." She glared down at him, not really angry anymore, as she'd gotten a few things off her chest.

"Yeah, well…" He fast forwards the image a little, stopping on the part where he kisses her. "I ended it, too. And quite well, if I do say so myself."

Wicked laughs. "Oh, I wouldn't be too-"

She suddenly becomes silent, staring at the screen. "Hacker," she asks, quietly. "What's that?"

"What?" He looks at the screen, not seeing anything.

"No, go back," she says urgently. "Go back!"

He quickly does as he's told, stopping the tape, showing them exiting the kitchen, he then rewinds it so they are back in the kitchen. "Wicked, what did-"

"Stop!" She points at the screen, indicating something in the corner, near the kitchen door. Something they wouldn't have seen unless they looked hard enough. "There."

Hacker looks at the small fuzzy object He squints, trying to make it out. After a moment of silence, it feels as if lightning has struck his brain. His eyes widen in terror.

"No…no it, it can't be". He switches the view to a different camera, showing the hallway a little ways from the kitchen, just in time to see the two adults running in the direction of the lab, the shape close behind them.

"Oh no." Another camera shows them racing inside of the laboratory, the same small shape follows at a short distance, stopping to linger at the entrance.

Wicked has her hand over her mouth, gasping at the next image, which displays the lab. But this time, it's a live feed, not a recording. There's a horrible feeling in the pit of Hacker's stomach, seeing the small figure yet again. This time, it stands in the laboratory door, placing it right behind them.

Hacker jumps up and out of his chair in an instant, turning to face the door.

"Ivy," he croaks, upon seeing their follower.

Sure enough, there, in front of them, stands the little girl with green skin and curly black hair. The pink flyer she'd been carrying around with her falls from her grip, fluttering to the floor at her feet. She looks on at her father with both confusion, and pure horror.

She'd heard everything.

Hacker takes a step towards his daughter. "Ivy."

Ivy shakes her head frantically, moving further away from him.

"Ivy, please," he says, still at a loss for words. He knew that she would eventually find out who he really was…but not like this…not by accident. "Honey, let me explain-"

She shakes her head again, tears coming to her green eyes. "Doctor Marbles was right." She raises her tone to him, voice shaking. "You are a bad man!"

Before either of the adults are able to react, Ivy turns tail, running out of the lab.

"Ivy!" Hacker cries. He turns desperately to Wicked, who only looks down at the floor, not saying a word. This wasn't the time to use her "I told you so" attitude. He looks on at his colleague, not knowing what to do. "Wicked?"

She glances over at the now empty doorway. Eventually, she just sighs, looking over at him again. "I'll go talk to her…find out what she knows." She walks towards the entrance.

Hacker goes to follow her, until she brings a hand up, stopping him. She shakes her head. "You'd better not."

"But, I have to talk to her about this. I have to explain it to her," he argues, trying to hide the desperate tone in his voice. "God knows how much she heard us discussing! Not to mention the video of me ranting like a lunatic! She…she needs me." He tries to get passed her. "I'm her father!"

"Hacker," said the witch gently, "Her father is the last person she needs to see right now."

The cyborg just looks on at her, shocked at hearing this, but at the same time he knows she's right. He didn't want to admit it, but Ivy hated him right now, and it was his own fault. If he had just told her all of this weeks ago…

She probably would have reacted the same, anyhow. There was no avoiding the fact that he couldn't live this lie forever. As much as he loves his innocent, little girl…as much as he wants her to stay just that, she still had the right to know who he really was.

He didn't want to…but he would have to let her choose her own path, the life she would eventually come to live, regardless of whether or not he would be involved. The one thing constantly on his mind for an entire month. The one thing he has come to fear; letting her go.

After a long silence, he nods, sitting back down in his chair. Without looking up he says quietly, "Do what you have to."

Without a word, Wicked begins to slowly leave the room.

"Wait," he says from behind her. She turns, seeing into his eyes. She can't recall them ever looking so sad before.

"Yes?"

He just looks up at her, not really knowing what to say. He thought he did, wanting to tell her to take it easy on Ivy, not giving the poor girl every single horrible detail…or maybe he wanted to change his mind, still insisting that he himself go to her instead, wanting to take responsibility for things, despite Wicked's warnings. But now, all he can do is just look up at the woman in front of him.

For the first time, The Hacker is at a loss for words.

"Hacker?"

Finally, averting his gaze from hers, he turns his chair, pretending to look over some notes, attempting to regain his composure as a villain. Hacker then sighs, answering, "Don't sugar coat it for her." He pauses. "She needs to know everything."

"Everything?" She repeats, raising an eyebrow, not really expecting this. "Hacker, are you sure about that? I mean, you have done some-"

"I'm sure," he says in a low voice, still not facing her. He looks up from his false reading, staring at the blank computer screen in front of him, seeing the reflection of a large machine in the corner of the lab, consisting of a pod-like structure, the door tightly sealed.

"After all…" He turns his chair slightly, giving a side glance at her. He forces a grin, the one that The Hacker is known for thoughout the world of cybernetics. The one he'd given her earlier. But in a way, it's not the same, as something about it's changed…

"She is my hier, isn't she?"

Wicked looks on at the cyborg, amazed at the sudden transformation back to his old self. After a long silence she says, rather sternly, "Yes…she is." She turns, but not without giving him a cold look before leaving the room, off to search for the small girl.

Once the witch is out of the room, however, The Hacker stops pretending to ruffle through the papers in front of him. Instead, propping his elbows up, hiding his face in his green hands…

"What have I done?"

To be continued…

Whoa…I don't know about ya'll, but that was crazy, and yet kinda sad at the same time. (tear)

I hope I can get my next chapter out soon. This fic should only have two more to go. If you feel the need to chew me out for not producing the said material much sooner, you're sure welcome to do so. Otherwise, be patient, as it will eventually come. I mean, I did manage to get this one out, didn't I? pause

Didn't I? uncomfortable silence

Don't gimme that look!

TTFN;)