Jackie took a deep breath. Her pocket felt weighed down with what Dr. Marbles had handed to her. This was it. The precious cargo would either make or break the rest of Cyberspace's life.
Matt caught her eye. Inez's signal had arrived.
It was time to go in.
"Citizens of Cyberspace!" Matt shouted loudly. The rebellion group that had been in their house seemed to swell as more and more people joined them. New and old faces turned to stare at them, and Jackie swallowed nervously.
"Hacker has controlled our lives for too long! We should no longer have to live in fear! We should no longer have to hide from our neighbors, friends, family! Hacker's reign has gone on too long!"
The crowd roared in approval, and Slider climbed up next to Matt. "Come on, Cyberspace! Let's rescue those prisoners! Let's show Hacker who we think really should be in charge!"
"Motherboard!" Someone shrieked. "Motherboard!"
The crowd began cheering and chanting. "Motherboard! Motherboard! MOTHERBOARD!"
"Let's go!" Slider waved his arm and rushed through the doors. Jackie and Matt hurried after him, and the huge group of rebels followed them. Everyone was angry and frenzied; ready for results.
Slider hurled down the hallways, almost as though there were rollerblades underneath his feet. He turned a corner, straight into a room with large, iron cages.
"Help!" Someone screamed. Jackie recognized her – the teacher, Miss Gerald, from Smallsville!
"Matt, Hacker didn't throw the prisoners into the Black Hole!" Jackie hissed.
Matt nodded, his eyes shining. "They're going to be alright!"
"Go, you guys." Creech was next to them. "Inez and Digit need you!"
Matt and Jackie scrambled out the door, avoiding the craze of the mob. A door came flying their way, but they ducked.
"They won't hurt each other." Matt reassured Jackie (and himself.) "They're just going after Hacker."
Jackie rolled her eyes. She pulled out her Squack Pad and found herself looking at Digit. "Didge! Where do we go?"
Digit gave them thorough directions, but before he ended, he had one more thing to add. "Guys! Buzz and Delete are on our side! I don't know if they'll switch over when Hacker is around, but they definitely want us to win."
"How do you know?" Matt demanded.
Digit related his experience, grinning broadly. "They're secret allies!"
"Hopefully we can convince them to get out of here before the rebellion finds them." Jackie muttered darkly.
She and Matt continued down the halls, stopping whenever one of Hacker's workers flitted by.
"Buzzie!" Delete's familiar voice reached them. Matt grabbed Jackie and held her back.
"Delete, did you hear? There's a bunch of people freeing up the prisoners!" Buzz shouted.
"What do we do? Should we warn the Boss?" Delete asked, wringing his hands.
"No, DeeDee. This is the chance we've been waiting for!" Buzz cheered. "Let's get out of here!"
"But Buzzie…" Delete lowered his voice to a whisper. "What if the Boss wins?"
"Then we'll come back. We'll just say that we were out buying groceries." Buzz suggested, pleased with his fool-proof excuse.
Delete beamed. "Let's go!"
Matt and Jackie exchanged meaningful glances. Digit had been right.
After the two henchmen rushed away, Matt and Jackie continued down the hall.
"Here!" Jackie stopped, tugging Matt over to a door. Matt quickly opened it, and they stumbled in.
Inez and Digit were waiting for them. Wordlessly, Inez pointed to a machine that was in the corner. She and Digit had already hooked it up. All it needed was an encryptor chip.
Jackie shakily pulled it out of her pocket and took a deep breath.
"Hello, kiddies."
The four of them whirled around to see Hacker grinning at them from the door. "Miss me?"