"Well what are we waiting for? We have to do something!" Matt shouted as the silence became suffocating.
"Do what, Matt?" Jackie asked tone devoid of emotion. "She's gone."
"No, she can't be! If she survived the virus then she'll survive this!"
"Matt, look at her! Actually, look at what's left! Hacker destroyed her, there's nothing we can do."
"Oh yes there is," Inez said, tone hard. "We can stop Hacker once and for all. Motherboard said to find Doctor Marbles and get help, so let's do it."
"Inez-" Jackie began warily.
"No! I refuse to sit here and be idle, to give up. Motherboard wouldn't want that and we wouldn't be the Cybersquad of we did! Now who's with me?"
Matt grinned and stepped beside her. The two looked at Jackie. The elder girl sighed, then hardened her features, a look of determination settling into place.
"For Mother B."
"All right, so here's the plan," Inez said, springing into action. "One of us will attempt to reach Doctor Marbles via skwak while another gets a lock on his current location. Whoever's left will prep the cybercoop for flight. Sound good?"
"Sounds great, but who's doing what?" Matt asked.
Inez hummed quietly in thought.
"Jackie, you call him. Matt, you prep the coop. I'll try to get a lock on him."
Digit woke confused and disoriented in a cage on the Grim Wreaker.
"Motherboard?" he muttered as he regained consciousness. "Hacker!" His eyes snapped open, taking in his surroundings. He quivered in fear, recognizing where he was. "Yoikes," he whispered quietly.
"Ah, cyberturkey. You're finally awake," Hacker said from somewhere in the shadows of the room.
Digit gulped as he approached the cage.
"Jackie to Doctor Marbles, Jackie to Doctor Marbles. Come in Doctor Marbles," Jackie recited into her skwakpad for the hundredth time, receiving static in return. She sighed. "Inez, I don't think we're going to find him. I've tried every channel this thing has, and no answer. Maybe we should just give up."
"No! Just a few more minutes. We're close, I can feel it!"
"Inez..."
"Please, Jackie, just a few more minutes!" Inez pleaded. "Then we'll stop, I promise!"
"All right." She fiddled with the signal. "Jackie to Doctor Marbles, Jackie to Doctor Marbles. Please respond."
The static crackled, sounding suspiciously like a voice.
"Jackie..."
"I know, hang on." She tried to strengthen the signal. "Come in Doctor Marbles. Respond."
"Jackie...here..." his voice crackled over the line.
"Doctor Marbles, can you hear me?"
"Yes. What...need?"
The two girls looked at each other and smiled. Inez linked up her own skwakpad to Jackie's, running the tracker to find him.
"It's Motherboard! Hacker sent us on a wild goose chase then dismantled her! She told us to find you before she..."
She stopped, unable to continue.
"Hacker!...think...help. But...no way...stranded," he responded.
"Don't worry, Inez is tracking you. We'll come find you."
"Hurry...site...dangerous. Must-"
They lost the signal before he could finish, but Inez had successfully locked onto his signal.
"Come on, we have to tell Matt. The sooner we find Doctor Marbles the sooner we can fix this mess," Inez said.
They left the control room, Inez glancing back at Motherboard's shattered monitor. She sighed, wiping away a tear.
"Okay, we'll reach EcoHaven in about fifteen minutes," Inez said, setting the coop to autopilot.
"I don't suppose you have an exact location?" Matt asked.
"Sorry Matt, my tracker isn't like Motherboard's. I could only pinpoint the site and a very general area he could be in."
"Hey at least we found him, right?" Jackie asked.
"Yeah. I just wish we could get him back to Control Central faster," Matt sighed.
They were silent for the remainder of the ride, each pondering what Marbles could do to help. They landed near the woods, almost exactly where they'd been to find the Electroroot.
"Okay. According to my tracker Doctor Marbles is somewhere in that direction," Inez said, pointing into the woods.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Matt said.
After an hour of walking and a few dangerous encounters with the wildlife, they finally found Marbles' campsite.
"Hello?" Jackie called. "Doctor Marbles?"
"Anybody home?" Matt called as they ventured closer.
"Cybersquad?" Marbles answered, though he didn't reveal himself.
"Yes, it's us!" Jackie yelled.
"I'm trapped underneath my cybercoop. Find a way to get me out and I'll gladly go back to Control Central with you."
"Come on guys, it sounds like he's back here," Matt said, leading them to the rear of the coop. Sure enough, Doctor Marbles was lying with his legs pinned by the coop. "Hey Doc, good to see you."
"And you as well," he greeted.
"How did this happen?" Inez asked, examining the situation.
"I was making some repairs and an earthquake rocked the site. The coop fell on top of me and I've been stuck ever since."
"How long ago was that?" Jackie asked.
"Not too long, just before your message reached me."
"All right guys, let's find something to use as leverage," Matt said, already looking for some sort of board.
"There are some logs further up the path. Perhaps those would suffice?" Marbles suggested.
"That might work! Let's go!"
They headed up the path, quickly finding the logs.
"Oh no! They're all really short!" Inez said.
"Well, maybe we can use more than one. They're all about four cyberfeet, right?" Matt said.
"Looks like it."
"Yeah, that might work!" Jackie agreed.
"I guess so, but how many do we need?" Inez asked.
"I think two will do it, but let's take three just in case," Matt said, grabbing them.
They ran back to where they had left Marbles, relieved that there seemed to be such an easy solution.
"I'll wedge one log on this side, and you put one on that side," Jackie said, going to the left.
The logs were just small enough to fit under the edges of the coop, with a little digging. The coop lifted up a few inches, and Matt and Jackie jumped on the protruding ends, lifting the coop high enough for Doctor Marbles to slip out.
"Are you all right?" Inez asked as she helped him stand.
"Fine, nothing a change of clothes won't fix. I'm lucky the ground here is fairly soft."
"Great, let's get back to Control Central," Matt urged.
"Yes, if the situation is as severe as you say immediate action is required," Marbles agreed.
They rushed back to their coop, desperation and fear laying heavily in the air.