Piloting the coop into the nearly pitch black hanger was a challenge, doing it without crashing was just the icing on the cake. Inez touched down gently, fairly certain she hadn't crashed into or otherwise damaged anything. The three were silent as they unloaded and carried Digit through the halls, Matt's grip on the backpack containing the gears and bolts turning his knuckles white. Faint light flickered into the hall from the control room, the only place on the site that seemed to have power. Stepping inside, they saw Marbles kneeling by a small couch, Motherboard asleep across it. They felt their hearts raise into their throats, their emotions spiraling further out of control than they thought possible.
"Um, Doctor Marbles?" Jackie called, the first to break the silence that seemed to suffocate the entire site. He turned, exhaustion and worry darkening his face, his eyes going wide as he got a good look at the bundle they carried. "We need your help, or Digit does actually."
"What happened to him?" he asked as he rushed over to them. He took the cybird from their arms and cradled him gently as if he were a baby, oil staining his clothes and overall making the situation look even worse. "There are parts missing from his internal cavity and core."
Matt held up his backpack weakly.
"We have them here, but I'm not sure we got them all. And we also pulled this out," he said as he he dragged out the small box that had caused their friend so much pain.
The older man took it with a frown, turning it over in his hands and examining it.
"Clever, very clever," he mumbled, stroking his thumb across it. "It's a power adapter, modified to increase the input of electrical energy so that it overloads the processor and system. Once implanted and remotely controlled Hacker could cause a power surge great enough to damage Digit's core permanently, all while controlling the influx of power to further torture him."
"But...can you fix him, Doc?" Matt asked, his eyes stinging with tears.
He sighed.
"I can attempt to repair the damage, but without the proper equipment and power supply I can't promise a full recovery."
"Can you reroute the power from here to your lab?" Inez asked.
"I'm not sure that would be sufficient, but yes, I can." He looked back down at Digit, sadness filling his gaze. "I'll start work immediately. If you three could keep an eye out for Motherboard I would be most grateful."
"No problem, Doc."
"I'll let you know when I've finished."
He left the room, the door swishing closed behind him and leaving a sense of finality. Matt, Jackie, and Inez looked at each other before turning to face the woman they would do anything to save. She looked peaceful in sleep, more peaceful than they could ever recall seeing her in the time they had been coming to Cyberspace. Of the three, Inez was the only one to inch closer, curious as to whether there was anything other than exhaustion behind the woman's unexpected nap.
She appeared fine, as normal as she had when she'd first been transferred, but something told the youngest member of the team that there was more to it than what appeared.
"Is she okay?" Jackie asked, though she made no move to come closer.
"I think so," she answered as the lights began to flicker before going down completely.
She tensed, the eerie green glow of the sky outside the only light in the room. She had never been the biggest fan of the dark, and this day seemed to serve to make it worse.
"What do we do now?" Matt asked, squinting to make out his friends.
"Wait I guess," Inez said, slowly sliding to the floor and propping her back against the arm of the couch.
The older two mimicked her, sitting on the floor back to back. A few minutes ticked by in silence, the tension growing with each second.
"Well this is boring," Matt said, shifting against Jackie.
"It's not like we have a lot of options here," the older girl responded.
"Ghost stories?" he offered. "I don't have a flashlight since it's in the bag, but it should still be creepy enough."
"Sure, why not? Better than sitting here listening to each other breathe," Jackie agreed. "Inez?"
"I guess," she said uncertainly, unsure if it was such a good idea. "Who's going first?"
"I will," Jackie said, sitting up to properly scare her friends.
—
Marbles felt his hands shaking as he fully opened Digit's panel. He'd have to craft a new cover for him, that is, if he could fix the damage Hacker had created. He dumped out the contents of Matt's backpack and began sorting and cleaning the wires and pieces. 'First Hacker attacks Motherboard and then Digit. Then her virus begins to run rampant and now I have to put my friend back together. Can this get any worse?' He recalled how they had been reading over documents and books, desperate for the location of Alganite, and then she had swayed.
He had steadied her, albeit a bit absentmindedly, but then she'd fainted. Again. That hadn't been too long before the kids had come back. He'd picked her up a laid her on the couch, concerned when he noticed that she was warmer than her internal controls should allow. He knew the virus would progress faster than it had when she'd had fire walls, but he hadn't expected its progress to be quite so rampant so quickly.
He'd have to examine her again soon, properly, and begin tracking its progress. He also supposed he'd have to tell the children as well. He sighed. First things first, he had to repair Digit.
—
Motherboard heard voices as she woke up, or one voice rather, the other sounds being gasps. Her eyes flicked beneath her eyelids, her brain resisting coming into consciousness. She blinked, unwillingly, darkness greeting her instead of the light she was expecting. She turned her head slightly, barely making out two of the kids sitting in the floor, her cpu speeding up for a moment until she noticed the third sitting quietly beside her on the floor.
"...and the brother struggled against the hand, pulling against it, trying to tug his hand free. He heard a sound and looked behind him and saw his little brother! 'Couldn't you find me?' he asked, and the older boy fought harder, finally freeing his hand before grabbing his brother and running out of the house. If his brother was behind him, what….was in….the closet?!" Matt screamed, causing the girls to scream in return.
He laughed, Jackie following soon after, both too amused to notice Inez wasn't laughing with them. They had been telling stories for a good while, each one a little scarier than the last, and honestly even though she knew they weren't real she was pretty worked up, the combination of their day and the darkness of the room only adding to her anxiety. That was probably why when she felt the couch shift behind her back she gasped, her whole body tensing in preparation to flee. She turned her head slowly, adrenaline pumping through her veins, and nearly screamed when electric blue eyes locked on her own. It was only the realization of where she was and what they had been asked to do returning to her that had her swallowing the sound.
"Motherboard?" she asked, just to be sure.
"Inez? What's going on?"
Jackie and Matt, hearing the woman's voice, grew quiet and made their way closer to the couch.
"Doctor Marbles rerouted power to his lab," Jackie answered, unwilling to tell her about Digit.
"Where's Digit?" The three shared a look, each one begging the others to speak. Motherboard felt her synapses sparking as dread settled over her. "Where's Digit?" she asked again, slightly more panicked.
Electricity raced through her body, hitting her nanites and causing her muscles her jump as her matrix strained to keep up with her senses. A light shock raced through her system, making her startle, and she heard her cpu hiss as it fought the short threatening to ruin it.
"Are you alright?" Matt asked, noticing her slight jerk.
"I'll be fine, just tell me what happened to Digit," she said, fearing the worst.
"Hacker tried to kill him," Inez said quietly, wincing as she felt the woman's intense gaze lock onto her. "He was in a cage and...missing some pieces. We brought him back and Doctor Marbles is trying to fix him, that's why it's dark."
As if on cue, the lights began to hum, power returning. Four heads whipped up, watching as what little power the site had left returned. Motherboard was moving even before the lights had fully turned on, heading for the doors that would lead her to the little cybird. The kids were hot on her heels, all of them desperate to know if their friend had been repaired. They arrived at the lab just as Doctor Marbles was stepping out.
He looked haggard, oil smeared across him and a few burns and cuts on his hands. His shoulders sagged, whether from relief or defeat they didn't know.
"How is he?" Motherboard asked.
Marbles sighed.
"I've managed a temporary fix, but some of the wires have been irreparably damaged as have a few of his processors. Thankfully his core only received minor impairment, and I was able to correct the issue."
"But will he be alright?"
"In time, yes. For the moment he's resting, but he should still be able to function, albeit with less energy than usual."
"Can I see him?"
Matt started to protest, to say that they were his friends, the ones who saved him, but the girls grabbed his arm and shook their heads. They could hear the anguish in her voice, and recognized a mother's pain.
"Yes, But I don't expect he'll be waking up anytime soon."
He stepped aside, allowing her to enter. The last sound they heard before the door hissed closed was her strangled gasp as she took him in. Doctor Marbles sighed as the door closed.
"Children, we need to have a talk."
—
"Um, B-boss?" Buzz stammered, approaching the larger cyborg.
"What?!"
"C-Control Central power levels changed a-again."
Hacker turned to face the robot, who was quivering in fear. He held a printout in his hand, which the borg promptly snatched. It showed the small surge of power and the subsequent rerouting of said power. He ground his teeth as he read it. Something was going on, and he intended to find out what.
—
The Cybersquad couldn't believe what they were hearing. If what Doctor Marbles said was true, and they had no reason to doubt him, then Motherboard had less time than they had originally thought. But what could they do? Short of bouncing around cybersites blindly there was nothing they could do. Alganite was her only hope, and they had no way of finding it.
The doctor himself was deeply upset, and had retired to his room for a bit to think things through. The kids thought it was because he couldn't take many more disappointments. Motherboard too, had set off on her own-after nearly a half hour spent with Digit-to the library in the hope she could find something they had previously looked over. Matt, Jackie, and Inez had silently agreed to wait with Digit until he either woke up or one of the adults returned.
To their relief Marbles had managed to fashion a new cover for the cybird's core, and now the only thing amiss was the few feathers that were missing around the edges. It was almost as though nothing had happened. Inez and Jackie were sitting against the wall, fighting sleep, and Matt had taken a chair to Digit's side, holding his wing.
"Come on, Dige," he whispered, squeezing the wing he held, "wake up. I know you can do it." He sighed when his friend remained still. "Please, Dige. We're all worried about you, including Motherboard. She's really upset. Please wake up."
He stiffened when a faint movement brushed his palm. He looked down, the feathers twitching and fluttering.
"Come on, you can do it!"
Digit's eyes flew open, darting around, desperately trying figure where he was, when it was, and why he wasn't in pain. And then he screamed.
—
"But Boss, why are we going all the way back to Control Central?" Delete asked, clueless as usual.
"Because, you metallic meathead, those earthbrats are doing something and I want to know what it is!"
"But I thought you didn't care what they did because Motherboard is gone."
"That's just it, isn't it? How can I be sure they haven't found some way to resurrect her? They've performed miracles before, so why not now? Get it?"
"Uh, not really."
Hacker pinched the bridge of his nose, vowing that when Cyberspace was under his complete control he was going to find a pair of smarter henchmen.
"Listen very closely, you blundering bucket of bolts," he said, tone low and measured, and Delete tensed. "These power levels are unusual, especially considering Motherboard is no more. Therefore, we are going to see what those meddling miscreants are up to and put a stop to it once and for all."
"Oh, g-got it."
"Good. Now get out of my sight!"
—
"Digit! Digit calm down, it's us!" Matt yelled, frantically trying to calm down the cybird.
Inez and Jackie rushed over, quickly shooing Matt away.
"Dige, Dige, it's over! We got you out, you're safe!" Inez said, making sure he could see her clearly.
"It's okay, Dige. We're not going to let him get you again, we promise," Jackie added.
"G-guys, is it really you?" Digit asked, still shaking.
"It's us, we promise. We snuck into the Wreaker and rescued you, and the Doc fixed you up."
"He's really gone?"
"Yeah, you're safe, we're in Control Central."
"And….Motherboard?" he asked nervously.
"She's alright," Inez grinned, though it fell nearly immediately. "Well, alright in the sense that she's alive. Doctor Marbles had a cyborg shell ready for her, and we transferred her into that. The bad news is that without her firewall the virus is spreading fast. We need a mineral called Alganite to cure her, but we don't know where it is."
Before he could respond, the door opened and both Motherboard and Doctor Marbles rushed in.
"What happened? Who screamed?" Motherboard asked before she realized Digit was awake. "Digit, oh thank goodness!"
She hugged him, the cybird gripping her tightly. The mood lightened considerably, the dark cloud that had been hanging over them all since the Cybersquad's return lifting.
"Welcome back, Digit," Doctor Marbles said, a genuine smile appearing for the first time all day.
"Glad to be back, Doc," he replied, releasing the cyber ruler and hopping off the table. "So what's this Alganite I'm hearing about?"
"A mineral that according to legend has healing abilities like nothing else. Unfortunately no research has yielded its location."
"Then what do we do?"
"Keep looking I suppose. Reach out to our friends on other sites and see if their records mention it," Motherboard answered, leaning against the table.
"We'll have to lay low though. We can't let Hacker know what we're doing, or that Motherboard is okay," Matt added.
Digit shuddered at the mention of the cyborg's name, and his friends shared a glance.
"Well what are we waiting for?" Digit asked, uncomfortable with the silence. "Let's start calling people and seeing what they know."
Before they could move, a red light began flashing on the skwakpad Motherboard was carrying. Her face went white, and her hands began shaking as she looked at the screen.
"Mother B, what's wrong?" Jackie asked.
"Hacker's here, and headed this way."
"What?!"
"He...he just landed the Wreaker."
The woman looked like she was about to pass out, and the five onlookers could understand her fear. She was weak, and Hacker had proven that he wasn't above murder and torture to get what he wanted.
"What do we do?" Inez asked, well aware that they had to do something.
"We'll have to run," Marbles answered, already moving around the room and gathering equipment and tools he knew he'd need. "We'll duplicate the cybercoop, and split up. He'll be searching for me most likely, so I'll go as far away from you as I can."
"But we can't let you go alone!" Matt protested. "We need you! And Hacker's crazy, who knows what he'd do if he caught you!"
"Matt is right, your safety is the primary concern," Motherboard agreed, more concerned for her colleague and friend than herself. "If you insist on leaving alone, at least promise to meet us somewhere."
"What about Tikiville?" Digit suggested. "Ever since Hacker failed to overthrow Creech he hasn't been around that site. She can hide us, and while we're there we can see if she knows about Alganite."
"Great idea, Dige," Inez said, giving him a smile.
"Tikiville it is," Motherboard said, beginning to usher the kids out of the room. "Meet us in the hanger in fifteen minutes."
Marbles nodded, beginning to pack his equipment in a satchel. Motherboard herself led everyone else through the halls, keeping an eye out for Hacker as they went. Her intentions were to retrieve the few documents that described what Alganite looked like, as well as a few provisions. They didn't make it that far.
Footsteps echoed from the control room, and they all tensed.
"Think this is important, Boss?" Buzz's voice floated into the hallway.
"Alganite? Why would they….Buzz! Delete! Start searching the site!" Hacker yelled.
The little group began backing down the hall, trying to escape the borg's notice. They had nearly reached the end of the hallway when Buzz and Delete stepped into it. Everyone froze, including the two robots.
"Digit, kids, run," Motherboard said, stepping in front of them fully.
"But—"
"Run!"
They ran, unwillingly, and heard scuffling behind them as Buzz and Delete charged after them. They slid into the garage just as Doctor Marbles was readying the coop for duplication.
"Where's Motherboard?!" he yelled, fear creeping into his tone.
"Buzz and Delete saw us and she made us run!" Jackie yelled back, obviously upset.
"You guys stay here, I'm gonna go help her!" Matt declared, turning to the door.
He jumped out of the way as the woman in question ran in, panting as she slammed the button to momentarily lock the door.
"We have to go, now!"
No one argued as they climbed into the coop, too relieved that everyone was alright to protest or argue over who was driving as they usually did. Motherboard took the wheel and powered up the coop, mere seconds before the door opened. She motioned Marbles through first, and just as she prepared to take off Hacker burst into the room. She glanced back as she propelled the coop out the door, the last glimpse of her home being Hacker snarling at their retreating form.