-9 years ago-

Digit tip-toed down the halls of the Grim Wreaker, taking in all its familiar, nasty, malevolent aura. Being as careful as possible, he scanned the purple walls and shiny metallic floor, making sure there weren't any hidden cameras or motion detectors to blow the cover of the little purple cybird. The floors were so clean that he almost slipped. He was almost impressed that Hacker got those 2 tin-brained idiots to keep this place tidy.

"Huh, maybe some new software updates." He thought to himself out loud. Said thought caused him to space out for a moment. "Hmm, wonder if it was against their will or-"

He was interrupted by his feet slipping on the recently mopped floor. Everything seemed to momentarily spin upwards, before he landed hard on his back with a loud thud.

"Shit." He said between his grit teeth, "Whoops, glad the Earthlies didn't hear that." He mumbled. Believe it or not, the self-proclaimed cute (and unbelievably handsome) mascot of the Cybersquad had his moments, some of these moments involving some not-so-family-friendly dialogue. He tries his best to avoid swearing to be a good example for the kids.

"Yipe! What was that, Buzzy!?" A voice echoed from what sounded like the kitchen, followed by what Digit assumed were pots and pans falling on the hard floor, each with a loud bang.

Digit quickly got up and ran to the nearest hiding spot, behind some cardboard boxes that were just knocked over. A short and round green bot waddled over the source of the sudden disturbance. It was Buzz.

Digit discreetly made a pleading motion with his wings, mouthing some frantic prayer to whatever cyber-god was listening that he remain undetected.

"Hmm..." Buzz raised an eyebrow followed by a shrug, "I dunno Deedee, but whatever it is, it's gone now." He turned back and rejoined the taller and skinnier green bot, Delete.

Their voices grew faint walking to some other part of the ship. Dige heard something about telling the boss they're now out of flour.

"Phew..." Digit sighed in relief.

He got an additional scare from the Skwak coming to life.

"Dige! Did you find it yet?"

It was Matt, accompanied by Jackie and Inez. Three Earthlies that have been teamed up with the Cybird to stop Hacker's schemes for over a year now. This time, they were here to recover the stolen chip that Dr. Marbles took months to reconstruct. He called it the Encryptor Chip MK. II.

Matt, Jackie and Inez were in the cyberpod, parked in a spot behind some large rocks. It was a little out of the way to avoid detection, but just close enough to be Digit's way home as Motherboard's portals were glitching out again.

The suddenness gave him quite the scare, "HOLY FU- I mean Matty! Ya scared me featherless!"

Matt laughed, "Sorry Dige, I just- hey I thought you said you didn't grow feathers!" He exclaimed.

"Never mind that Mattster." Digit opened a nearby storage closet. The sliding door squeaked so loud that the earthlies had to cover their ears, "I still haven't found the chip."

"Let me see..." Inez checked the map of the Wreaker on her own Skwak. "It should be in that room."

The bird furiously rummaged through the pile of things, tossing a few gadgets and whatnot out of the way. "I dunno about that, Nezzie. You might want to double-check that!"

"Try feeling along the wall for any protruding surface." She suggested, "And don't call me Nezzie!". Matt laughed hearing that familiar nickname a lot of people called his friend, before getting elbowed by a very annoyed Inez. The force almost caused him to fall out of his seat. She was extra on edge due to this whole fiasco so he should have known not to push the girl's buttons. That fact however, didn't stop Matt from being... Matt.

"Tough crowd eh?" He whispered in Jackie's ear before getting tackled by the smaller girl.

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say, Mathew~." Jackie teased. Though she wasn't sure he noticed her calling him by his nickname due to him currently facing the wrath of Inez.

Jackie spun her chair around to the opposite direction in hopes of blocking out some of the noise.

"I think I found something!" Digit declared to her. There was a secret hatch in the floor, hidden behind all Hacker's random junk. "Some kinda... mini door thingy. Looks the same measurements as the chip!"

Jackie's head perked up, "Well what are you waiting for? Open it!"

"No problem for the Dige, Jacks!" He said puffing out his chest proudly.

Digit pulled on the mini handle. It didn't open.

He laughed sheepishly before trying for a second tug. Still stuck.

Digit was now considerably annoyed. He rolled up his nonexistent sleeves before giving it the hardest pull he could. It remained unfaltered.

"Fuck this." Digit, with a defeated look and slightly bruised ego, decided to swallow his pride and used his transforming beak abilities, changing into a saw with carbide teeth. Perfect for cutting through steel.

Jackie raised an eyebrow, "You say something Dige?" She questioned.

"Nope, nuthin'!" His voice was a little off due to the transformation. Almost as if he had a cold.

The bird's saw beak cut a clean rectangle worth of steel. It fell, revealing the Encryptor Chip. Clapping the dust off his hands as his beak transformed back, he picked it up in triumph.

"He found it, guys!" Jackie broke up the fight going on behind her. "Way to go Dige!"

"Badda bing, badda boom!"

"Badda bing, badda better return that to me, you trespassing cyber-turkey."

Digit's heart nearly leapt from out of his throat right then and there. He (unfortunately) knew that voice anywhere, and that shadow casting over the hallway outside. "Hacker..."

"That's THE Hacker to you!" He retorted, "Now, I believe you have something that belongs to me."

"Forget it, this chip YOU stole is goin' into Motherboard!" He flew up high above Hacker and dive bombed out the doorway. The tall green borg immediately ducked out of the way with his hands pressed firmly on his wig to frantically protect it.

Digit made a beeline for the exit. Surprisingly, all exits were wide open. He thought nothing of it and flew as fast as his little propeller would allow.

xxxxxx

A loud thunk came from the window of the pod, scaring Inez pretty good. Matt went over to see what freaked her out, and saw a semi-flattened Digit desperately gesturing for them to let him in. Jackie did just that.

He landed beak first on the pod's floor, bending his beak in the process.

Inez offered a hand, which Digit obliged. "You ok, Dige?"

He gave his beak a few tugs to fix it back into place, "Couldn't be better. Though we better step on it!"

Matt sat himself in the pilot's seat, starting the engines and switching gears for lift off, "You got it! Next stop: Control Central."

The Hacker and his two henchmen watched as the Cybersquad jetted off at top speed.

"Eh, boss? Shouldn't we chase after em' in the Wreaker?" Delete inquired.

Hacker feigned being in thought, "Hmm...No, let them go." He said flatly, waving a dismissive hand.

Delete looked even more confused, "But why, boss?"

"Duh you idiot, obviously the Hacker's got a plan." Replied Buzz. He then scratched the top of his head as sparks appeared between his two antennae, "Uh... What's the plan again boss?"

"Behold!" The large green man pulled something out from his seemingly bottomless pockets to proudly show it off.

"The chip?!" Buzz and Delete exclaimed. Delete also scratched his metal head, "I thought Digit and the earth brats had it with them?!"

"That chip they took was but a cheap copy. What's really going to happen when they insert that chip into Motherboard is that it'll grant me admin access into Motherboard's BIOs to take every last bit of her power, increasing my strength tenfold. Doing so will make me the TRUE ruler of Cyberspace!" He laughed his usual maniacal laugh, with Buzz and Delete joining in.

"Bye bye, Motherboard! For good this time!"

xxxxxx

The kids handed the chip to Dr. Marbles.

"Thank you, my friends. Now let's get rid of this virus."

He inserted the chip into the slot. Things appeared to be going smoothly. Motherboard felt the best she has in awhile. "It's working!" She said. The original virus Hacker gave her a little over a year ago appeared to be gone now.

"Way to go guys!" Inez celebrated as Digit and the others did a big high five.

The celebration however, was cut short by distorted noises coming from Motherboard.

"...Omethi... ...ong!" Motherboard tried to speak but it came out all garbled.

Her monitor fizzled out and shattered violently, scattering glass everywhere.

They all watched in horror as the whole place started to fall apart.

Marbles pulled out an emergency portal device, "Quick, use this! Once Control Central is completely destroyed, there's no telling if you'll be able to get home. " He opened up a portal home for the kids.

"But what about you guys?!" Jackie frantically shouted.

"We'll do what we can." Digit trailed off for a second, "What we can do I don't know, but we can't risk you Earthlies being trapped, or even worse, killed..."

"But-"

Inez pulled on Jackie's arm. "Come on! We've gotta just trust them!"

Jackie reluctantly joined her earth friends in the portal, and disappeared behind them.

Immediately after, some green and blue tentacles burst out of every crack, crackling with electricity and static. Some grew around where Motherboard's monitor used to be.

"Quick! Gather all the important documents and files to the escape pod! We need to get to the emergency shelter!" Marbles urged Digit.

They took what they could in their hands while dodging all the stray debris falling seemingly endlessly. The back seat of the Cyber pod was filled all the way, so there was just barely enough room for the two of them. They lifted off just in time to dodge a stray static tentacle coming at them.

Digit looked out the window in defeat, taking in the horrible site. Motherboard was destroyed, and now Hacker had won. He had no way to contact the Earthlies now either since the Skwak's receiver tower was lost in the destruction. Not even the emergency portal devices work anymore outside of a few sites in Cyberspace.