Right on queue, Matt and Jackie descended from the purple vortex. Conveniently, all the portals around where the Cybersquad were located, all lead to the same site.
The two Earthlies not so gracefully landed in front of the Neo Control Central.
"Woah, where are we?" Matt said, dumbfounded.
Jackie was about to second that but was interrupted by a shout.
"Freeze trespassers!"
Matt and Jackie were greeted by the barrel of a very cyber-y gun. The one operating it was a tall female Cybird with a very poofy hairstyle, with feathers varying shades of green. Her eyes were almond shaped and had magenta pink irises. At her feet were sharp talons of the same color. There were long, thin, also magenta pink feathers, two each sticking out of her hair and tail. She was also wearing a bullet proof vest and had a utility belt around her waist. The expression she wore was anything but friendly.
"Woah! Calm down lady! We're not with Hacker!" Said Matt while he and Jackie held their hands up.
The bird lady squinted in skepticism. "And why the hell should I trust you weirdos? Do I just trust anybody if they fell outta the sky?"
"Well... Do we look like we work for that guy?" Jackie asked back.
She looked the two Earthlies up and down, and before she could let out another snarky response Digit arrived with Inez.
"Heya Boops, I'm back." Digit announced. "Sorry I took so long, I just ran into an old- Woah woah woah! Drop the weapon my hummingbird, these are the friends I sometimes talked about on occasion!"
Just like Inez, Matt and Jackie were amazed at how much their friend had changed appearance-wise.
She put the gun back into its holster, "Alright. You people are lucky you know my husband or else who knew what would have happened..."
"Wait, husband?" Jackie said surprised, looking at Digit.
Digit did a friendly laugh, "I guess it's time to introduce you guys. Inez, Matt and Jackie, this is my wife, Betty."
They all shook hands with her, all looking dumbfounded.
"We met each other by chance at one of the resistance bases, back when we served there as soldiers. It was only after we had left that I recognized him when you, him, and that red hoodied kid went to my beta board shop 9 years ago. Then we had a lot more to talk about outside of war."
Inez froze. A red hoodied kid. She must mean Slider. She wanted to ask her and Digit if they had seen their friend, or know that he's alive, but thought it would be an awkward tonal shift in the conversation.
Digit then punched in the code for the door and invited them inside to relax for a few minutes. After that the squad asked him what the next mission plan was that they could join.
xxxxxx
Betty handed each of the squad a gun that looked like hers, along with a pair of energy blade knives for each of them. She gave them a quick rundown on the gun and how to use it.
"So this is a magnetite launcher. It's a weapon developed by the resistance with my help, designed to fight back against Hacker's goons and other abominations. Trust me, you don't want to run into the latter, they're insanely dangerous. And be careful where you aim it, as magnetite is dangerous to most Borgs and Bots."
Digit walked over to them, "The mission Marbles needs us to do is retrieve any salvageable data or essential hardware from one of Hacker's strongholds in the Northern Frontier to rebuild Motherboard. Then, we shut down the facility when we're done."
He sent them an updated map of Cyberspace to each of their phones. "Oh and also, I can update that Skwak app you mentioned, Inez. After that we can finally keep in touch."
"You got it Dige! Let's get going!"
Thanks to Marbles fixing part of the portal system, they were able to arrive at the location. The four took in the usual dark aura that always came from this place.
Betty had stayed behind to make sure no actual unwanted guests snuck into the base. Even though Matt and Jackie were a false alarm, she was paranoid something could happen for real. She told them she'd be there if things got ugly however.
"Ok, I'll stay out here and fly around, I need to make sure there are no other unwanted guests besides us. Can you handle the hard part, Earthlies?"
"I'll go retrieve any disks or chips in the main computer room. I'll cut the power once we got everything we need." Inez volunteered. "And Matt, you and Jackie should search for any important records having to do with the virus that deleted Motherboard, or anything on Hacker himself."
"But Inez, that means you'll be by yourself." Matt protested, putting a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder. "That sounds risky."
"I don't like it either Matt, but she might have a point." Jackie pointed to the map of the building on her phone. "The only way into the computer room that isn't locked with a key card is through an air vent, and it's way too narrow for me or you to climb through. Inez is the only one small enough to fit through without any issue. If one of us gets stuck in there, there's no knowing what could happen. The records room doesn't need a key card and it's locked behind a pretty flimsy door we could probably kick down."
He knew they were both right. He wasn't a small guy at 6 feet so couldn't fit through, and Jackie is pretty claustrophobic. He just didn't get a good feeling. "What if you run into something, or someone, dangerous on the other side? We can't rescue you if you're in trouble then."
"I'll be fine Matt. My step dad taught me self-defense, so I can fight back if I need to. I also won't hesitate to shoot if I'm being threatened." She reassured him.
Matt heaved a sigh. "Okay. As long as you promise me you won't get hurt."
She shook hands with him. "Deal."
They stuck together as long as they could until they got to the vent. The hallways were a dull dark gray with lines of data streaming through part of them. Those same weird green and blue tentacles Digit described from years ago were also present.
Jackie got out a screwdriver from her bag to remove the cover, while Matt gave Inez a boost. "Alright, in you go." He said while hoisting her up effortlessly.
"Good luck Inez! Be careful!" Said Jackie.
As expected, the girl crawled through smoothly.
She ran into a few large cyber rats in there, and if she had room to jump and scream, she would, but she opted to just slowly creep past them. Upon doing this, she got a closer look at them and noticed they weren't regular cyber rats. They appeared more like earth rats, but with some of their features being mechanical rather than pure flesh and blood. Some of the borgs of this world did seem to be more biological than mechanical like Shari or Slider, but this was more random parts just being sewn on or surgically applied there like some big cruel art project. Some of them looked like they were in pain or going around in circles freaking out about these sudden changes. One even tried to lunge at her, but she shot it point blank, killing it instantly... Or so she thought.
She was almost at the other side when the rat seemingly rose from the dead, possibly being jumpstarted by being part machine. She let out a scream and
crawled as fast as she could to the cover, pushing with all her weight and crashing onto the floor in her destination.
She sighed in relief as she picked herself up.
She looked where she had landed and saw the cyber rat dead for real, squished by the vent cover. She noticed some of its organs like the intestines were also mechanical like its outer parts, but everything still bled the same way, all over her boots.
"Gross." She thought.
Doing her best to wipe off her boots, she made her way to the computer. She let Matt and Jackie know she made it, and they said she could pull the plug in around 10-20 minutes tops.
xxxxxx
Meanwhile, during one of his many laps, Digit spotted a very beat up cyber pod that looked kind of familiar, but wasn't one that belonged to him, Betty, or Marbles. It looked like it was from another site entirely.
There were tools and many spare parts, and deadly looking weapons in the back seat, like the driver was preparing for some sort of break-in.
"Oh no..." The Cybird mumbled, "It can't be... Can it...?"
If it was who he was thinking of, then the Earthlies were in for a not-so-pleasant time.
xxxxxx
Inez pulled out most of the USB sticks, memory chips and disks she could and loaded them into her bag.
The Skwak app came to life, "Inez, can ya hear me?"
She pulled her phone out of her pocket, "Loud and clear Dige. What's up? You sound uneasy."
"Well... there's a... teensy bit of a chance some company is coming your way."
When she was reaching for the last one, she heard heavy footsteps, followed by loud drill-like noises on the back door. The sudden sounds made her jump back and hit a pile of discarded metal boxes. The impact didn't move them but it gave Inez a fresh bruise on her back.
"Who Dige? Who?"
"It's uh, an old friend of ours... He's grown a little... hostile, to put it lightly. In other words You should get outta there right fuckin' now!"
Inez ran to the front door, only to find that both sides needed a key card. The vent was too high for her to reach, and the boxes were too heavy for her to push. "I can't, Dige! All the exits are blocked!"
"I'm currently trying to open the door he broke in through, but he must have barricaded it to prevent anyone from following. It may take awhile to get through. Until then, try to stay in one piece."
The drilling stopped, and the door between Inez and the person toppled over. the dust cleared, and he walked into the dimly lit room. Inez couldn't believe who she saw.
"...Slider?"
The boy looked very different compared to when she and the others last saw him. His hair was longer and a mess, and his eyes had dark circles under them, like he hadn't gotten any good sleep in days. His pupils resembled that of a wild cat on high alert. He also had a large scar across his left cheek. In his hand was a large rusty sword made from scrap metal.
"You shouldn't have come back..." His expression was that of immense hatred.
What he said confused her, and hurt a little, "Huh? What do you mean? We're here to help save Cyberspace!"
He got angrier, "Of course you are. You're here to fix the mess you created. 9 years too late if you ask me."
Inez backed herself into the wall as he got closer, practically shrinking into herself. His presence alone was intimidating, nothing like the skater with a cool attitude they once knew.
"In those 9 years, I lost everything. My home, my friends... My dad..."
Inez's eyes widened. "N-no..."
He snatched Inez's left hand and pinned it to the wall, "And here you guys are. Having the balls to come back like everything can just magically go back to the way it was. You disgust me..." He stated bluntly while looking into her eyes.
He then went for the bag of disks she was clutching with his free hand, but was met with her boot to his shin. He keeled over, causing him to let go of her hand. Unfortunately that caused her to fall and the bag's contents along with her. She scrambled to get everything back in.
She bent down to his level, "Look, I know we're too late, but attacking me won't undo the damage! If we help each other, maybe we can-"
"And why would I want to help you? No amount of help will undo this." Still on the floor, Slider reached into his shirt and revealed a necklace that he was wearing. The pendant was a aqua green colored, diamond shaped crystal with a mysterious substance in its center.
Inez raised an eyebrow, "What is that?"
"My father."
"Oh I see- Wait what!?" She looked even more confused, concerned that he had lost it.
"Well, more like what remains of him. It's complicated." He picked himself back up, careful not to put to much weight on his bad leg. Inez offered a hand but he pushed it away.
"Don't touch me."
"You touched me first, asshole." She retorted.
"Touché."
Digit, Matt and Jackie ran through the back door. The barricade was so stubborn that Digit had to take apart the door piece by piece with his beak attachment turning into a screwdriver.
"Inez! Are you ok? I heard from Digit what happened." Matt asked worryingly.
Jackie took a look at her hand, "Your hand, it's got a really nasty bruise... What exactly happened between you two?"
Slider looked in their direction, not saying a word.
"I'm fine guys, really! I mean, I also hurt him, so you should check on him too."
"Not needed." He said flatly.
Matt approached him, towering over him. "Not needed huh? Well how about this Slider..." He lifted the shorter guy by the collar of his shirt and looked into his dull eyes, "If you hurt Nezzie again, I'll make sure you need a funeral..."
"Whatever, man..." Slider said bluntly.
"Put him down, Matt, and don't call me Nezzie..." Inez put her hands on her hips.
Matt rolled his eyes and dropped him not so gently.
Inez glared at him.
"What? Ya didn't say to do it carefully." He shrugged.
