~Chapter Twenty-Six~

Location: Cyber University:

"You can do what?!" Antoine exclaimed as he followed behind Melissa on her bike.

"I can make portals," Melissa repeated. She decided she might as well tell him what was about to happen while they were on their way to her dorm.

"But even the wizards at Frogsnorts can't do that!"

"It's not magic Antoine," Melissa replied, at least she didn't think it was magic, "You'll see what I mean when we get there and I'll answer any questions you may have once we've found my brother and his girlfriend."

Antoine nodded quietly though he knew Melissa couldn't see it. He had learned years ago that its best not to question a woman too much and he certainly didn't want to agitate the woman he was trying to impress. When they finally got to the dorm building, Archimedes was already waiting for Melissa and was surprised to see a strange man with her.

"Archimedes, Antoine. Antoine, Archimedes," the girl said quickly upon seeing the confused look on her friend's face.

"Why is he here though, Melissa?" Archimedes asked as Melissa swiped her hand to let them all in her dorm, "You don't really intend on letting someone in on this secret do you?"

"Right now we need to find Marbles and Ada, not worry about secrets," Melissa whispered as she opened the door, "We need all the help we can get."

Archimedes nodded silently and the three of them walked into Melissa's dorm. She walked over to her laptop and began to print a few pictures.

"The first place we need to go is the museum," she said to the two young men, "I'm printing out three copies of a photo of them so that we can ask tour guides and security guards if they've seen Marbles and Ada."

"Alright," Archimedes said and Antoine nodded in agreement.

Melissa gave each of them a photo copy before typing in the portal commands.

"Now Antoine," Melissa said turning to the older boy as the portal appeared, "I know you've never done this before. Are you sure you wish to follow through with this?"

Antoine stared nervously at the portal as Archimedes jumped into it. He was afraid that he'd end up some place else, but he knew Melissa must have been doing this type of stuff for a while. She knew what she was doing.

"I'm sure Melissa."

Melissa smiled and nodded. "Let's go then," she said grabbing his hand, "Its about to close on this end."

With that, the two jumped in.

Location: Cyber Museum of Science and Mathematics:

Archimedes landed on his back in a deserted part of the museum's parking lot.

"Where are those two?" he asked aloud noticing that Melissa and Antoine weren't there.

"Look out!" a male voice said from above him and before Archimedes could look up, the two landed on top of him and knocked him over.

"Oh," Melissa said as she got off of her friend, "Our apologies Archimedes." She paused, then added humorously, "Though you should know by now to get away from the portal opening the moment you land!"

Antoine laughed and Archimedes rolled his eyes at Melissa.

"There's not much time," Melissa stated, her tone of voice serious again, "We don't know what's happened to Marbles and Ada and for all we know they could be near death by now. Enough with the laughs, we have to find them!"

"You're the one who st-"

"Later Archimedes!" Melissa snapped at him in a tone she rarely, if ever, used.

Archimedes backed away from his friend. "Okay," he said quietly.

Melissa nodded. "Let's go!" she said as she ran towards the front doors of the museum.

"Sorry sir. Never saw either of them around here," a security guard told Antoine upon being asked of Marbles' and Ada's whereabouts.

After much begging and pleading, the three young cyborgs were allowed into the museum free of charge, so long as they were only there to get information on the couple. They had split up and were each accompanied by a security guard to be sure they weren't taking advantage of anything. It had now been two hours since they started and not a single employee Antoine asked had seen the couple the previous night.

"That's all of this part of the museum," Antoine's security guard said, "Why don't you go back to the lobby and wait for your friends?"

Antoine sighed. "Alright."

"I'm sorry kid," the security guard said as they walked toward the stairs, "I wish there was more we could do for you three. Have you called the police yet?"

"No," Antoine answered, "But I'm sure Melissa will do that. She seems to care about them a lot."

The security guard was silent as they walked down to the lobby.

"You seem to care about her a lot too," the guard finally said.

Antoine blushed. Was it really that obvious?

"Well... yes," he answered shyly.

"You haven't told her yet have you?" the guard said giving him a look.

Antoine shook his head no.

"You know kid," the guard explained, "When I was your age I had a huge crush on a friend of mine. But I never told her. To this day, I still wish I had. Because I never did meet anyone quite like her."

"Really?"

The guard nodded. "Its, of course, not often that you find your soulmate at this age. But still, don't keep it a secret forever. You never know. After this situation is over, and you've gotten to know each other a little better, if you still have these feelings I recommend telling her."

Antoine smiled and nodded respectively. The gesture was returned. Just then, Antoine saw Melissa and her security guard come towards him from one direction and Archimedes with his security guard come from another.

"Any luck for you two?" Antoine asked as he ran over to them.

The two sadly shook their heads no. Melissa was discreetly biting her nails, a nervous gesture Antoine was all too familiar with.

"We'll find them Melissa I promise," Antoine said lightly grasping her shoulders only to let go of them once he realized what it looked like.

"Yes Melissa," Archimedes agreed, "You've no need to worry."

"No need to worry?!" Melissa exclaimed, "How can you say that Archimedes?!" Suddenly an unnecessary feeling of guilt ran through her circuits. "Oh this all my fault! I should've called. I always call at some point to make sure they're alright! Why didn't I this time?! Why didn't I-"

Archimedes shook her for a moment.

"Get a grip, Lassie!" he said, "We'll call Control Central and have them issue a cyberwide search."

"NO!" Melissa exclaimed then brought her tone down to a whisper again, "You know that we can't let Cyberspace know Marbles and I are still alive. You-know-who will be on us immediately!"

"What if we just told them about Ada then?" Antoine suggested, "Nobody is after her right?"

"That's true Antoine," Melissa acknowledged, "And surely if they find Ada they'll find Marbles too." She pulled out her cyphone. "I'll inform Control Central at once."

Location: Ann Arky's Triangle of Doom:

"Eight hundred thousand cyber-feet!" Marbles shouted with relief as the foot of the cyborg corpse touched the end of the triangle's side, "We're finally finished with side one Ada!"

"Its about time old chum!" Ada sighed, "But must we continue measuring the other sides today? Its already taken this long to measure just one side. And we have to walk back to the cyber-coupe before sunset."

"We'll begin measuring the next side tomorrow then," Marbles said, "I believe I still have a case of bottled water from the last time I went to the grocery store. So as far as survival we should be alright."

Marbles picked up the dead body and carried it as he and Ada walked towards the area where the cyber-coupe had crashed. It was only 5:00 P.M where they were, but it would take time to get back to the cyber-coupe.

By 7:00, the couple had made it back to the vehicle, just as the sun was beginning to set. Marbles opened the passenger door for his girlfriend and then opened the trunk of the cyber-coupe to find that he had indeed left a case of water there.

"For once being lazy pays off," he thought as he took out two bottles.

Marbles walked over to the driver's side and opened the door to get in.

"Here you are my lady," he said as he handed a water bottle to Ada.

"Oh thank you dear," she said taking the bottle, "You have no idea how thirsty I've been today."

"Believe me. I do," Marbles said and took a sip.

Ada bushed. She forgot that Marbles was just as unfortunate as her at the moment, if not more.

"Do you think our roommates have discovered yet that we're missing?" she asked.

"Most likely," Marbles answered, "Archimedes said he'd return from Poddleville at noon today and surely your roommate started to worry long before that."

"I'm trying to imagine Melissa's reaction."

Marbles sighed at the thought. "Oh she's probably half out of her circuits by now."

The couple laughed at his comment before going silent as they watched the sunset.

"You know Marbles," Ada said, "For trapping us in a prison with little to no way of escape, at least Ann had the curtesy to allow the sunlight in."

"Yes," Marbles agreed and kissed his girlfriend on her forehead, "We at least have the sunset."

Location: Cyber University:

"I know," Melissa said into her cy-phone, "I'm scared too. It hasn't been confirmed yet that Abaddon is dead so we could only let Control Central issue a search for Ada... Oh please do... Alright, goodbye."

Melissa disconnected the call and lay her cy-phone onto her desk. She, Antoine, and Archimedes were all in her dorm room. Not long ago television screens across Cyberspace displayed a missing persons alert for Ada and Alexa had called Melissa on speaker, her neighbor next to the phone in a state of pure panic. Melissa, still very nervous herself, was able to calm Miss Lovelace somewhat, but her aunt was still very worried..

"What did they say Melissa?" Archimedes asked, him and Antoine sitting on the edge of her bed.

"She and the Lovelaces are going to drive around Helping Hand Land to see if they've somehow ended up there. The Lovelaces are covering the North and Aunt Alexa is covering the South."

"That's good," Antoine replied.

"Well Melissa," Archimedes said, "I really do need to get back to my dorm now."

"Of course," Melissa replied and began preparing a portal for him, "Thank you for your help."

"Anytime," the seventeen-year-old answered as the portal formed and sucked him right in.

"Would you like me to open up a portal for you too Antoine?"

Antoine shook his head. "I don't have anywhere to be. I just want to know that you'll be alright."

"Oh I'm sure I will be," Melissa replied, "Its Marbles and Ada that I worry about."

"I'm sure God will be with them," Antoine replied.

Melissa nodded in agreement. "Will you pray with me?" she asked.

"Of course."

Antoine walked over to Melissa and they joined their hands in prayer, the young male secretly also praying Melissa may see him as more than just a friend.