"What the hell!" yelled Jackie as she picked herself up off the floor. "Just as we're starting to get over this whole mess; you bring us back?!"

Matt got up and slowly backed away from his furious girlfriend. He knew better than to be anywhere near her when she got this mad.

While Jackie berated Digit, Dr. Marbles and Motherboard for dragging them back to Cyberspace, Matt noticed Slider standing off to the side.

Matt was shocked by how different he looked, though he was still easy to recognize. In his memory, Slider had stayed the same thirteen-year-old kid that he'd known six years ago. But, now Slider was an adult, at least by Earth standards. He looked to be about eighteen or nineteen. He still dressed like a typical Radopolis skater: baggy blue jeans, a loose red t-shirt, oversized black hoodie and black hi-tops. His wavy, longish, medium-brown hair was messy.

Matt walked over to him.

"Slider, what's the deal here?" he asked.

"Motherboard's been fighting Hacker, Wicked and Ledge since you two left. She-"

Matt interrupted him. "They're all working together?" He didn't remember the three of them getting along all that well when he'd been in Cyberspace.

"Sometimes. Right now Hacker and Ledge have teamed up and Wicked's brewing up something by herself," Slider answered.

"When Jaks and I left, Ledge and Hacker hated each other," Matt recalled.

"Yeah...well, since then, the two of them have made and broken dozens of truces. Wicked has too. A lot can happen in six years," Slider told him.

"Six years?" Matt was confused. Cyberspace's time used to move separately from Earth's.

"Yeah, six long, hard years, almost to the day." Slider answered. Before Matt could question Slider more, the boys were distracted by a loud outburst.

"What were you thinking?!" Jackie yelled. "You can't just tear people out of their lives! Not without at least telling them first!" Jackie was starting to tear up. Returning to Cyberspace had unlocked a whole well of emotion that she'd been trying to bury for years. She didn't want anyone to see her weakness, so she tried hiding it under her unbridled rage.

"Don't any of you have anything to say about this?!" Jackie demanded, looking accusingly around the room at Motherboard, Dr. Marbles, Digit and Slider.

Everything was quiet for a moment. All that could be heard was low hum of Motherboard's generator.

Marbles broke the silence. "Well, I can assure you that I have nothing to do with this. I didn't know anything about it until I walked in only moments ago." The Doctor looked sourly at Motherboard. "And I will continue to stay out of it until the rest of you reach a consensus in regards to moving forward." With that, Dr. Marbles stormed out of the room.

After the Doctor was gone, Slider stepped forward.

"Jackie...Didge and I are real sorry about all this. We tried to talk Motherboard out of it," he explained. "We tried to get her to try something, anything else. We didn't realize that she was in the process of getting you guys...until it was too late."

"Yeah," Digit agreed. "We wouldn't have brought you here without asking."

"It's just everything's gone to shit since you left," Slider added. "Motherboard's lost control of most of Cyberspace and..."

"What?!" the two Earth teens shouted with shock.

"How is that even possible?" Jackie asked with disbelief.

"Well..." Digit started uncomfortably. "When Hacker beat us in the skate-off and won Radopolis, it gave him a bit of a confidence boost."

"He started taking over cybersites right and left," Slider cut in. "After not too long, Wicked and Ledge joined in on the fun," he said sarcastically. "Between the three of them, we didn't stand a chance. Now we only have a few cybersites left under our command."

"That's awful," said Jackie, suddenly feeling a little guilty. She was starting to see why Motherboard was so desperate. But, it still doesn't give her the right to wreck our lives, she thought bitterly.

Jackie turned to Motherboard, who had been silently watching group tear her apart.

"What do you expect us to do anyway?" she asked, curiously.

"I want...you to...find out...what...Hacker...is up to," Motherboard told her.

"How the hell do you expect us to do that?!" demanded Matt. "We haven't been here in years. Everything's different now."

"You two...are smart," said Motherboard. "You'll...figure...it out."

"What are you talking about?! We were never the smart ones," Jackie shouted. "That was always Inez," she added quietly.

"You were...all smart...in your...own ways," Motherboard told the two of them.

"But, I'm not smart," Jackie insisted. "I'm failing out of most of my classes right now!" she yelled.

The room got incredibly silent. Matt was confused; this was first he'd heard of Jackie's school troubles. He wondered why she hadn't told him. Doesn't she trust me? he asked himself. I'd never mention her grades to anyone.

Motherboard's voice filled the quiet room. "I want...you both...to go to...Radopolis...and spy on...Hacker," she said, completely disregarding Jackie's previous complaints. "Digit...and Slider...will go with you."

"We will?" Slider asked, taken aback.

"Yes," said Motherboard. "It is...too dangerous...for them...to go...alone."

Slider rolled his eyes at this. "Too Dangerous?!" he yelled. "This is exactly why I told you not to bring them here in the first place! I'm okay with going, but that's because Cyberspace is my world. It's not theirs. This isn't their fight."

"Yeah," Digit said. "Why don't you just send them home?"

Motherboard had considered this before. She turned to Matt and Jackie. "Do you...want to...go home?" she asked.

Matt and Jackie exchanged glances. Jackie was silent, so Matt steeled himself to answer.

After taking a breath, he said: "Yes. We'd love to help you guys, but Jaks and I have to do what makes sense for us...and this doesn't. Not now, not after what happened to Inez. You didn't see how sad her parents were. We can't do that to our own folks. Sorry, we just can't do this."

Matt really was sorry. He wanted to help Digit and Slider and the rest of Cyberspace, but not at the risk of his and his family's happiness. Like Slider said: This isn't our fight.

Still, he did feel bad. This whole thing was the result of a stupid bet he'd made with Hacker when he was eleven. But, he rationalized, Motherboard was one who put the fate of this whole world into the hands of some random kids. It wasn't completely his fault, some of the blame belonged to her.

Feeling that an awkward silence had lingered too long, Jackie spoke up. "So...are you going to send us back?"

Motherboard thought for a moment. "I...suppose...I should...shouldn't I?"

Jackie gave Matt a weak half-smile, relieved to have gotten the whole thing over with quickly. But before they could celebrate their small victory, the room shook.

"What was that?!" Jackie shouted as Slider ran over to Motherboard's control panel.

He typed furiously at the keyboard, skimming dozens of folders and programs in a matter of seconds. After a few tense minutes of silence, Slider uncovered the source of the problem.

"Somebody sent Motherboard a new virus," he told the anxious group.

"How's that possible?" Matt asked. "I thought she had a firewall or something."

"She does, but it's not very strong," Slider explained. "It's been weakened by almost daily attacks. None of them have gotten through, but they've slowly been destroying the security system." He sighed, exasperated. "This one was able to get through, because the other viruses paved a way for it."

"Well, what did the virus do?" Jackie asked, confused. "Mother B looks fine."

Slider braced himself; unsure of how to break the news of the virus's damage. "It seems like the virus only affected one small part of Motherboard's hard drive."

"That's great!" Jackie said. She was thrilled, but when she looked at Slider she saw that he was visibly upset. She didn't understand. He should have been happy that so little harm had been done to Motherboard. "Isn't it?" she asked. Suddenly, she began to worry about which part of Motherboard had been attacked.

Slider took a deep breath. "Well..." he started, "Motherboard will still be able to do everything she needs to...except make portals." The young cyborg almost whispered those last three words.

"What do you mean?!" Matt yelled.

This can't be happening, he thought. Every time Matt assumed he was done with Cyberspace, something like this happened. He was furious. "Who sent the virus?!" he demanded.

Slider typed some at the keyboard before answering. "It came from Hacker's ship, but it's not the sort of thing he'd come up with. I think Ledge sent it."

"Well, how do we fix it?" asked Jackie frantically. She was eager to repair Motherboard so she and Matt could return home.

"Um...I'm not really sure," Slider told her with uncertainty. "Maybe we should ask Marbles. He should know what to do," Slider suggested. "Didge?" he said and gestured for Digit to get to get the Doctor.

"I'm on it!" Digit shouted and flew off without another word.

While Digit was getting Dr. Marbles, Matt took a moment to truly take in his surroundings, using this distraction to keep his emotions in check. The room looked almost the way it had six years before. Matt noticed a hallway off the right. It suddenly dawned on him that he'd never been beyond this first room. In all the times he'd visited Cyberspace, he'd never seen the rest of it. He turned to check on Jackie and found that she was occupying herself by talking to Motherboard. Matt only heard a snippet of the conversation, but it seemed as though Motherboard was venting to Jackie.

She's so good with people, Matt thought. Jackie was always ready to help talk people through their problems, but she never wanted to deal with her own. That's why she had locked up her feelings about Inez for so long.

Maybe, he speculated, she would have opened up to me if I weren't so weak.

Matt found it hard to stop beating himself up about what happened. He did it frequently; almost every day in the months that followed the incident. He hated himself for his part in it. He knew he shouldn't, but he did.

Like Jackie, after so many years, Matt had been beginning to heal when Motherboard had selfishly pulled them through the portal. Now, all those buried feelings were rising back to the surface. Matt was outraged at the injustice that he felt Motherboard had committed by dragging them back against their wills.

And yet, he felt a little bit excited. It was almost nice to be back there, in Control Central. Last time he and Jackie were there, it was because a dreadful shift had occurred in their lives. He wondered if this time, things might alter themselves for the better. Matt shook off the foolish, hopeful thought. He reminded himself that he and Jackie were going home as soon as Marbles fixed Motherboard.

Now that all the excitement had died down, Matt was beginning to grow bored. He decided to slip away and explore Control Central while the others waited for Digit to come back with Marbles. He turned to the hallway he had previously discovered and started down it.

The hallway was plain. It was painted an uninteresting off-white and lacked any decoration. Matt thought it was almost clinical in appearance. He passed several identical doors without any desire to enter them. He walked down it for what seemed like quite a while. It made a sharp turn and Matt could no longer see the main room getting smaller behind him. Soon, he came across a door that was unlike the others that flanked the long hallway.

It was made distinct by a crude coat of red paint. Matt felt drawn to the door and opened it cautiously; nervous about being caught snooping so far from the front room. He wasn't sure what he thought he would find behind the crimson door, but it was a far cry from what he discovered: a messy bedroom.

It was so different from the rest of the clean, organized Control Central. From the unmade bed and discarded t-shirts and jeans to the scattered schematics and machine parts, it was everything that the rest of the cybersite wasn't. It was sloppy, chaotic and haphazard. Matt felt uncomfortable trespassing, but nevertheless took a few more steps into the small room.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" asked a voice behind him, making Matt jump. He whirled around to face the speaker.

"Oh, Slider," he stammered, embarrassed at being caught poking around somebody else's stuff. "What're you doing here?"

"It's my room," Slider said defensively. "I was getting my toolbox for Dr. Marbles," he said, pointing to a rusted metal case peeking out from beneath the disheveled bed.

"Oh," said Matt, uncomfortably. He quickly grabbed the box and handed it to Slider. "Has Marble's figured out how to fix Motherboard yet?" he asked, trying to draw attention away from the trespassing.

"No, he was still working on it when I left," Slider said, shifting his weight under the heavy toolbox. "He said he might need some tools so I came and got mine."

Without another word, Slider began his way back down the long hallway, hindered by the heavy box. Matt followed, feeling too awkward to linger any longer in Slider's room.

"So," Matt started, "you really live in Control Central?"

"Well, yeah," Slider said sadly. "I can't exactly go home, can I?"

"Oh, right." Matt said, reminded once again of his grievous mistake. "I guess you can't." The silence that followed was suffocating, but Matt couldn't think of any way to end it. The two young men traveled the rest of the way back without saying anything more.

When they returned, they found the others waiting for them. Jackie ran up to Matt the moment she saw him.

"The Doctor's finished looking over the virus," she said, talking very fast. "But, he hasn't told us anything. He was waiting for you and Slider. Where were you, anyway?"

Before Matt could answer, Marbles called for the small group's attention.

"Well, I've analyzed the virus and it's very complicated. I may be able to fix it, but it could take me a very long time," Dr. Marbles explained.

"So basically what you're saying is that you don't know how to fix it," Matt accused.

Marbles thought for a moment before admitting the truth. "Yes, I don't currently have any idea as to how to remedy the situation. Maybe if I had access to the computer that sent it or some notes about how it was made...but working from scratch, it'll be a very tedious process."

Jackie was crushed. She'd been so close to going home and being free from this nightmare. She tried to maintain her resolve, but she couldn't help letting one single tear fall. She quickly wiped it away, but not before Matt and the Doctor saw. Matt put his arms around Jackie to support her.

Marbles quickly tried to reassure the girl. "That doesn't mean I can't do it," he told her, "it just might take a while if I have nothing to go on."

"How long will it take?" Matt asked wearily.

"Well," said Dr. Marbles, "it could take very long time. I still haven't healed Motherboard's first virus."

"So, potentially, they could be stuck here forever," Slider said.

"Um, yes," said Marbles.

"Just like Inez," Jackie whispered to herself. Matt heard and held her closer. This was his chance to finally be there for Jackie, like she had for him. But Jackie refused to be a victim.

"What if we get Ledge's notes about the virus?" she said with renewed courage. "Would you be able to fix it then?"

Marbles was stunned, as were the others, especially Matt.

She really is the stronger of the two of us, he thought, I wish I was confident like that.

"Jaks are you sure about this?" Matt asked warily; he thought she was being a bit rash. The boy searched his girlfriend's face for any sign of uncertainty. All he found was a mask of determination and something like fear that she was trying to hide beneath it.

The girl braced herself, taking a deep breath to calm her raging emotions, before answering. "I'm sure," she said with a weak grin. She took another breath to steady her weak nerves.

"Matt," she said with a sigh, "I don't want to be stuck here...and I'm sure you don't either. We've got a whole life back on Earth."

"I know," Matt told her gently, "but I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Then, you should be anxious to get this over with. I'd rather die than spend the rest of my life knowing that I belong somewhere else," she tried to explain.

"I get that, really I do," he said hastily, "I'm just not sure you've thought this through."

"I have thought this through," Jackie said, her voice rising in anger, "I'm doing this with or without you!"

Matt, still overcome by the violent outburst, resigned. He had absolutely no idea how to talk Jackie out of her impulsive decision. He wanted to protect her, but didn't how other than to follow her by following her in this and hoping for the best.

"Fine! I'll go with you," Matt told her. It suddenly occurred to him that without portals, they'd have to find another method of transportation.

At that moment, as though she had been reading his thoughts, Motherboard spoke. "You will...have to...go by...hovercar." she told the two teenagers.

From within her over-sized computer screen, Motherboard shifted her gaze to Digit and Slider who had been trying to stay out Matt and Jackie's fight. Slider shifted nervously under her piercing eyes.

"Digit?" she said.

"Yes, Motherboard?" he said eagerly.

"I want...you and...Slider to...go with...the Earthlies." she told him before switching her focus back to the Earth teens. "You two...are...once again...strangers...to cyberspace. I...don't want...you to...go off...on...your own." Motherboard explained.

"Fine." Jackie said with an eyeroll.

We don't need babysitters, she thought disparagingly, they'll only get in the way. She wanted to get back home as soon as conceivably possible.

Matt, however, was secretly grateful to have Digit and Slider along. It was a reassuring thought to have the two cyberspace natives along to guide them. Though, he wished it were Inez who was coming along instead of Slider.

Stupid! Matt chided himself, if Inez were here, we wouldn't be in this mess. All this is my fault!

"Well," Slider said, breaking Matt out of his self-loathing reflection. "We'd better get the ship ready to take off."

Dr. Marbles offered to help Slider with the preparations and they both went off to the garage of Control Central together. While Slider and the Doctor were busy with the ship, Digit dashed around gathering supplies for their trip. Motherboard had to prompt him several times before he finally remembered where Slider kept the Squak Pads.

Digit retrieved four of them, one for each of them. They were slightly different from the one Matt had when he was eleven. These ones were smaller and less bulky, similar to an iPhone except for the violet color, attached pen and irregular shape.

"Why'd you get four out?" Matt asked. "Don't you and Slider already have some?"

"No," Digit responded, "We haven't needed them until now."

"How come?" Matt inquired.

"We usually just monitor the war from here. We haven't needed to leave," Digit explained, "It's too dangerous."

Matt was unnerved by this comment. It reminded him of how serious the situation was. Of how dramatically Cyberspace contrasted with his safe life in his home world.

The fear must have shown on Matt's face.

"We should be fine, though," Digit added quickly.

This line of conversation broke off when Dr. Marbles walked into room. He was filthy and covered in oil from working on the hover car. He gave a small wave to greet Digit and the Earthlies.

"The ship's ready," he told them, "Slider's waiting for you to take off."

"About time," Jackie said impatiently under her breath.

"Um, Digit knows the way to the garage." Marbles said, unsure of what else to say. "Good luck!" he added, with a bit of false enthusiasm.

As Jackie and Matt followed Digit out of the room, the Doctor thought sadly to himself: I do hope we don't lose these ones too.