"Hey Boss?" Delete said as he and Buzz entered the control room. The results of the election had come in a couple of hours ago and Hacker had, had enough time to go from the "sobbing uncontrollably in self-pity" stage to the "brood till your eyebrows fall off" stage.

"Hmm?" Hacker grunted, not really playing attention.

"I was wondering, what is the key to Motherboard's virus?"

The eternal question. One everyone in Cyberspace wanted the answer to, but only he was capable of giving. And now, he was sure he would be taking the answer to whatever scrapheap he ended up in a millennium from now.

...

"Of course. I would gladly cure Motherboard's virus."

"I would be most... grateful." Hacker couldn't tell if she was just playing the innocent card or if she was too naive for her own good. But now he was stuck.

He could tell the truth about the virus, cure Motherboard and guaranteed his victory in the election. But as long as Motherboard and the earth-brats were around, he wouldn't be able to rule how he wanted to unless he wanted to be the focus of the next Cyber-Revolution. His only other option would be to lie and be exposed on the spot. Hacker looked around at the anticipating faces of the crowd, each waiting on his next word.

"A-allow me to explain." he continued, his cheeks aching from too many false smiles. "Motherboard's virus code is protected by a triangle lock. But only a triangle with just the right three sides will unlock the code." He spoke slowly, phasing every sentence carefully. The self proclaimed King of Chaos knew better than anyone that the ditizens of Cyberspace were about as dull safe scissors laminated behind 6 inches of plastic.

"And here they are." he cried, whipping out three yellow poles. "Simply make a triangle with these three rods. Slip the triangle into the digitizing activator, and wah-lah! Her virus will be deleted."

"Excuse me." Vander-Rom said. "But is it true, that a triangle can always be made from any three rods?"

"Absolutely." Hacker declared. "After all, every triangle has three sides. Doesn't it?" He knew it wasn't totally true, but it couldn't be proven false and would probably keep those who were smart enough to think something was up, scratching their heads till the end of the debate.

"Of course."

"So cure Motherboard now!" one of the earth-brats shouted from the stands.

"Cure Motherboard! Cure Motherboard!" the crowd canted in unison.

"I would if I could, but to do so would give me such an unfair advantage. However," He took out a red safe and set it on the table. "I'll put the three rods in this box, and I'll leave the box with Mr. Vander-Rom for safe keeping." He flung the box at the bespectacled anchorman. "After the election, he can personally open the box, and cure Motherboard."

...

Cure Motherboard. What if they had figured it out? He had given them all they needed. All they required was someone with a bit of creative thinking and the greatest accomplishment of his career would've been gone just like that. Even as the three earth-brats had exposed the holes in his deception, he had contemplated giving them the real truth. He would never have a chance like this again. But in the end he'd chosen to withdraw.

"As if I'd spill the secret to my success to a nickel-plate twit." he hollered.

He waited until Delete had scurried out of the room before sliding the three rods out from his sleeve. Inserting it into Motherboard's system the right way would reset her systems to an earlier point in time, say, before she received the virus, without erasing her memories.

Hacker set the rods down on the table and arranged them in a "Y" shape. Three sides, three angles. They didn't form a closed shape, but since when the the King of Chaos play by the rules?

A/n: Extra points to whoever can spot the cross-canon reference.