MY EVERYTHING
By Max Jordan and Grand High Idol
Disclaimer: We do not own Cyberchase, nor any of its characters.
CHAPTER ONE
Things were pretty tense in the jungle on that day. Hacker, who had recently stolen a precious (and rather powerful, at that) jewel from a nearby ancient temple, had made a break for it the moment that the Cybersquad showed up, and now the two forces were running-Hacker making a break for it, of course, along with the Cybersquad in hot pursuit-along the treetops.
Hacker finally stopped on a particularly high tree branch, then looked across the area at the kids, who were standing on a branch not too far from his own. Gritting his teeth, Hacker clutched the jewel tighter in his hands, staring at the kids with his usual angry-not to mention way too sure of himself-glare.
This didn't faze the Cybersquad, however; Motherboard had sent them to retrieve the jewel, and that was exactly what they were going to do. After a few moments of awkward silence, Matt finally stepped forward on his branch.
"Give it up, Hacker!" the boy commanded, narrowing his eyes, his hands balled into fists.
Hacker wasn't exactly fazed by this, either; he laughed mockingly and shook his head. "Don't you kiddies have anything better to do?" he asked, shifting the jewel to one hand and placing the other on his side. "I hate to disappoint you, but THE Hacker doesn't give up so easily." He whipped around, in the direction of an adjacent vine, then looked over toward Buzz and Delete. "Come on, boys."
Buzz and Delete nodded, then grabbed Hacker as he lunged forward, grabbed the vine, and swung off. Jackie joined Matt by stepping forward on the branch, and running toward the one that Hacker had recently been standing on. "Come on, guys," she told the trio. "We're not gonna let Hacker get away with this."
Matt and Inez exchanged glances, then ran after Jackie as she grabbed another vine, and, with a loud Tarzan yell, swung down after Hacker. Matt, who was closest, jumped forward and grabbed the vine just in time, keeping a tight hold as he and Jackie descended towards the ground. Inez sighed, then looked down at the ground itself, which was, considering the fact that they were near the top of the canopy, pretty high up.
"Perfect," she sighed, trying her hardest not to look down again. "Just what I needed today."
Digit apparently felt as frightened as she was; he had a similar fear of heights, but they knew that Motherboard was more important than their psyche. Taking a deep breath, Inez grabbed another vine, Digit following her, then the two swung after Matt, Jackie, and Hacker, often making mental notes on not to loosen her grip or look at the ground. Unfortunately for her, this continued for quite a while, until Hacker finally came to a stop on another tree branch, one without any hanging vines. He halted, then looked behind him at the kids just as they let go of their vine and landed on another branch, closer to the tree trunk (Inez, in particular, liked this better).
"There's nowhere left to go, Hacker," Matt said, jabbing his finger in Hacker's direction. "Give that jewel back now."
Hacker laughed again and shook his head. "You must be joking," he responded. "If you want it back so badly, why don't you come and get it, you meddlesome brat?"
Matt smirked. "Fine, I will," he replied, then with a determined yell he lunged forward and just managed to smack the jewel, successfully knocking it out of Hacker's hand. Buzz managed to catch it before it fell from the branch, saving it from a large and rather deep mud pit below. Hacker, meanwhile, wasn't paying attention to the jewel; he had angrily grabbed the red-haired boy by the back of his sweater and was holding him dangerously close to the edge of the branch.
"Matt!" Inez yelled in horror, and the two quickly ran forward and grabbed hold of Hacker's arms, trying to get him to release the boy. Digit, seeing that the girls were occupied, decided to focus on getting the jewel back. Glaring at Buzz, he quickly flew over and tried to grab the jewel from Buzz's hands.
"Hey! Don't you dare!" Buzz snapped at Digit angrily, tugging the jewel back and almost causing Digit to fall forward.
"Try and stop me!" Digit replied; he then tugged the jewel in his direction, and Buzz responded by tugging back. Delete, who wasn't doing anything at the moment but staring down at the mud pit, finally looked up and, seeing that his older brother was having some difficulty, quickly rushed forward and grabbed onto Buzz's sides, joining in with the tug of war.
The three were still struggling over the jewel when suddenly a loud cracking sound was heard, like a wooden plank snapping in two. Digit, Buzz and Delete halted immediately, and Matt, Inez and Jackie fell silent and stopped as well. Even Hacker paused for a brief moment.
"Wuh-oh." Digit finally muttered.
"Oh geez, please don't tell me what I think that was," Matt said nervously, shaking his head in disbelief. But, upon looking down, he saw that his theory had been confirmed: the branch that they were currently standing on apparently could not support all of them and was slowly breaking under their weight. The girls let go of Hacker, and Digit tried to get the jewel away from Buzz and Delete while they were still shocked, although he was himself.
"No, no, hold it, hold it," Matt replied, speaking quickly. He then changed his tone to a steadier one. "Nobody move a muscle. If anyone does, the whole thing'll cave in under us."
For a moment everyone just stood there, staring at Matt, completely still, completely silent. This silence for continued for quite awhile before Inez finally muttered, sounding incredibly nervous: "Uh.Matt, what are we supposed to do now?"
"Just gimme a minute," Matt replied, sounding just as nervous as Inez did. "I'm trying to think up a plan, here."
There was another silence before Jackie finally snapped, "Well, think faster, Matt, or we're all going to be flattened!"
It just about seemed as if things couldn't get any worse for the African-American girl when a large rainforest fly came buzzing along past their branch. Being what flies are-somehow they seek to annoy-the fly approached Jackie and slowly began buzzing around her head, which, needless to say, she was none too happy with.
"Ew, ew, ew!" Jackie exclaimed. "Get away! Get away!"
She had just raised her hand to swat the fly when another cracking sound was heard, and the branch gave a violent jolt underneath them, almost causing Matt to fall off again. Inez made a frightened noise and grabbed onto Jackie, while Matt turned his head to look at the two girls.
"Jackie, I said don't move. Just try to ignore the fly, okay?"
"Easy for you to say," Jackie scoffed, rolling her eyes. Matt sighed and looked up toward the top of the canopy.
The fly continued to buzz around Jackie for a few more moments, then tired with her and moved on to Delete, who was still holding onto Buzz and in a rather uncomfortable position. The fly didn't make it any better, for the moment he looked up at the insect, it landed directly on his nose. Delete looked at it, then began to shiver weakly.
"Don't move, Delete," Digit ordered him, sounding just as nervous as the next person.
Delete remained silent, but the fly was bothering him, and not only that, its legs were tickling his nose. He whimpered, then finally muttered, "Uh-oh."
"Oh great, now what?" Buzz sighed, looking over at Delete.
Delete's left eye twitched, and his mouth became wobbly. "I-I think I'm gonna sneeze," he said nervously.
Hacker looked over at him and glared angrily. "Don't you dare," he growled at his henchman.
Delete wanted to listen to Hacker, of course, but the fly wasn't going to move anytime soon, it appeared, and it was becoming more agonizing by the second. "I can't, I can't," he wailed, trying his hardest to remain still. He scrunched up his nose and bit his lower lip, the others watching in tension.
After a few moments the fly finally finished tormenting him and flew off toward another set of trees. Delete sighed and relaxed, and everyone responded to this by breathing a deep sigh of relief.
"That was too close," Matt sighed, shaking his head.
Ironically, just then Delete abruptly sneezed, and, considering the position he was in, ended up losing his balance and falling forward onto Buzz and Digit. Of course, this sudden movement caused the branch to snap entirely, and they plummeted toward the ground. No one had any time to scream before they reached the ground. Thankfully, however, the mud pit had been right over their branch, and thus they all landed headfirst into the mud, burying their bodies entirely in the stuff.
After a few moments, however, Inez, covered head to foot with mud, finally pulled herself up over the edge of the pit, coughing and sputtering, trying to get the excess mud from her nostrils. She took off her glasses to get the mud off, then shook her head and sighed, looking over at the pit.
"I know I don't like high places, but I'd rather be on the ground than in it," she said to herself as she tried to get the mud out of her hair. It was then that, upon looking down, she could see a hand, covered entirely in the muck, sticking out from the hole itself. Cocking her head to one side, she slowly crawled over to the edge of the pit and looked down.
"Matt? Jackie? Is that you?" she asked.
There was no response. Inez sighed, then finally leaned over, reached down and grabbed the hand, trying to ignore the fact that this was driving the mud further into her skin. She shuddered, then finally, with a loud THWORP sound, pulled the figure from the mud and dragged it to the edge of the pit. Surprisingly enough, however, it had been Delete that she had pulled out, not Matt or Jackie.
"Delete?" Inez asked in surprise.
Delete gagged and spit up a mixture of saliva and mud before moaning and looking over toward the side, almost drunkenly. "Thank you, Madeline, the waffles were delicious," he said, sounding rather dazed as he staggered to his feet. Inez rolled her eyes.
"Oh, brother," she sighed, and was about to turn around and go to try and find Matt, Jackie and Digit when she abruptly slipped, lost her balance, and fell backward. Delete, who still wasn't apparently collected yet, fell over as well, landing directly on top of her. This seemed to prove as a wake up call for him; shaking his head, he came to his senses and looked down.
When he found that he was lying directly on top of Inez, he blushed, although Inez didn't see it from the fact that he was covered almost head to toe in mud, then stared directly into her eyes, she into his. For a few moments the two remained completely motionless, as Delete stared down at her, his eyes wide, and an undeterminable look on his face. Needless to say, Inez didn't know what the heck he was thinking at that time. All she knew now was that she wanted him off of her.
Almost aggressively, she shoved him off of her, causing him to fall back into the pit, then quickly got to her feet in time to see Matt and Jackie, who had just emerged from the muck. Matt was looking at Jackie in an almost smug manner, while Jackie was desperately brushing at her clothes, trying to get the mud off.
"Hey!" Inez called, running over to them. "You guys okay?"
Jackie shuddered. "Ew, no! I'm gonna have to take at least three showers to get all of this mud off. Oh man, and have you seen what it did to my hair?" She began brushing away at her hair, now, which had miraculously held its shape the entire time that they had been in the mud. Matt snickered.
"Aw, c'mon, Jacks, it wasn't that bad," he told her, shrugging a shoulder. "At least we got this back." He held up the jewel, which was also covered in mud but otherwise unharmed. Jackie groaned and rolled her eyes.
"That's easy for you to say, Matt," she replied, placing her hands on her hips. "You were the one that landed on top of me."
"Where's Didge?" Inez asked, abruptly changing the subject as she scanned the surface of the mud pit, trying to look for any traces of Digit within it. When she found nothing, she sighed and was about to tell Matt and Jackie when another voice called:
"Hey, guys, up here!"
The three looked up in time to see Digit, who had snagged on another branch upon descending from the tree. It wasn't anything too hard for him to fix, however. "I'll be with you in a minute," he called down, then he wriggled loose from the branch and fell down the remainder of the tree. Matt reached out and caught him just before he hit the ground.
"Great, now that we've got the jewel and stopped Hacker, let's get out of here," Jackie sighed. She took out her Squwak pad, pushed a few buttons, then said, "Mother B, we've got the jewel. We need you to portal us through now, please."
"Good job, cybermates," Motherboard's image replied, before the familiar pink portal opened up, and the four jumped through, Matt, who was still holding the jewel tightly, last in line. As they left, Delete, who had now pulled himself up into a sitting position, stared out into space, more particularly at the spot that Inez had been in before she had jumped through the portal. He was still blushing, and his head felt hot.
Finally, there was another splorching sound, and Buzz climbed out from the muck, shaking himself to try and get the mud off. He was also constantly spitting and gagging; with his anatomical structure it was rather hard not to get a rather large amount of mud in his mouth and teeth.
"Yep, just another typical day," Buzz muttered to himself, knocking the side of his head to drain the mud off of his ears. "Those kids get 'da prize, and we end up in 'da mud." He picked some mud from between his teeth and spat again. "'Dis is annoying. Now I'm gonna have to go 'troo a whole 'ting of dental floss again." He looked over and spotted Delete, who was still sitting and staring. "'Ay, Delete!"
Delete quickly snapped out of his trance, then whipped around to face Buzz. "Uh-oh, oh yeah, what is it?"
Buzz huffed and rolled his eyes, then said, "You seen 'da boss anywhere around heres?"
Delete shook his head. "Uh-uh."
Buzz was about to make a response when Hacker finally pulled himself from the mud, or at least his upper body, anyway, coughing. He paused to look over at Buzz and Delete, then shouted at them, "Well, what are you waiting for, you duncebuckets? Get me out of here!"
"Alright, boss," Buzz and Delete chorused; they then each grabbed Hacker's arms and managed to pull him loose. Hacker growled under his breath, then brushed the mud off of his cape and, whipping around angrily, began to storm toward the direction of the Grim Wreaker.
* * *
Once they were back in the Northern Frontier, Hacker's real rage began. He stormed into the main control room, shouting angrily and startling both Buzz and Delete. "This is despicable! I don't BELIEVE this! Once again, those brats have shown up where they're not wanted and spoil EVERYTHING!" He slammed his fist down on the table, this time startling Delete, who had had his elbows propped up against it at the time.
Hacker straightened up, this time slightly more calm, but only by a little. "I had the perfect power source for my Recharger Chair in my hand. And as long as Motherboard keeps sending those brats and their tin turkey after me, I'll never get anything done!"
He halted a minute, then stared straight ahead for a few moments, as if getting an idea. He finally broke out into a rather sly grin. "That could be it," he muttered to himself, before turning to face Buzz and Delete. "You two," he ordered, pointing at them, "I have some work to do in my lab. Go get yourselves cleaned off, for Heaven's sakes-" He looked disapprovingly at Buzz, who was still covered with the now dried mud-"And stay out of my way, for once."
He then turned around and walked down one of the Grim Wreaker's hallways. Buzz sighed, then muttered "Fine by me" and headed off in the direction of the Grim Wreaker's bathroom to get the mud off of himself; this leaving Delete entirely alone in the main control room.
Delete looked around, then sighed depressively and put his head in his hands. He had never realized before how big and empty this place could be, especially now that Hacker and Buzz were gone. Unlike either of them, he was very social and very romantic, thus making him lonely. Thinking of Inez earlier that day, he hung his head, then his eyes teared up for a moment. However, he quickly stopped himself.
No, Delete, he scolded himself, wiping the tears that had escaped from his eyes anyway off with the back of his shirtsleeve. You don't have to let it come to this. Just.take a walk around the place. Try and clear this from your head. You'll feel much better, trust me.
Sighing again, he got up from the chair and began wandering the halls, sometimes pausing to look in on the rooms that the doors in the sides led to, lost in thought. He was at the end of one hallway and was just about to consider going over to the bathroom to see how Buzz was doing when he heard Hacker's laughter.and it sounded rather close.
Curious, he followed the sound until he finally stopped at the door to Hacker's lab. Being careful not to let his boss see him, he peeked in through the doorway and looked in on what he was doing. He couldn't see everything clearly due to the fact that Hacker was standing in front of what he was making, but Delete could see that it was an odd-looking object that paid homage to an egg of some sort. He knew that he shouldn't, but he crouched down and listened in on Hacker anyway.
"As long as those kids get in my way, I'll never get anywhere," he heard Hacker say to himself. "But, if they're distracted elsewhere, they can't do anything to stop me." He paused for a few moments to do something- Delete wasn't sure what-to the egg, then continued. "Perfect. I'll make more Buzz and Deletes, and send them to run amuck in Control Central. Those kids will be so busy containing the chaos that they won't be able to get in my way." He laughed triumphantly, then set his tools down.
"Now, I just need a few more parts, and it'll be ready," he muttered to himself again, and Delete quickly scrunched up against the wall as Hacker left the room to get some more parts. Thankfully Hacker didn't notice him in the least, and after he had gone Delete withdrew himself from the wall, exhaled, then looked into the room again.
Cautiously looking around for any signs of Hacker, he walked into the room and went over to the table where the egg was currently lying. He stared at it for a few moments, wondering what Hacker had meant by "make more".
"Make more?" Delete repeated to himself, then, as he stared down at the egg, he smiled broadly and a glint appeared in his eye, as if he were getting an idea.
By Max Jordan and Grand High Idol
Disclaimer: We do not own Cyberchase, nor any of its characters.
CHAPTER ONE
Things were pretty tense in the jungle on that day. Hacker, who had recently stolen a precious (and rather powerful, at that) jewel from a nearby ancient temple, had made a break for it the moment that the Cybersquad showed up, and now the two forces were running-Hacker making a break for it, of course, along with the Cybersquad in hot pursuit-along the treetops.
Hacker finally stopped on a particularly high tree branch, then looked across the area at the kids, who were standing on a branch not too far from his own. Gritting his teeth, Hacker clutched the jewel tighter in his hands, staring at the kids with his usual angry-not to mention way too sure of himself-glare.
This didn't faze the Cybersquad, however; Motherboard had sent them to retrieve the jewel, and that was exactly what they were going to do. After a few moments of awkward silence, Matt finally stepped forward on his branch.
"Give it up, Hacker!" the boy commanded, narrowing his eyes, his hands balled into fists.
Hacker wasn't exactly fazed by this, either; he laughed mockingly and shook his head. "Don't you kiddies have anything better to do?" he asked, shifting the jewel to one hand and placing the other on his side. "I hate to disappoint you, but THE Hacker doesn't give up so easily." He whipped around, in the direction of an adjacent vine, then looked over toward Buzz and Delete. "Come on, boys."
Buzz and Delete nodded, then grabbed Hacker as he lunged forward, grabbed the vine, and swung off. Jackie joined Matt by stepping forward on the branch, and running toward the one that Hacker had recently been standing on. "Come on, guys," she told the trio. "We're not gonna let Hacker get away with this."
Matt and Inez exchanged glances, then ran after Jackie as she grabbed another vine, and, with a loud Tarzan yell, swung down after Hacker. Matt, who was closest, jumped forward and grabbed the vine just in time, keeping a tight hold as he and Jackie descended towards the ground. Inez sighed, then looked down at the ground itself, which was, considering the fact that they were near the top of the canopy, pretty high up.
"Perfect," she sighed, trying her hardest not to look down again. "Just what I needed today."
Digit apparently felt as frightened as she was; he had a similar fear of heights, but they knew that Motherboard was more important than their psyche. Taking a deep breath, Inez grabbed another vine, Digit following her, then the two swung after Matt, Jackie, and Hacker, often making mental notes on not to loosen her grip or look at the ground. Unfortunately for her, this continued for quite a while, until Hacker finally came to a stop on another tree branch, one without any hanging vines. He halted, then looked behind him at the kids just as they let go of their vine and landed on another branch, closer to the tree trunk (Inez, in particular, liked this better).
"There's nowhere left to go, Hacker," Matt said, jabbing his finger in Hacker's direction. "Give that jewel back now."
Hacker laughed again and shook his head. "You must be joking," he responded. "If you want it back so badly, why don't you come and get it, you meddlesome brat?"
Matt smirked. "Fine, I will," he replied, then with a determined yell he lunged forward and just managed to smack the jewel, successfully knocking it out of Hacker's hand. Buzz managed to catch it before it fell from the branch, saving it from a large and rather deep mud pit below. Hacker, meanwhile, wasn't paying attention to the jewel; he had angrily grabbed the red-haired boy by the back of his sweater and was holding him dangerously close to the edge of the branch.
"Matt!" Inez yelled in horror, and the two quickly ran forward and grabbed hold of Hacker's arms, trying to get him to release the boy. Digit, seeing that the girls were occupied, decided to focus on getting the jewel back. Glaring at Buzz, he quickly flew over and tried to grab the jewel from Buzz's hands.
"Hey! Don't you dare!" Buzz snapped at Digit angrily, tugging the jewel back and almost causing Digit to fall forward.
"Try and stop me!" Digit replied; he then tugged the jewel in his direction, and Buzz responded by tugging back. Delete, who wasn't doing anything at the moment but staring down at the mud pit, finally looked up and, seeing that his older brother was having some difficulty, quickly rushed forward and grabbed onto Buzz's sides, joining in with the tug of war.
The three were still struggling over the jewel when suddenly a loud cracking sound was heard, like a wooden plank snapping in two. Digit, Buzz and Delete halted immediately, and Matt, Inez and Jackie fell silent and stopped as well. Even Hacker paused for a brief moment.
"Wuh-oh." Digit finally muttered.
"Oh geez, please don't tell me what I think that was," Matt said nervously, shaking his head in disbelief. But, upon looking down, he saw that his theory had been confirmed: the branch that they were currently standing on apparently could not support all of them and was slowly breaking under their weight. The girls let go of Hacker, and Digit tried to get the jewel away from Buzz and Delete while they were still shocked, although he was himself.
"No, no, hold it, hold it," Matt replied, speaking quickly. He then changed his tone to a steadier one. "Nobody move a muscle. If anyone does, the whole thing'll cave in under us."
For a moment everyone just stood there, staring at Matt, completely still, completely silent. This silence for continued for quite awhile before Inez finally muttered, sounding incredibly nervous: "Uh.Matt, what are we supposed to do now?"
"Just gimme a minute," Matt replied, sounding just as nervous as Inez did. "I'm trying to think up a plan, here."
There was another silence before Jackie finally snapped, "Well, think faster, Matt, or we're all going to be flattened!"
It just about seemed as if things couldn't get any worse for the African-American girl when a large rainforest fly came buzzing along past their branch. Being what flies are-somehow they seek to annoy-the fly approached Jackie and slowly began buzzing around her head, which, needless to say, she was none too happy with.
"Ew, ew, ew!" Jackie exclaimed. "Get away! Get away!"
She had just raised her hand to swat the fly when another cracking sound was heard, and the branch gave a violent jolt underneath them, almost causing Matt to fall off again. Inez made a frightened noise and grabbed onto Jackie, while Matt turned his head to look at the two girls.
"Jackie, I said don't move. Just try to ignore the fly, okay?"
"Easy for you to say," Jackie scoffed, rolling her eyes. Matt sighed and looked up toward the top of the canopy.
The fly continued to buzz around Jackie for a few more moments, then tired with her and moved on to Delete, who was still holding onto Buzz and in a rather uncomfortable position. The fly didn't make it any better, for the moment he looked up at the insect, it landed directly on his nose. Delete looked at it, then began to shiver weakly.
"Don't move, Delete," Digit ordered him, sounding just as nervous as the next person.
Delete remained silent, but the fly was bothering him, and not only that, its legs were tickling his nose. He whimpered, then finally muttered, "Uh-oh."
"Oh great, now what?" Buzz sighed, looking over at Delete.
Delete's left eye twitched, and his mouth became wobbly. "I-I think I'm gonna sneeze," he said nervously.
Hacker looked over at him and glared angrily. "Don't you dare," he growled at his henchman.
Delete wanted to listen to Hacker, of course, but the fly wasn't going to move anytime soon, it appeared, and it was becoming more agonizing by the second. "I can't, I can't," he wailed, trying his hardest to remain still. He scrunched up his nose and bit his lower lip, the others watching in tension.
After a few moments the fly finally finished tormenting him and flew off toward another set of trees. Delete sighed and relaxed, and everyone responded to this by breathing a deep sigh of relief.
"That was too close," Matt sighed, shaking his head.
Ironically, just then Delete abruptly sneezed, and, considering the position he was in, ended up losing his balance and falling forward onto Buzz and Digit. Of course, this sudden movement caused the branch to snap entirely, and they plummeted toward the ground. No one had any time to scream before they reached the ground. Thankfully, however, the mud pit had been right over their branch, and thus they all landed headfirst into the mud, burying their bodies entirely in the stuff.
After a few moments, however, Inez, covered head to foot with mud, finally pulled herself up over the edge of the pit, coughing and sputtering, trying to get the excess mud from her nostrils. She took off her glasses to get the mud off, then shook her head and sighed, looking over at the pit.
"I know I don't like high places, but I'd rather be on the ground than in it," she said to herself as she tried to get the mud out of her hair. It was then that, upon looking down, she could see a hand, covered entirely in the muck, sticking out from the hole itself. Cocking her head to one side, she slowly crawled over to the edge of the pit and looked down.
"Matt? Jackie? Is that you?" she asked.
There was no response. Inez sighed, then finally leaned over, reached down and grabbed the hand, trying to ignore the fact that this was driving the mud further into her skin. She shuddered, then finally, with a loud THWORP sound, pulled the figure from the mud and dragged it to the edge of the pit. Surprisingly enough, however, it had been Delete that she had pulled out, not Matt or Jackie.
"Delete?" Inez asked in surprise.
Delete gagged and spit up a mixture of saliva and mud before moaning and looking over toward the side, almost drunkenly. "Thank you, Madeline, the waffles were delicious," he said, sounding rather dazed as he staggered to his feet. Inez rolled her eyes.
"Oh, brother," she sighed, and was about to turn around and go to try and find Matt, Jackie and Digit when she abruptly slipped, lost her balance, and fell backward. Delete, who still wasn't apparently collected yet, fell over as well, landing directly on top of her. This seemed to prove as a wake up call for him; shaking his head, he came to his senses and looked down.
When he found that he was lying directly on top of Inez, he blushed, although Inez didn't see it from the fact that he was covered almost head to toe in mud, then stared directly into her eyes, she into his. For a few moments the two remained completely motionless, as Delete stared down at her, his eyes wide, and an undeterminable look on his face. Needless to say, Inez didn't know what the heck he was thinking at that time. All she knew now was that she wanted him off of her.
Almost aggressively, she shoved him off of her, causing him to fall back into the pit, then quickly got to her feet in time to see Matt and Jackie, who had just emerged from the muck. Matt was looking at Jackie in an almost smug manner, while Jackie was desperately brushing at her clothes, trying to get the mud off.
"Hey!" Inez called, running over to them. "You guys okay?"
Jackie shuddered. "Ew, no! I'm gonna have to take at least three showers to get all of this mud off. Oh man, and have you seen what it did to my hair?" She began brushing away at her hair, now, which had miraculously held its shape the entire time that they had been in the mud. Matt snickered.
"Aw, c'mon, Jacks, it wasn't that bad," he told her, shrugging a shoulder. "At least we got this back." He held up the jewel, which was also covered in mud but otherwise unharmed. Jackie groaned and rolled her eyes.
"That's easy for you to say, Matt," she replied, placing her hands on her hips. "You were the one that landed on top of me."
"Where's Didge?" Inez asked, abruptly changing the subject as she scanned the surface of the mud pit, trying to look for any traces of Digit within it. When she found nothing, she sighed and was about to tell Matt and Jackie when another voice called:
"Hey, guys, up here!"
The three looked up in time to see Digit, who had snagged on another branch upon descending from the tree. It wasn't anything too hard for him to fix, however. "I'll be with you in a minute," he called down, then he wriggled loose from the branch and fell down the remainder of the tree. Matt reached out and caught him just before he hit the ground.
"Great, now that we've got the jewel and stopped Hacker, let's get out of here," Jackie sighed. She took out her Squwak pad, pushed a few buttons, then said, "Mother B, we've got the jewel. We need you to portal us through now, please."
"Good job, cybermates," Motherboard's image replied, before the familiar pink portal opened up, and the four jumped through, Matt, who was still holding the jewel tightly, last in line. As they left, Delete, who had now pulled himself up into a sitting position, stared out into space, more particularly at the spot that Inez had been in before she had jumped through the portal. He was still blushing, and his head felt hot.
Finally, there was another splorching sound, and Buzz climbed out from the muck, shaking himself to try and get the mud off. He was also constantly spitting and gagging; with his anatomical structure it was rather hard not to get a rather large amount of mud in his mouth and teeth.
"Yep, just another typical day," Buzz muttered to himself, knocking the side of his head to drain the mud off of his ears. "Those kids get 'da prize, and we end up in 'da mud." He picked some mud from between his teeth and spat again. "'Dis is annoying. Now I'm gonna have to go 'troo a whole 'ting of dental floss again." He looked over and spotted Delete, who was still sitting and staring. "'Ay, Delete!"
Delete quickly snapped out of his trance, then whipped around to face Buzz. "Uh-oh, oh yeah, what is it?"
Buzz huffed and rolled his eyes, then said, "You seen 'da boss anywhere around heres?"
Delete shook his head. "Uh-uh."
Buzz was about to make a response when Hacker finally pulled himself from the mud, or at least his upper body, anyway, coughing. He paused to look over at Buzz and Delete, then shouted at them, "Well, what are you waiting for, you duncebuckets? Get me out of here!"
"Alright, boss," Buzz and Delete chorused; they then each grabbed Hacker's arms and managed to pull him loose. Hacker growled under his breath, then brushed the mud off of his cape and, whipping around angrily, began to storm toward the direction of the Grim Wreaker.
* * *
Once they were back in the Northern Frontier, Hacker's real rage began. He stormed into the main control room, shouting angrily and startling both Buzz and Delete. "This is despicable! I don't BELIEVE this! Once again, those brats have shown up where they're not wanted and spoil EVERYTHING!" He slammed his fist down on the table, this time startling Delete, who had had his elbows propped up against it at the time.
Hacker straightened up, this time slightly more calm, but only by a little. "I had the perfect power source for my Recharger Chair in my hand. And as long as Motherboard keeps sending those brats and their tin turkey after me, I'll never get anything done!"
He halted a minute, then stared straight ahead for a few moments, as if getting an idea. He finally broke out into a rather sly grin. "That could be it," he muttered to himself, before turning to face Buzz and Delete. "You two," he ordered, pointing at them, "I have some work to do in my lab. Go get yourselves cleaned off, for Heaven's sakes-" He looked disapprovingly at Buzz, who was still covered with the now dried mud-"And stay out of my way, for once."
He then turned around and walked down one of the Grim Wreaker's hallways. Buzz sighed, then muttered "Fine by me" and headed off in the direction of the Grim Wreaker's bathroom to get the mud off of himself; this leaving Delete entirely alone in the main control room.
Delete looked around, then sighed depressively and put his head in his hands. He had never realized before how big and empty this place could be, especially now that Hacker and Buzz were gone. Unlike either of them, he was very social and very romantic, thus making him lonely. Thinking of Inez earlier that day, he hung his head, then his eyes teared up for a moment. However, he quickly stopped himself.
No, Delete, he scolded himself, wiping the tears that had escaped from his eyes anyway off with the back of his shirtsleeve. You don't have to let it come to this. Just.take a walk around the place. Try and clear this from your head. You'll feel much better, trust me.
Sighing again, he got up from the chair and began wandering the halls, sometimes pausing to look in on the rooms that the doors in the sides led to, lost in thought. He was at the end of one hallway and was just about to consider going over to the bathroom to see how Buzz was doing when he heard Hacker's laughter.and it sounded rather close.
Curious, he followed the sound until he finally stopped at the door to Hacker's lab. Being careful not to let his boss see him, he peeked in through the doorway and looked in on what he was doing. He couldn't see everything clearly due to the fact that Hacker was standing in front of what he was making, but Delete could see that it was an odd-looking object that paid homage to an egg of some sort. He knew that he shouldn't, but he crouched down and listened in on Hacker anyway.
"As long as those kids get in my way, I'll never get anywhere," he heard Hacker say to himself. "But, if they're distracted elsewhere, they can't do anything to stop me." He paused for a few moments to do something- Delete wasn't sure what-to the egg, then continued. "Perfect. I'll make more Buzz and Deletes, and send them to run amuck in Control Central. Those kids will be so busy containing the chaos that they won't be able to get in my way." He laughed triumphantly, then set his tools down.
"Now, I just need a few more parts, and it'll be ready," he muttered to himself again, and Delete quickly scrunched up against the wall as Hacker left the room to get some more parts. Thankfully Hacker didn't notice him in the least, and after he had gone Delete withdrew himself from the wall, exhaled, then looked into the room again.
Cautiously looking around for any signs of Hacker, he walked into the room and went over to the table where the egg was currently lying. He stared at it for a few moments, wondering what Hacker had meant by "make more".
"Make more?" Delete repeated to himself, then, as he stared down at the egg, he smiled broadly and a glint appeared in his eye, as if he were getting an idea.